Amateur Hour Watch Restoration

Where I got it

Dad gave this watch to me in a batch of watches he didn’t want any more. It’s not really my style, and it’s a quartz, but I enjoyed working on his Tag Heuer so much that I thought I’d try this one out too.

I found a few listings for this movement (eBay), and it seems to be valued at around $100.

What it looked like

Overall it appears very, very dirty. Almost all the markings on the bezel have lost their black. The bezel clicks in one direction, but spins freely in the other (although it might be supposed to be like that, I don’t know). The case overall seems to be in decent shape, but the bezel has some worn areas on the corners that show the brass. The movement runs, but setting the hands reveals that the minute hand slightly interferes with the second hand. Putting it in quick set date mode is very tricky, as there doesn’t seem to be “click” when putting it in that position.

There are some deep scratches on the back cover, presumably from someone trying to open it with pliers.

How I restored it

Mar 30, 2026 8:39 PM

I don’t know if it’s me, or the tool, but the only thing this bezel removal tool seems to be good at is bending bezels. I did manage to get it off with the help of my case knife, but it is definitely potato chipped now. I was able to bend back Dad’s Tag Heuer, so hopefully I can do the same here (after giving everything a thorough cleaning!) I also noticed that one of the tabs on the bezel ratchet spring is broken, which may explain why I was able to rotate it freely in the other direction.

Apr 12, 2026 2:34 PM

I took apart the case as much as I could, and gave it a once-over with some q-tips and toothpicks. It was quite dirty!

While the case is in the ultrasonic, I decided to take a look at the movement. Since it was running OK, my plan was to just remove the hands, and re-set them so they weren’t interfering with each other any more. So, I advanced the time until the date clicked over at midnight, but when it got to that point, it started but then wouldn’t actually click over. So then I decided to take the dial off, and take a closer look. And very interestingly, it looks like this movement has been worked on before!

It looks like someone put some small pieces of painter’s tape (?) to press the dial plate down, and also used some super-glue to glue it down. I think the trouble with the movement is something to do with the date wheel, since I hear it click when attempting to turn over. And I think the painter’s tape was meant to keep one of the gears under the plate in alignment.

The movement ID shows this is an ETA 805.112, and looking around it seems the entire movement can simply be replaced for ~$20. Judging from how this one has been repaired, that’s likely the route I’ll have to take, but I may as well try and disassemble this one to see what I can see!

Apr 12, 2026 3:59 PM

Well, I took it apart, but I basically have no hope of getting it back together. Much of the movement is held together with plastic rivets, which I had to remove. Judging from all this though, it was never really meant to be serviced, so the fact that someone bothered to try and salvage it is actually quite impressive.

My best guess is that one of the pivot holes wore out, since I was able to see the gears skipping when putting the stem in. Since the holes are plastic, there’s really nothing to be done:

Anyways, here are all the parts laid out:

In the meantime, the case finished in the ultrasonic, and it was quite dirty!

I am running it through one more time, since there was still a bunch of junk floating around in the water, even after rinsing.

It’s a little disheartening to not be able to work on this movement, but it’s very very clear that it was never meant to be worked on. I’ll just order a replacement movement.

Apr 12, 2026 8:30 PM

After three rounds through the ultrasonic:

Unfortunately, the bezel pip didn’t survive, but the rest of the case is pretty sparkling now! While the replacement movement gets delivered, I can work on polishing out some of the scratches, and re-applying the brushing. I’m still not sure what I’m going to do about the bezel spring which lost a tab. I think cleaning out the case definitely helped, but I’m not sure if one lil’ baby tab is enough to keep it in place. I’ll think about it some more.

Apr 19, 2026 8:18 PM

The replacement movement has come in, but I haven’t had the time to work on the case very much until today. I completely sanded and polished until I was satisfied, and then re-brushed. I also managed to get some lume in the bezel pip, and will let it dry for the next day. There are still some teeny tiny scratches and whorls, but you have to be looking pretty close to see them. I also decided to get a bit fancy and try out using some Kapton tape to mask parts of the bracelet during brushing. Here’s where we landed:

I’m pretty happy with how the brushing came out, but I’m not sure if the partial brushing on the bracelet works. I think the polished segment in the middle isn’t large enough, leaving the finish feeling a little unbalanced. But, it was a good first try, I think. Here’s some other work-in-progress pictures:

Apr 21, 2026 6:37 AM

I applied some black nail polish to the bezel yesterday. The numbers and dividing marks look fine, but I’m not very happy with the pip:

The lume dot isn’t really a circle, and I think I smudged some of it into the black. The UV resin coating isn’t very even, either. I think I’m going to actually try 3D printing an insert.

Apr 22, 2026 8:49 PM

Been a couple days now. I ended up printing an insert, but I may as well have just cut it out of a sheet of plastic, because the printer is far from accurate enough to get something that small and precise. And I actually had to try a couple times, because the first one ended up pinging away from my tweezers! In any case though, it ended up looking much better:

I also managed to get both the crystal, and the bezel back on the case. Getting the crystal back in was tricky, because it only fit when I put the beveled side inwards, and the gasket a certain way. Getting the bezel on was really tough too, since it is bent out of flat. I tried my best to get it flat again, but I think I flattened it too much such that the bezel spring doesn’t quite sit nicely. The bezel doesn’t really rotate any more, but I think that’s OK. It at least looks alright:

May 1, 2026 8:50 PM

I finally got around to finishing this up! I had to bend the second hand very slightly upwards so that it didn’t interfere with the minute hand. I also needed to replace the battery; I thought I had put a new one in, but apparently not! My multimeter is very handy for telling if a battery has charge or not. Here’s where we landed: