I have just completed the restoration of a 'Bullhead' 6138-0040 from April '76.
This was one of those projects which at first glance seemed like it was going to be easy, but after the initial appraisal felt like it might be somewhat arduous and potentially a borderline case to turn down.
Here it is on the left, as received
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well, that's not entirely accurate - it came on an AM fishbone bracelet which with 20mm ends was a VERY tight fit into the 19mm lugs. That coupled with the use of 20mm springs bars with no shoulders meant that after some time trying to get a purchase on the spring part (impossible) I had to resort to drilling the spring bar out. Not a great start.
First things to note were an incorrect and very badly worn crown and an incorrect acrylic crystal
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the case itself looked ok'ish, albeit a bit over polished.
Removing the caseback revealed extensive rust and rust damage to the caseback closing surface (there was also significant rust under the bezel)
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and a missing movement case spring. But, there was worse to come .......
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the chrono bridge and the autowind framework have both been abused - I assume to remove surface rust.
Removing the movement from the case revealed missing pusher gaskets and a rather lack lustre dial and hands
![]()
that said, these are all original and did show some potential.
There was plenty to do here
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Prior to stripping the movement down I took a baseline timegrapher reading and was surprised to see a reasonable trace
![]()
the movement stripdown revealed a few issues
1 - swimming with oil
![]()
![]()
2 - rust damage to the barrel bridge (around the reset lever and stud) and elsewhere
![]()
3 - a chipped jewel in the chrono bridge
![]()
4 - rust in various places, including the diashock setting in the mainplate
![]()
but, the movement cleaned up nicely (with some elbow grease / cleaning many of the parts by hand).
![]()
and with some replacement parts (barrel bridge, chrono bridge, autowind framework, new crown and stem and a few screws) it came together nicely
![]()
![]()
and has a super stable timegrapher trace (I'm on a roll lately!!)
![]()
it was then time to fit the relumed dial and painted/relumed hands
![]()
and then re-case it, with a new Sternkreuz crystal, NOS crown and a new stem
![]()
(the original was about 1.5mm too short).
![]()
it turned out a lot better than I thought it was going to.
This was one of those projects which at first glance seemed like it was going to be easy, but after the initial appraisal felt like it might be somewhat arduous and potentially a borderline case to turn down.
Here it is on the left, as received
well, that's not entirely accurate - it came on an AM fishbone bracelet which with 20mm ends was a VERY tight fit into the 19mm lugs. That coupled with the use of 20mm springs bars with no shoulders meant that after some time trying to get a purchase on the spring part (impossible) I had to resort to drilling the spring bar out. Not a great start.
First things to note were an incorrect and very badly worn crown and an incorrect acrylic crystal
the case itself looked ok'ish, albeit a bit over polished.
Removing the caseback revealed extensive rust and rust damage to the caseback closing surface (there was also significant rust under the bezel)
and a missing movement case spring. But, there was worse to come .......
the chrono bridge and the autowind framework have both been abused - I assume to remove surface rust.
Removing the movement from the case revealed missing pusher gaskets and a rather lack lustre dial and hands
that said, these are all original and did show some potential.
There was plenty to do here
Prior to stripping the movement down I took a baseline timegrapher reading and was surprised to see a reasonable trace
the movement stripdown revealed a few issues
1 - swimming with oil
2 - rust damage to the barrel bridge (around the reset lever and stud) and elsewhere
3 - a chipped jewel in the chrono bridge
4 - rust in various places, including the diashock setting in the mainplate
but, the movement cleaned up nicely (with some elbow grease / cleaning many of the parts by hand).
and with some replacement parts (barrel bridge, chrono bridge, autowind framework, new crown and stem and a few screws) it came together nicely
and has a super stable timegrapher trace (I'm on a roll lately!!)
it was then time to fit the relumed dial and painted/relumed hands
and then re-case it, with a new Sternkreuz crystal, NOS crown and a new stem
(the original was about 1.5mm too short).
it turned out a lot better than I thought it was going to.
