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And its almost done, the ALVIN covering needs to relax a little while longer, then I can adhere it down with double sided tissue tape, and then add mat edging, and finally unpack my tools, and resume work. Almost there, covering needs to relax a while longer, then to adhere and trim by Micky Aldridge, on Flickr

Douglas, To get started you will need a few basic items. These do not need to be ultra high end expensive items and some of this stuff can be purchased from Harbor Freight and Red Rooster UK for not a whole lot of money. 1) You will need something to open the watch. If it is a pry off back you will need a prying knife. If it is a screw off back you will typically need a spanner wrench. These items can be found on Ebay. 2) Once the movement is out you need a movement holder. These can be very inexpensive and can be found on Ebay. 3) You will need a set of watchmaker screwdrivers whose cost can range from inexpensive to very expensive. You can also find these on Ebay. 4) You will need some decent tweezers. Red Rooster UK sells a nice working set called STELLA TWEEZERS for about $30.00. You should also get one pair of Dumont #5 tweezers that will probably cost what you paid for the set of the other sizes. 5) You will need some form of magnification. Bausch & Lomb eye loupes are very good and not horribly expensive. Harbor Freight sells a set for less than $10.00. They are not as nice as the Bausch & Lomb but they do work. 6) You will need a way to remove the hands. The plastic bag/prybar method works well and is an affordable solution. 7) You will need a way to remove the cannon pinion. I use larger tweezers or fine tip needle nose pliers for this and have had mixed results with my cannon pinion remover This is a basic starter set and as your skills improve your can replace and add tools as your budget and interest progresses. Some of the items you posted in your pictures are sold in the Harbor Freight stores at dirt cheap prices. In general watch Mark's repair videos and look at the tools he uses. Most of the work is done with a pair of tweezers, an eye loupe and a couple of watchmaker screwdrivers. david

A word of caution the crystal glass remover/inserter is for plastic crystals, not glass crystals. It will break a glass crystal. The tool kit will give you some capability to open up a watch but there's not enough there for actual watch work. Sure, there are screwdrivers and tweezers and these will allow you to change batteries on some quartz movements (I don't want to discourage you but occasionally quartz movements can be challenging even for changing batteries so don't' be afraid to ask others if you feel there may be a problem, which is why this is a good blog to be a part of.). But there simply isn't enough to do serious work. You won't be able to do any escapement work or jeweling, for example, which are commonly encountered problems with non-functional mechanical watches. As for bracelet and band work you'll be very limited. Use caution also with the crystal/case closer. I have one like it and it's a bit wobbly. I replaced it with better ones awhile back. If you want to get serious about watchmaking you're gonna have to get a lot of tools and that's going to be very expensive and many of the most useful watchmaking tools are no longer made. To minimize cost, most of my tools are "vintage" which is to say, used tools; which I get from eBay, trade fairs, "buy outs" which I've managed to find where a watchmaker is selling his tools and we buy them all. Finding good tools takes a lot of research or expert guidance--which is why I finally decided to go to school and learn from a watchmaker with 50+ years of experience. While I've had to fork out real money from time to time, I've gotten some of my tools for pennies on the dollar; or tens of cents on the dollar. But please don't take my comments in a discouraging way. I celebrate those who want to follow the craft. I've still got a lot to learn myself (and a lot to buy). There's still a lot I can't do; for lack of skill, material, or tools. But there's a lot of satisfaction in those cases where I've succeeded. All the best to you!

I'd like to share the Hamilton Electric watches I have collected to date . I plan on expanding this collection with a few more coveted models that are just a little more scarce and with that comes the fact that they are also a bit more expensive . .....sigh... Anyway , here we go ....We all are familiar with Hamilton watches , new and vintage , and one thing that has been a constant is their beautiful and interesting designs . I have a few of their more modern and vintage mechanical models such as the X-Wind , the Odyssee 2001 , Pan Europ's , and others dating from the 40's , but I am addicted to the Electric models that were introduced in the 50's and continued up until the early 70's . Hamilton hired a designer named Richard Arbib , who was responsible for designing some classic automobiles of the time , and who also was the creator of some different eye catching Hamilton asymetrical cases . It's interesting that Hamilton only used 2 basic watch movements for all or most of these models . They being the 500 and the improved and less delicate 505 movement . About Richard Arbib : http://electric-watches.co.uk/makers/hamilton/richard-arbib/ He designed asymmetrical cases for the new Hamilton electric watches in the 1950s, including such notable models as the Ventura, Everest, and Pacer. He also designed watches for Tourneau, Benrus, Sheffield and Gucci. He designed boats for the Century Boat Company in the 1950s, notably one of their most successful and expensive models, the Coronado, as well as the Arabian model. The 500 and 505 movements : As you can see , the 500 movement has the very delicate contact springs that deliver the battery power to the coil on the balance wheel through a contact under the hairspring . From the top down starting with the balance cock , there is the hair spring , A gold tab , trip jewel pin , contact roller , the balance wheel with the coil attached , sliding finger block , actuating pin , index roller , index jewel pin , ....and some other stuff .... Needless to say , this is a tricky movement to work on . On to my collection starting with a group shot : Now I'll break it down,.... The Vega Model... It came with what I think is the original watch band because the links match the theme of the lugs that continues through the dial with a dimpled texture . I put the watch on a black leather band so you could see the design of the case better . The Everest Model :....I just got this one . It was not running so I serviced the 500 movement . It is in very good condition because I got it from the Son of the original owner who was a jeweler in Minneapolis that took it from his stock when these watches first came out in the late 50's . Very unfortunately , the jeweler passed after getting this watch and the Son just stored it until he figured it was time to pass it on to someone that would appreciate it..........I do . It came with a black leather watch band and I thought it looked to stark , so I fitted it with this nice Honey Brown Hirsch watch band . The Pacer Model : ....Very popular and the cousin to the Ventura Model , the Elvis watch . I do have a new reissue Ventura with a quartz movement . This one came non running with a 500 movement . Non-running because parts were missing including the trip and contact springs . I spent over 10 hours one Saturday working on it and finally get this watch to run properly . The Pegasus Model :... The Sea-Lectric II Model : The Titan Model :.....similar to the Van Horn model with the difference being that the Titan is 10k gold filled , and the Van Horn is solid 14k . Van Horn was a Hamilton executive at the time involved with the development of these watches . The Vantage Model :...not to be confused with the Hamilton sub-brand watch line Vantage . The Nautilus Model :...One of the many In the Nautilus Series numbered in the 200 , 400 , 500 , and 600 range . These are similar to the Skip Jack and other models . And Last , but not least I have another Nautilus Model . I don't remember the series number off hand , but it took me a while to trace the model number . I haven't seen too many of this model except in my searching to find the number for this orphan . I hope you have enjoyed looking at these watches as much as I have . As I stated earlier , I want to add a few other models to this collection including the Meteor Model . Aloha , Louis

I thought I would share my latest mishap. I was repairing a quartz (Ronda 715) which had a faulty date change. The fault was traced to a mis shaped date jumper spring. So I had to make another. I was checking it's size etc. and moved in close to get a closer look & PING straight into my mouth. I did not swallow & it did clean it up a bit I suppose.

I haven't found anything in my parts, but I'll send you a link to a guy in Missouri who has quite an inventory of parts. I don't know him, I just came across him on the internet. He has a phone number in the contacts, and he is helpful. Here is his link http://watchesbyhourminsec.com/ I'm wondering, though, if you might try jewel screws from another model, maybe the Veritas, which also had the jewelled motor barrel. Anyway, I'll keep looking... Shirley

Just get the jewel, the shellac, the combination tool to hold the roller and dive it. Assuming you have a staking set. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Reminds me of a movie called the President's analyst, quite old now but it seems nothing has changed. Also, Lily Tomlin's "Ernestine" character from Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In. plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose

Enjoyed the walkthrough. This is actually something I may need to do here soon possibly. I have an Elgin 554 movement with a broken impulse jewel. I was thinking about just buying a donor movement and replace the entire balance, but I am not sure how this would affect the timing.

Have a read of this thread, it will be very similar to the operation of the Zenith and will give you an idea of things to look out for when servicing it.

These are so called "bumper" movements and are the predecessors to full rotor autos. They are not actually particularly noisy but you can feel the rotor bouncing at each end of it's arc of movement. I have 2 or 3 in my collection and they are fun.

Very nice digginstony , I actually like the pepsi bezel a lot more on the new turtles then the 6309 and may get one . For now I opted for the black and gold model . I like the gold accents around the index's .

From the newbie on this forum. Pay attention to these guys, they are steering you in the right direction. I bought a kit very much like yours before I joined the forum. It is a start and there are some good things in this kit but .... You really need a good set of tweezers (take it from someone who tried these kit tweezers) and the heads on the screwdrivers didn't keep a straight edge, on mine the small set screw kept coming out, basically useless. Once you try to put watch hands back on, you will see your tweezers will be worth their weight in gold ! I found most of the watch band tools to be good though, including the small pin removers (really useful for the stem and crown press release button on quartz watches), the only disappointment was the twisting blue device, the pins bend and buckle when you have a stiff pin in the watch band. Your better off with the small hammer, the small pin drivers (those in this kit located with the needle nose pliers and the plastic yellow block. Even the tightest watch band retaining pins don't resist a sharp blow with the small hammer. As a kit, it is better suited for watch bands and the small parts of a watch. Here's my assessment of the kit, I hope it helps !

Agreed, I started with cheaper screwdrivers and did upgrade to Bergeon, mainly because I found the cheaper ones needed more maintenance. There are a lot of look alike Bergeon's made in China, probably not worth the money. I have found good used tools on auctions at reasonable prices, just a lot of time spent searching/bidding. If your source turn out to be good, then make an effort to purchase. Your choices would depend if the majority of repairs are either wrist or pocket watches. In other words, if the bulk of your repairs are wristwatches, then a crystal lift is essential. Mainspring winders are also optional if you get good enough to wind spring into barrel by hand. (easier on pocket watches than wristwatches). Those all in one "kits" are cheap, for a reason. While they provide the basics, but they are not meant to last. Overall a very sound list and advice provided by david. Good Luck!

Being new to the repair game, I spend a disproportionate amount of time on the floor. The room above would still have a black hole...and a spring would still ping into the ceiling... Ron

When starting out in this there is usually an affordability issue. Most of the people who have been doing this for a long time tend to forget the situation they were in when they started out. Many of the more experienced watch repair people are quick to recommend high end professional grade tools to a beginner. After all, one cannot go wrong telling a person buying their first car to purchase a Rolls Royce. It is certainly a nice comfortable car. I feel that it is best to start with a modest investment, then replace and add as your skill level progresses. Clearly the bargain priced tools are not as nice as the high end stuff but they can get the job done. Until a person gets a feel as to what the tools do, and they themselves develop and understanding of the quality differences, it is best to stay with what they can afford until they learn these differences. There is also the more recent issue of inexpensive tools and expensive tools being made in the same Chinese factories. One tool will be stamped made in China while the other tool will say Bergeon, but in truth, both items are made in the same Chinese factory. Outside of the marketing name they are the same tool. With time and experience a person can learn to spot this as well. david

I'm sure I will be inspired, confused, dazzled and just generally humbled by the contents of this, but I'm looking forward to every page!

I find the best way to find a lost part is to order the replacement. I usually find the lost part very shortly after!

Strange the wife is always saying that too

Are you able to give me the grade of the watch, or the serial number? I can't read it on the photo you sent.