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I thought I'd try one of these as an alternative to a loupe - which I've been constantly swapping for spectacles - works a treat! Cheap and cheerful but good enough for my use when using both hands.

I don't buy quartz watches as a rule, and I only have two automatics - preferring hand wound movements, as many of you know, probably to the point of boredom! But - I spotted this for sale on another forum, got the asking price dropped a tad, and went for it. I think it's actually rather nice, and I just love the way the glass curves towards the lugs. (Hope I never need a new glass...)

I've only been working on watch movement for a couple of months, and am really enjoying it. Here's what I recommend to you do and have before you start. 1. Watch LOTS of Marks videos on youtube and get familiar with the Keyless work system BEFORE you start. 2. If you don't have a Loupe for you eye (3x or 3.5x )... buy one, they are cheap and needed. Also make sure you have good lighting. 3. Take LOTS of photos with a digital camera ... and I mean LOTS. Every step you do removing parts, document it with photos from it least 2 angles ... use the "Marco" setting on your camera if it has it. 4. Proceed slowly, carefully and gently. 5. Be confident, and enjoy the adventure :)

Hi, Another thing you can do is just search the internet for lift angles for whatever caliber movement you are concerned with. I have downloaded several sheets with lots of different watches and calibers. On the Chinese machines they will automatically tell you if you are in beat or not and how far off you may be. They will also automatically tell you how fast or slow your watch may be. Once you plug in the lift angle it will tell you the amplitude of the watch. The one I have defaults to an angle of 52 but you can manually set others. Charles K

Nothing wrong with the pictures Vic, thanks for showing me. I find they are great and very illustrative. That's fine work you are doing there. I, like you, also bought a few movements recently and it is taking me a long time to restore them since I can't live with a single one not working so the work is extensive: No watch left behind !? I originally thought about a sacrificial movement when I was buying them but then I ended up buying the parts they needed and so the last one is ticking away too! I feel I should start a Society for Protection of Endangered Watches but the acronim won't help much I guess! :) In any case, keep up the good work!

Here are a couple of photos. The quality is not great as they were taken through the scope with my iPhone but you can make out most of it. The first is the Index and Pawl fingers and the second shows the jewels on the index wheel. When i was in LA I bought about half a dozen movements for spares and luckily two of them are humming so I don't think thats a bad result. This is one of the worst and will probably just be stripped down for spares, it is has been savaged and is very dirty. The collet tool fitted over the post and was used to bend the post slightly to raise or lower the jewel with respect to centralising it on the index wheel. Also the tool could be used to rotate the collet to move the spring finger nearer to or further from the index wheel. I hope that with my dremel and a diamond disk I can fashion the needle to fit over the post with a small point left on one side of the needle to locate in the gap on the collet so I can turn it. You can of course get by with tweezers and an old oiler but it would be nice to have a more "positive" tool. On the picture the left finger is the index and is attached to the tuning fork, simplistically that one pushes and with the correct draw keeps the watch running and the pawl finger is attached to the watch body and locates on the index wheel to stop the index wheel running back. Cheers, Vic

Inspired by you I have ordered some hypodermic needles. I needed fine steel tube to make a pawl/index finger adjuster for my Accutrons. At 99p for 10 with free postage I have now found a cheap supply of fine. Steel tubing.