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The other day I was thinking about when I was a watchmaker and I was having problems with my posture and my neck. I was diagnosed with very sever spondylitis and was told the wear in the bones in my neck come close to someone in there 70’s I was only in my early 30’s at the time. My neck would lock and I was unable to move my head. The bones would rub each other because in some of my vertebral cartilage was none existent this also caused bad headaches and tightening of the muscles in my neck, it felt like my head was about to fall off. I had a Therapeutic counselor come around and have a look at my work shop. My work bench had to be a certain height so did all the other benches. One of the best recommendations for my posture and to help my neck was a ergonomic kneeling chair. It worked wonders for me and improved my posture and neck they are extremely comfortable. Here is the chair

Hi everyone. This watch was my Dads, he died whe I was 7 and this is pretty much the only thing I have of his but it’s not in great shape. I’m pretty sure the movement is not financially viable. Although I’ve fixed the keyless works, it’s pretty worn and I think I the balance spring is goosed. I don’t imagine it’s a cheap job to have done professionally. Anyway, I’d like to replace the movement and would like to know where to start. the current one is a Basis 17 Jewel movement which I guess aren’t available? The dial is held to the movement by two screws on the front face (see pics) at just past the 12 and 6 o’clock positions. Is this an unusual way of securing the dial? I’d love to re-use the case, hands and dial so it at least still looks like my late Fathers watch (no jokes about time keeping please!! Lol). Can anyone offer me any advice as to how I identify a suitable movement? Thanks in advance, Simon.

Don’t know why I missed the most important pic.

Found some pics of a repair of an 8620 which has a piece similarly shaped to yours at about the 5 o'clock position...

Wear a thick pair of gloves when removing springs. This is the type of winder I have. If you put a hoop around you will only be able to fit it so far, the cracks show where the wheel fits. That is why I suggested solder. In an ideal world a new barrel should be made.

Video I made or this watch with a heck of a time getting the Caseback off:

Here is the movement. Video to follow.

I keep wearing this:

Thank you for clearing that up.

And an UV light when looking for jewels.

Always check your cleaning solutions before pouring them away. Keep young children and pets out of your work area. Keep your bench top clean. (Yeah, right.) Keep your missus from cleaning your work area. (Yeah, right.) A long bar magnet and small flashlight helps. And while you are on your hands and knees ... Pray.

These blue boxes usually work fine, if the tweezers are still magnetized try again. Remember to put the tweezers over the tool and hold the red button pressed while you slowly move the tweezers away from the tool, at least one meter. Then you can release the button and test again if it worked.

I spent the afternoon reinforcing the cracked tooth. I roughed out a piece of brass, then soldered it with solder paste. The hand filed and polished it.

Here you go all the info you need about the Geneva Stopwork.

Just stumbled upon this thread and had a read though. I don't mind admitting I shed a tear for all your friends that have been lost over the years. I've been there a few times, it never gets any easier. We currently have 4. Lorenz (Lorren), Sierpinski (Spinney), Mandelbrot (Delli) and Rusty. Can you guess the one my wife named? At the beginning of lockdown I made a cardboard tank for the cats. This is now Delli's favourite place to sleep.

I just had proper opportunity to use my new Bergeron Ergonomic screwdrivers with stainless steel tips. I never thought I’d hear myself say this, but really worth the premium price. No slip and screws look like they’ve never been removed. The stainless steel blades are still looking like they are fresh from the packet. One spend I’m not regretting. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This may sound like a silly question, but have you tried sharpening the existing ones?

Unless you are working on the same exact screws day in and day out, wear on the blade is not relevant. I have found carbon steel blades are perhaps a bit more resistant, otherwise it is critical to first make sure your blade fits the screw slot. If you do this correctly, you will be adjusting for each (different) screw.

Screwdriver blades should be constantly adjusted to fit screws and prevent damage.

Hi Guys. I have always used Bergeon drivers so cannot comment on the Horotec although they do look excellent! Having recently found the need for some larger sizes I looked on cousins site and ended up buying the Bergeon 9 set below. I have found these to be excellent in all respects and they do come with spare blades so for the price I think they are great value. As a hobbyist I try to balance the cost of tools with the quality I require so for me these were a no brainer as I can sell on my old sets and recover most of the costs, complimented with a new set of Dumont tweezers I am now skint and may have to sell a watch or two :(