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Yes, I too hate the h/spring stud screw. So easy to slip and wreck the hairspring, especially ladies watches!! In the past with the screw in-situ I have stripped a small piece of insulation off a suitably sized small electric wire, just a mm or 2, and slipped it on to the screw or screwdriver. This stops the screwdriver form slipping off, but means you have to rely on feel for it going into the screw slot. Can sometimes work to fit the screw as the insulation has enough friction to allow the screw to start. Otherwise I find a well dressed screwdriver just a bit wider than the the screw also helps !!

Picked this up yesterday as it looked fairly interesting, and I don’t have any very early clocks. I think this one is early 1700’s. Loomes showed a similar long case clock by the same maker here: https://www.brianloomes.com/collecting/sleeper/sleeper.html#movement The clock appears to be very dusty and the oil looks gungey, but otherwise seems ok. Presuming this is 30hr, but I don’t actually know for sure yet. The weight which it came with has a small hook to the top, so was not sure if this should attach to a pulley. It came from the house of a deceased relative. I’ve taken off the bell for the photos and the pendulum is not in the photos either. Oddly, the pendulum measures 110cm, so not sure if it’s a seconds pendulum or not - I suppose I can do a train count when I have it apart.

Or even Rodico. And you can just pick it off once the screw is started a little.

On a related topic...not so much with small screws... When I pick up a screw...a plate screw or something...it is invariably oriented incorrectly in my tweezer. Just the other day, I discovered the idea of dropping the screw into an available LARGE hole so that its head is neatly exposed and easily captured so that the screw is orthogonal to the plate--just how I want it to place into its proper hole!!

Especially the ones on the underside of the plate, where you have to hold it in place with a finger and put the screw through and try to find the hole in the setting lever. But after while it's not that bad. The hairspring stud screw gets my vote. The other one that irks me are those tiny jewel plate screws. And all the screws in ladies watches.

Most important is the size and condition of the screwdriver. On most watches I usually work with 2 screwdrivers, the 1mm and the 0.7 but I have a whole bunch of different sized ones for 'special cases'. Example a big screw head (1.6mm) will usually require a similarly sized screwdriver, but the slot width varies from watch to watch...some have really thin slots (like the screw holding the automatic weight on a Seiko 6xxx) which require a broad, thin blade. using a narrow thin screwdriver will mess up the screw and/or the screwdriver tip. Wrt to the condition, the tips must be flat in profile from both sides.. ie the wide part needs to be really flat and the edge needs to be flat as well. This will enable the blade to sit squarely in the slot and it wont try to ride up and out of the slot. Dressing screwdrivers and tweezers is part of the routine and I do it at least once every two weeks (probably after working on 3-4 watches). Personally, the most irritating screws for me are some of the dial feet screws where you have to hold the mainplate edgewise and try to start the screw.. I usually use rodico to hold the screw in place. Anilv

With a magnet

To learn watch repair there is one obvious place to go to since you are at this site. https://www.watchfix.com/ Then there is another site if you decide watchmaking, is your thing. https://learnwatchmaking.com/ The skill and knowledge you find between these two sites is probably the only thing you need to get you going.

I usually use these when I polish the screwheads, think it is great when someone think out of the box and finds more use of them. -great stuff @LittleWatchShop

looks like you have a very interesting clock and the history behind it look forward to following your progress with it are the plates cast iron

Hey rowbear. Thanks. I now have a fully functioning as 1906 movement. I put my wheel in small vice and used trusty hammer to achieve what you did with staking tool. Much appreciated. cheers gary