Search the Community

Hi all. So, to introduce myself. Always had a fascination with watches. Anything that ticks. Same with engines. Always been in awe of the engineers that create these marvels and never thought I'd be able to fettle with either as it all looks so complicated from the outside. Anyhow, now I'm hurtling towards "middle age", I've adopted the attitude that everything is worth a go. I may not be the expert but certainly willing to learn and develop knowledge. So whilst the classic Mini is parked up with a fuel leak, whilst the models have been left to dry after air brushing; I thought I'd turn my hand to another hobby that's been boiling away on the back ring of life - horology. Yes, got grandad's gold wrist watch tucked away (Roamer Incabloc). Not touching that as i fear it may self combust if i touch its inner parts. So I thought it'd be a good idea to purchase a "spares or repair" pocket watch movement for pennies and learn the basics on that. So far so good. Said watch is now disassembled. Prob only a two jeweller with a makers mark of a 6 point star in a circle with what i think is a D in it. Probably made by a bloke on Fleetwood docks in 1900. Who knows. What's important is that it's a starting point. On order, and more importantly, are two trench watches. Bday in a few weeks so was able to pass these purchases off as "gifts from the family" as opposed to "spending our hard earned money on more rubbish". Looking forward to reading this forum and youtube and learning so much from the generations of craftspeople and engineers out there. Cheers, Andy (aka Loopylad)

Hi everyone, hoping I might be able to get some advice on re-assembling my watch movement. Working on a Bfg-866 movement from an older watch I got as something to practice and attempt to fix. I disassembled it and managed to get the arbour back in it's rightful place in the mainspring, which fixed the winding issue I had had with it. However, on putting the movement back together I got the train wheels all in place and made sure they could all move smoothly after fitting the wheel bridge back into place, however when I try to test wind it without the crown it would wind up and add tension, but nothing would move and the spring wouldn't unwind. I don't have the pallet fork or anything else in while testing this, and double checking everything seems to move smoothly, and the mainspring wheel had a tiny bit of play side to side, seeming to imply it isn't caught on anything either. Am I missing an obvious issue here? Feel so close to having it working and any advice to get it going is much appreciated (Apologies for any part naming mistakes, still pretty new here. If I can get this watch to run, as it so nearly did before these issues, it will be my first successful repair, hence my eagerness!) Thanks in advance Callum

Hi Everyone! Newbie here. My name is Ross and I live in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. My experience with watches extends to changing the batteries in my and my families watches, shortening up watch bands and that's about it. I've ordered and received a bunch of starter tools to begin my exploration of watch repair and I look forward to being able to tap this huge resource that everyone is kind enough to share. It's wonderful that people choose to share their knowledge with us newbies and I wish I could reciprocate. I'm an electronics technician, some forty years at that, currently working in industrial wire marker printer repair. Thanks to everyone for sharing! Rossco