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Sberry

By Sberry
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Sberry New Member

Sberry

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Hello -

I started getting interested in watches about 10 years ago when I interviewed a local watchmaker for a design project in school. I picked up a 1965 Seiko Weekdater around that time and have sent it away to be rebuilt once since then, wearing it daily, pleasantly ticking away on my wrist.

My wife's father passed recently and I was given his daily-worn 1976 Bulova Accutron in non-working condition. I finally got around to trying to sort it out and I was surprised to find that it needed more than a battery and also surprised when researching that the movement is so different and transitional. I would not really dream of tangling directly with the Accutron guts so I sent it off to someone with more direct knowledge and an appropriate parts-bin for it (works great, now).

Along the way, though, my own interest was piqued and I looked around for more simple watches that I could perhaps learn on, with the objective of being able to service them and know them. Soon I had several decades-old soviet watches in the mail from Kiev which I'm having fun wearing and restoring but would eventually like to service. 

Now I have an ST-36 on the way, a very-expensive set of small screwdrivers and tweezers, magnification, and I've sprung on this course bundle after surveying a few options. 

 I have a background of software, and lots of automotive projects large and small, but nothing so fussy and tiny as watch maintenance in my resume. Hoping that pure curiosity and interest can push me forward through any frustrations. Glad to join this community and please wish me luck!

steve

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      I also still use my cheap first set of screwdrivers. I replaced the blades of the smallest (0.6mm) with higher quality once I had bent a few of the originals, but beyond that I have been fine. Note though that I do not work on any remotely valuable watches and most of what I deal with are in a truly terrible state, watches that have been banging around in kitchen drawers or toolboxes. So my concern for screw head slot integrity and scratches is usually not very high.  As for a loupe - you won't need anything powerful for an ST36 that is new. You don't need to do close inspection of balance pivots because they will not be worn out, and a 3x or 5x loupe is perfectly sufficient to see the oiling. I don't have any microscope or powerful magnification of any sort. I just use cheap loupes. But again this would be different if I were working with more valuable watches. And if I had equipment to burnish pivots, then I would get a microscope to check my work.
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      I've recently switched over to using a x2.5 -x3 eyeglass for disassembly and some larger part assembly. It's interesting to see how accustomed and trained your eyes become to that way of working after using a microscope for years. And pick up and work at eyelevel when possible. Personally I would stick with and learn to use regular oilers efficiently. 
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