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Hello from Borneo

suomaf

By suomaf
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suomaf Watch Enthusiast

suomaf

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Posted

Hello everyone.

I fell down the watch rabbit hole during covid lockdowns, then promptly got me into modding watches and now I find myself staring at too many tools and watches that I have assembled for friends and family. I would like to see how deep this hole goes. I think the next step is to do Mark's 3 courses. I know that in the FAQ he mentioned that the movement to get to follow along is the Unitas 6498 or Seagull 3620. Can anyone let me know if it matters that I get the 6497 instead? Thinking after the practice, i can make a nice little gift for one of my god children. 

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  • 3 months later...
suomaf Watch Enthusiast

suomaf

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Hey guys, 

I am sure this is not usually done, adding to your own introduction but the journey has been so interesting and I just wanted to share.

I had mentioned in the original post that I fell down a rabbit hole for watches. A few years back i had bought about some Casio watches for my staff for thanking them for being with the company for 10 years. When one of my managers decided to retire, I saw that he was still wearing the watch that I had given to him 10 years ago. I dug mine out. Swapping out a battery and I had a watch on my wrist again.

Youtube then started to show me more and more videos about watch collections. Being weak minded with little to no self control, that got me itching to actually have a watch collection. I started looking at what I could afford. This lead me down a path of cheap 3 watch collections. Seiko kept on popping up.

Google and youtube algorithm then quickly lead me down Seiko modding. And very soon after that, the cheapskate in me said, they seem to mod everything, why do I have to buy an actual Seiko to mod, when I get all the parts and assemble. It means that I could play with more watches with the same amount of money.  

Motivated by my cheapness, I fell down further the rabbit hole. I am now stalking junk, needs repair and as is watches on eBay. I recently got a Lordmatic listed as junk status and got it running. Quite proud of myself. Springs and screws and swearing was flying all over the place when I disassemble and assemble. I would like to really get the quick date set working too, but the metal star is actually more than what I pay for the Lordmatic. Not to mention that the cheapest staking set is more than 5 times what I paid for the watch.  That is for another day.

I also got myself one of those watch boxes, and the wife made me promise, No new watches, UNLESS it is to be given away or it fits in the box. That means that any watch I get either by assembling them, or buying a junk on ebay and getting it working needs to fit in the box. If it does not, then my friends and family gets it. Most of my family now has at least 2 watches each.

This is a fun journey, I have now acquired more tools than watches. Am having so much fun along the way. It is good to know that the more I learn, the more I know that I do not know. Thank you everyone here for being so kind to share knowledge.

 

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grsnovi Distinguished Member

grsnovi

Posted
Posted

Thanks for the intro suomaf, welcome to the WRT forum! I'm also relatively new and I'm in the middle of my first service of an Elgin Grade 313 movement.

I also did one of Mark's courses after discovering this site. I'm holding off on doing any more as I think that working through my own experiences (with close watching of free YT videos) would be better for me. I'd be interested in hearing your opinion of the cost/benefit of Mark's courses if you've done any.

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