Jump to content

What does electronics and watchmaking have in common?

mooredan

By mooredan
in Introduce Yourself Here

 Share

Recommended Posts

mooredan Member

mooredan

Posted
Posted

Hello, I'm Dan a new member, and a brand new watchmaker!  I'm an Electrical Engineer professionally and an electronics designer/tinkerer/hobbyist for even longer.  I've been obsessed with time and timekeeping forever.  I've even built both a 60 kHz WWVB receiver and transmitter (that's the "atomic clock" radio station near Fort Collins, Colorado).

Anyway, I inherited a couple of pocket watches: a Hamilton 992 railroad grade from my father about 10 years ago (it probably belonged to my great-grandfather) -- it had a broken crystal, wound tight, and wasn't running.  Under a magnifier, I tweezed away the lint and hairs that were binding the hands and miraculously it began running!  Ordered a couple of new-old-stock crystals and got it fitted. It's been sitting on the shelf since getting an occasional wind.

More recently, I found a 1908 Elgin 12s 7-jewel grade 301 in a box that I inherited from my brother. Again no crystal, a broken hand, rusted case, and not running reliably -- looks like the second hand is rubbing against the dial hole.  This prompted me to add on another hobby to my resume -- watchmaking, so I can properly service and repair this.

Santa brought a nice wooden tool chest and a multitude of tools (some still on the way) and I ordered this mess of a movement off of ebay for learning:

https://pocketwatchdatabase.com/collection/editdetails/131416/overview

s-l1600.thumb.jpg.34c30a0ec531b57aa729852cc375589b.jpg

It was wound tight, rusted, and seized.  Disassembled it and found two major issues: escape wheel's staff had corroded so much that it fused itself into the bridge,  the balance had corroded too and "leaked" its rust onto the hairspring gluing it together. Good news is that the jewels are in good shape, and no broken staffs.  Repaired what I could, cleaned it and now it runs, but not very well.  I have another donor movement on its way.

800BE620-21CA-4B75-B9F9-AD0370017D45.thumb.jpg.c8fcf6058d88f2bcd711d2acb9be59ae.jpg

 

Thanks for reading this far and now to answer the question. Among the similarities are: require a strict attention to detail, working with small parts under magnification, share some common tools, and provide a great deal of mental stimulation.

Best regards,

Dan

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
JohnR725 Distinguished Member

JohnR725

Posted
Posted
7 hours ago, mooredan said:

Thanks for reading this far and now to answer the question. Among the similarities are: require a strict attention to detail, working with small parts under magnification, share some common tools, and provide a great deal of mental stimulation.

Are you sure that's the only things in common?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
watchweasol Distinguished Member

watchweasol

Posted
Posted

In any repair/service discipline it required just that discipline avoid bodging and do quality work. Having worked in the service industry for over 50yrs any substandard repairs always bit back repeat faults were not appreciated. and I hated having to do others slap happy repairs where a cobbled reair failed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
spectre6000 Distinguished Member

spectre6000

Posted
Posted (edited)

Are you saying you're located near Ft. Collins and worked on the transmitter, or just referencing the atomic clock at NIST in Boulder? My buddy works there (affiliated institute, but on timekeeping projects directly associated), and there's another member here whose brother works at the same affiliated institute and on the same project. It'd be pretty crazy to tie that small world knot twice in the same forum...

Edited by spectre6000
Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 4 weeks later...
mooredan Member

mooredan

Posted
  • Author
Posted

@spectre6000, sorry I didn't see your reply earlier.  I did live in Fort Collins for many years and visited the WWVB transmitter site (actually just north of Fort Collins, closer to the town of Wellington I think).  I didn't work on that transmitter but built my own 60 kHz low power transmitter to test a receiver that I was building.  Now in Oregon, the signal is sketchy during the day.  Quite a satisfying project as I could set the clocks in my house to any time and date that I wanted -- my very own "wayback" machine.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
 Share
Go to topic listing


  • Recently Browsing

    • No registered users viewing this page.

  • Topics

  • Posts

    • HorologyHead
      Can someone please explain watchmaker service mark interpretation?

      By HorologyHead · Posted

      H Watch Repairers—is there is a ‘standard format’ for the service marks or codes lightly engraved inside cases of pocket watches or wristwatches?   Sometimes I can see there might be a reference to year/ month but other times am confused. I’ve included an image of the rear of a 1951 Hamilton 992B Railroad pocket watch as an example. Thank you for all information you can give, Mike
    • HorologyHead
      Intro

      By HorologyHead · Posted

      Hi to Blackminou29–am a collector/ caretaker—good luck to you following your repair course—with hindsight I wish I’d pursued a career in both watchmaker/ jeweler fields—good luck with whatever career passion you engage.   Thank you Watchweasol for posting the amazing TZIllustratedGlossary! Best wishes, Mike
    • JohnR725
      Seiko 6601 Tech Sheet?

      By JohnR725 · Posted

      yes I noticed the new site and I miss the old site. It's the unfortunate problem of the Internet here today gone tomorrow sometimes some of the stuff gets backed up and sometimes well it does not then the problem with the early Seiko's were there were not necessarily designed for distribution across the planet and as such there is no customer support for them. So trying to find early stuff like technical information or sometimes even parts list for older Seiko is is problematic. But I did find you a you tube video. A quick look he seems to take a heck of a lot of time to actually get to the service single I did not watch all that but it does look like he did disassemble or started to say there's a tiny bit here  
    • HorologyHead
      An intro…

      By HorologyHead · Posted

      RichardHarris123: Hello and welcome from Leeds, England.  I have family all over Australia, went as £10 poms Thanks Richard. Hope you’re able to visit your family here and that they’ve all done well 🙂 My relatives arrived from England in the 1790s transported on the ‘Second & Third Fleets’—a story of timber sailing ships, of convicts and doing well in this huge Country of Australia. When I visited the UK in the 1980s, I was too young to comprehend the depth and breadth of its history…  Best wishes, Mike William Chapman, my 4th great Grandad’s charges, at age 23 read at the Old Bailey; sentenced to 7 years of transportation to Sydney.
    • Endeavor
      New balance staff not riveting to balance

      By Endeavor · Posted

      The whole process and the progress are closely observed, it's hand-driven and very controlled. I can't see the "danger", unless you are watching the TV while doing it. As you could have read, and in this quote "wheel" is the balance-wheel.
×
×
  • Create New...