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spectre6000 Distinguished Member

spectre6000

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https://www.uncommongoods.com/product/diy-watchmaking-kit-medium-difficulty

I was scrolling through this site over lunch halfway looking for a desk fidget toy for my toddler so she doesn't try to grab things she shouldn't when we're "working". I stumbled on this. Miyota 8215, sapphire crystal, stainless case (if you get the silver one)... Pretty decent. One thing caught my eye though that gave me some serious pause/raised questions that are not answered. See if you can spot it.

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spectre6000 Distinguished Member

spectre6000

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Continued scrolling and found this one:

https://www.uncommongoods.com/product/diy-watchmaking-kit-hard-difficulty

Actual ETA movement. "Hard difficulty" seems to mean a small seconds hand, and it looks like maybe they removed the ratchet wheel and click? Still, same pause/questions as the "medium difficulty" version.

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spectre6000 Distinguished Member

spectre6000

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Exactly what I wanted to know!

It also took me a second on those giant pliers, but I think they're most likely for cutting the stem. After a few hours of it rattling around in the back of my head, I'm thinking the superglue MIGHT be to glue the crown on the stem...? Best guess. Next best guess is that they only have a single size screwdriver in the kit, and dial retention screws tend to be itty bitty... Might be the glue is to hold the dial on? That would be awful, but that was my knee jerk reaction owing to a recent experience. Hands and spring bars loose in that little plastic container seems a bit iffy as well, but maybe that's not actually how they're shipped...? 

The "Hard difficulty" version is cheaper than the "Medium difficulty" version, and comes with a 17 jewel ETA instead of a 21 jewel Miyota. I would have expected the ETA to be more expensive, but admittedly it's too difficult for me to buy ETA parts anyway, so I don't keep a thumb on that pulse. I don't think I ever came across an "Easy difficulty" version. I'm not completely sure what it is about the "Hard" version that's more challenging than the "Medium" one. The small second hand pivot can be pretty fragile maybe. Surely the ratchet wheel/click being removed isn't what they're intimating is more difficult though. I'm not sure what other differences there are between the two kits from an assembly perspective. Installing that would be much easier than... installing hands? I don't know. None of the activities involved in assembling either kit register as part of a service; just stuff you do when you're all done to sort of clean up before moving onto the next thing...

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