Practice

[FrankMachin]

hi all

What's best to practice on?  old broken non working watches people are selling dirt cheap in places like marketplace or something else?

 

cheers

Edited March 14, 2022 by FrankMachin

[jdrichard]

54 minutes ago, FrankMachin said:

hi all

What's best to practice on?  old broken non working watches people are selling dirt cheap in places like marketplace or something else?

 

cheers

Buy old working watches off eBay or ETSY. They usually come in batches and are cheap. Then use these to disassemble and reassemble. You can wind them with a screwdriver over the mainspring ratchet wheel. That way you will know if your reassembly worked. Take your time.

[kibbler]

It's best to start with a movement that is functioning, so you know once you have it back together whether you have assembled it correctly.

Mark's watch repair course uses a chinese ETA 6497/6498 clone, I believe

[oldhippy]

I always advise someone who is just starting, start on a pocket watch movement (not the fusee type) The movements are the same as as a basic watch, you don't need to bother getting it to work, it gives you good practice on how to hold tweezers, watchmakers screw drivers and using your eye glass.  

[FrankMachin]

Three diffferent pieces of advice.. you guys trying to confuse me?

[kibbler]

59 minutes ago, FrankMachin said:

Three diffferent pieces of advice.. you guys trying to confuse me?

I guess it depends where you are in your journey, are you just trying to get some experience dealing with small watch parts, or are you trying to practice correct reassembly?

Trying to get a non-working movement to actually work again should come after, either way.

[HectorLooi]

They are all good advice. If you are totally new to watch repair, working on any watch will give you practice. Basic skills like tweezering, picking up small parts, flipping them over, rotating it in your hands and not dropping them or squeezing so hard that they ping away. Learning how to use screwdrivers without slipping and creating scratches. Learning to shape, dress and maintain your tools.

Learning how to disassemble a watch. Learning how to clean by hand. Working with springy things. How to handle mainsprings and hairsprings. 

All the above skills can only be mastered by hours of practice. So start somewhere. Anywhere.

As for the advice on getting a working watch is for a beginner to know the proper functioning of a watch. I've seen many non-working watches on eBay with unusual damage that was probably caused by a careless watchmaker. 

When you successfully take apart a watch, clean, oil and reassemble it, there is no better satisfaction than seeing the balance beating away.