Greetings and salutations.

[Noquartz]

I collect watches and want to know what makes them tick. 

[Klassiker]

Succinct. Welcome!

[grsnovi]

26 minutes ago, Noquartz said:

and want to know what makes them tick

There's a little tiny speaker inside hooked up to a...

Welcome to the forum!

Here's a web page that has a ton of animated bits explaining the mechanics of a watch. It's very well done.

You might also sign up for Mark's online courses. #2 and #3 are both very good. #1 is very basic and good if you know nothing and have never watched a YouTube video where somebody takes a watch that was dragged through the mud and makes it run perfect and sparkle - all in less than an hour (well, not counting the parts that get edited out).

[Noquartz]

I have watched scores of videos of hobbyists servicing watches. They make it look like something I can do. The first thing I noticed when I tried simple things is the videos are magnified 100 times.

I bought an old pocket watch to practice on; they have bigger parts.  If watch parts were as big as car parts I would be able to get my hammer and dive right in.

I would be happy just being able to open my watches timing them and keeping them water resistant.  I'll have to hold off on complete servicing for a bit.

[grsnovi]

1 minute ago, Noquartz said:

the videos are magnified 100 times

Easy enough to fix with a loupe of the right magnification. 10x for really close stuff but 4x will work for general viewing. I sometimes wear a lighted visor.

 

[Nucejoe]

Welcome 

[Noquartz]

I bought tools that included a loop.  I'm going to have get one with a head gear and light.  Even the inexpensive Chinese stuff gets expensive when one is starting from scratch.

I am able to resize a bracelet that has push pins. I lost screws on another bracelet, they were smaller that a milometer.  My eyes are as old as I am and things that small just go poof. I'm going to setup am enclosed work area.