6 month in

[rossjackson01]

6+ months since I stared this hobby

Thoughts

Rewarding? Yes.

Frustrating? Yes.

Learning curve. Easy, because of YouTube videos. Hard, as a result of physical expertise. 'Ping' and 'Slip' make for great skill retention.

Cost. Cheap but expensive. Cheap, in that the tools are not all that expensive. Expensive in that a lot of items are needed to gain expertise.

Maintenance of expense. Initial purchase of tools to keep cost down does work, only a few need replacing as more experience is gained. However the need for explicit tools makes the expense demanding.

Biggest expense. Watches and movements. Watches to be worked on, movements and spares to repair the watches and to replace the 'pinged' parts.  

Biggest benefit. Mark Lovick's course.

 

Comment

Watch Repair Talk forum is excellent. All the help I could need was freely given. YouTube videos make learning enjoyable. My mistake is the amount of knowledge and skill needed to service even the easiest watch. Too many watches. Had watches as a youngster. I'll get another one of each and do them up. Wrong. I've owned  number of Swiss watches, Didn't realise that movements were not specific to the name of the watch. 

Could I help a beginner? Not in learning, as I am still a newcomer. However I would like to make an observation. It would have helped considerable if the 'trainers' offered this advice.

Hello, welcome. It's a great hobby. Consider beginning on one watch only. Don't get to many. All are the same, but vastly different.  There are many YouTube video'ers who offer great tutorial. But stick to one watch. 

 

6 months down the line. What would I do different?

As above, but would have made a note of the watches I owned. What ones were working and those that were not. Keep a log of the watches that I have worked on. Note what is damaged and what is replaced. Saves duplication in purchases. Why buy a movement when you already have an old watch with the same movement.

Keep a note of expenditure. My watch purchases were double my tools???

Will I stop? Heck, no. Beginning to understand the rudiment. Long way to go. 

Started to have learned earlier? 73 yrs young and I've still got plenty of time left.

 

Onward and upward.

Regards to all.

Ross

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Neverenoughwatches]

1 hour ago, rossjackson01 said:

Could I help a beginner? 

You already have Ross with this post matey.  

[grsnovi]

Greetings Ross,

I could sense that you've been frustrated. You've been at this a month or two longer than I have and I don't feel like I'm where I "should" be but I'm OK with how it's going. One thing I did was to keep a running spreadsheet of everything I spent (including shipping) and it's been quite a bit more than I would have imagined AND I haven't purchased a time grapher or mainspring winders.

I think rather than suggesting that we start with a pocket watch (because they're larger) the suggestion should be to start with a watch that is running. When we start with a 100 year-old pocket watch:  

1. You first have to diagnose why it isn't running - as beginners we don't have the skill to do so.
2. You often have to find parts, the obvious way might be to purchase but that doesn't work on a 100 year-old watch so you're left with trying to find a donor movement that is EXACTLY the same (even then you need to know about variations that may have been made over the production years).

There should be some way to get 50 drops of he right oils needed to do the first watch you're working on. Spending $200 to get 5 bottles of Moebius is stupid.

Hang in there!

- Gary

[Neverenoughwatches]

12 minutes ago, grsnovi said:

Greetings Ross,

I could sense that you've been frustrated. You've been at this a month or two longer than I have and I don't feel like I'm where I "should" be but I'm OK with how it's going. One thing I did was to keep a running spreadsheet of everything I spent (including shipping) and it's been quite a bit more than I would have imagined AND I haven't purchased a time grapher or mainspring winders.

I think rather than suggesting that we start with a pocket watch (because they're larger) the suggestion should be to start with a watch that is running. When we start with a 100 year-old pocket watch:  

1. You first have to diagnose why it isn't running - as beginners we don't have the skill to do so.
2. You often have to find parts, the obvious way might be to purchase but that doesn't work on a 100 year-old watch so you're left with trying to find a donor movement that is EXACTLY the same (even then you need to know about variations that may have been made over the production years).

There should be some way to get 50 drops of he right oils needed to do the first watch you're working on. Spending $200 to get 5 bottles of Moebius is stupid.

Hang in there!

- Gary

Any contribution that anyone makes will always help at least one person so that in itself makes it worth doing .

[Paul80]

Welcome to the 6 months club, we must have started about the same time.

For me it's not a good hobby to get into, I have OCD along with other memory issues, I have spent far too much on tools in such a short time.  Apparently I am a collector of tools not watches although I do have a few of those as well all bought broken and all fixed and working but not a collection, but oh those tools I can't get enough.  Just about to place another order for more.

If you have OCD find a cheap hobby, now find a cheap hobby because I can't and I have tried loads over the years, Photography, Fishing, Radio controlled planes, radio controlled cars, radio controlled boats, carpentry, Model Railways, Military Modelling to name just a few and a small fortune spent and lost a small fortune on them all.

I still do a couple of them but hope Watch repairs is the last new one, well swmbo hopes it's the last. 

[rossjackson01]

Gosh! It's nice to know others like me are out there at roughly the same stage. 

I retried. Got bored. Get a hobby. Using Udemy. Learned Databases, then Excel. Photography using Serif Affinity. Completed a digital Photography course with Affinity Revolution. Then came Covid. Learned Video Editing using Vegas Pro. 2 years without leaving our parkhome site. All of these courses cost only about £15 each. Great value. Computing is ok, but does not give a sense of achievement. Trawling through Youtube, saw a tutorial on watches. Wow! Bought a book. Like Paaul 80, I'm dyslexic. Read and read and read and read. Have no understanding of what I have read. Visual is the way for me. 

This is my work area. The mouse mat has now been replace by a proper mat. The box saves 99% of the 'ping'. Recently purchased mobeus oils, 9010, D5,and Molykote DX from ebay for under £30.

Keeping the faith.

Regards

Ross

 

Edited July 9, 2022 by rossjackson01
grammar

[Neverenoughwatches]

Thank you Ross for starting this thread and i hope more of us add to it.  I also have what i would call a now  controlled and self imposed ocd if there is such a thing. It made me the skilled tradesman that i became. I'm around 9 months in now with this hobby, i study extensively as i have to know the far a end of a fart with everything i do lol. But you guys and the rest of the beginners out there yet to speak up inspire me, especially the older ones of you that have to overcome sight difficulties and others with health issues that impede with this hobby.  I'm proud of every single one of you and love you all and hope you all keep at it and accept the challenges it brings and deal with them head on to stick with this amazing rewarding hobby. We are all unique and special in our own way and no one can take that away from us. And now it seems the hard opinionated man of Yorkshire has become an emotional wet lettuce  

[rossjackson01]

3 hours ago, Neverenoughwatches said:

We are all unique and special in our own way and no one can take that away from us. 

Could not have expressed it better. 

'And now it seems the hard opinionated man of Yorkshire has become an emotional wet lettuce'. We will follow you 'Cos' you are the man with the wind in your ... er... sail. 

As Neverenoghwatches said, looking forward to more from beginners like us. Makes for interesting reading and keeps the inspiration up.

The more experienced do the videos, and thank goodness for you. It's why we are where we are.

Back to my 4th attempt on the ETA 2789. The 3rd attempt on the ETA 2789-1 will be after that, then the ... well, you know what I mean. So enjoyable. 

Regards, and thank you once again to all.

Ross

 

Edited July 10, 2022 by rossjackson01

[Paul80]

I like your idea with the cutdown box to catch pinged items, might steal that one myself.

Paul

[Sirius]

Oh well....

i have to confess, i am also in this Club, but i started more than one Year ago and have not yet disassembled any Movement, i have too much Respect until now. But by assembling my own Watches (only 3 until now, two of them running well, the third needs a little bit Attention....) i killed 2 Movement (Clone 2824 and 2836) and will have to find out what went wrong. As i have enough Spare-Movements at the Moment, i am not in a hurry to try it and disassemble them. And yes, i like Tools, you never have enough; buy cheap, realise its too cheap, buy again better Quality or try to make the Tool yourself (oh.....). I have a Lathe (180x300 Class) and a Mill (100Kg Class, a BF20) with a selfmade DRO on it, so basically i have the Tools to make Tools (my other Hobby is building Live-Steam-Locomotives in Scale 1:22 thats the Reason for Lathe and Mill). But in the World of Watches, everything is so tiny and my Fingers are so big, but i will be able to gain Practice and Patience and Trust.

Yeah, i am retired, Age 67 now, short on Time due to other Reasons.......

regards,

Ernst

[Neverenoughwatches]

1 hour ago, Sirius said:

Oh well....

i have to confess, i am also in this Club, but i started more than one Year ago and have not yet disassembled any Movement, i have too much Respect until now. But by assembling my own Watches (only 3 until now, two of them running well, the third needs a little bit Attention....) i killed 2 Movement (Clone 2824 and 2836) and will have to find out what went wrong. As i have enough Spare-Movements at the Moment, i am not in a hurry to try it and disassemble them. And yes, i like Tools, you never have enough; buy cheap, realise its too cheap, buy again better Quality or try to make the Tool yourself (oh.....). I have a Lathe (180x300 Class) and a Mill (100Kg Class, a BF20) with a selfmade DRO on it, so basically i have the Tools to make Tools (my other Hobby is building Live-Steam-Locomotives in Scale 1:22 thats the Reason for Lathe and Mill). But in the World of Watches, everything is so tiny and my Fingers are so big, but i will be able to gain Practice and Patience and Trust.

Yeah, i am retired, Age 67 now, short on Time due to other Reasons.......

regards,

Ernst

I like your style Ernst, fingers in other pies. Similar relative and applicable pies that come in useful for each other.  Forget about the time you have available matey, Rome wasn't built in a day an all that. I wish i had done this years ago, maybe even for a living instead of tearing my body apart with a physically demanding job. But I'm enjoying it now so thats all that matters. Whatever time we give to this and whatever time we have left to do this or whatever. Every day is a bonus every day is a gift guys.  Love every minute of every day in everything you do. And make as many people happy as you can along the way.

Edited July 10, 2022 by Neverenoughwatches

[rossjackson01]

Now starting my 9 month.

Where am I up to?

Beginning to understand a little about watch construction. Using Youtube videos as instruction, I am able to disassemble most of the watches I have purchased for the hobby. My problem was rushing into reassemble and not realising that at each stage of the build, that it needed to be tested. Full rebuild, then it does not work. Start again. My other problem was not realising how important it is to have the tools to do the job. 

Where am I now? Having a rest on a Sunday. It is an engrossing hobby. So enjoyable. 3 to 4 hours a day fly by.

Limiting myself to specific watch projects. Seiko 6309, 6319, 7009 and 7S26. I have one of each for repair and two movements of each to build from. I am capable of the rebuilds, but still have the problem that they stop after a short time. Balance wheel care is my problem. 

I have a 'Watches of Switzerland Seafarer' that I purchased for my initial project. I broke 3 escape wheel pivots and damage 2 balance wheels in the first month. I left them alone for 6 month. It had an ETA 2789-1 movement. Spares are from 2789-1 and 2789 movements. Trains of wheels are the same, but he calendar works are different. One one of the 2789-1 the Centre wheel pivot hole does not have a guiding pipe. I spent hours not being able to get a mesh. Another caused a problem? When I turned the plate over to work on the train of wheel side, the jewel from the base of the balance wheel fell out. I did not realise until I had completed the build and no amount of regulation would have any effect. The jewel hole would not retain the spring. Another movement needed.

What can I do well? I am able to clean a watch now. Degrease and wash. Every watch is now in designated containers, each marked and the corresponding spares in their respective containers also marked. As can be seen from above, I have a working box that contains my 'pings'.

Where is it going?

Don't care. I'm enjoying my life, My bride accepts the hobby. Keeps me away from Covid contact. Retired and learning. What more can I say?

Regards to all

Ross

 

 

 

Edited August 7, 2022 by rossjackson01
more information

[Neverenoughwatches]

1 hour ago, rossjackson01 said:

Now starting my 9 month.

Where am I up to?

Beginning to understand a little about watch construction. Using Youtube videos as instruction, I am able to disassemble most of the watches I have purchased for the hobby. My problem was rushing into reassemble and not realising that at each stage of the build, that it needed to be tested. Full rebuild, then it does not work. Start again. My other problem was not realising how important it is to have the tools to do the job. 

Where am I now? Having a rest on a Sunday. It is an engrossing hobby. So enjoyable. 3 to 4 hours a day fly by.

Limiting myself to specific watch projects. Seiko 6309, 6319, 7009 and 7S26. I have one of each for repair and two movements of each to build from. I am capable of the rebuilds, but still have the problem that they stop after a short time. Balance wheel care is my problem. 

I have a 'Watches of Switzerland Seafarer' that I purchased for my initial project. I broke 3 escape wheel pivots and damage 2 balance wheels in the first month. I left them alone for 6 month. It had an ETA 2789-1 movement. Spares are from 2789-1 and 2789 movements. Trains of wheels are the same, but he calendar works are different. One one of the 2789-1 the Centre wheel pivot hole does not have a guiding pipe. I spent hours not being able to get a mesh. Another caused a problem? When I turned the plate over to work on the train of wheel side, the jewel from the base of the balance wheel fell out. I did not realise until I had completed the build and no amount of regulation would have any effect. The jewel hole would not retain the spring. Another movement needed.

What can I do well? I am able to clean a watch now. Degrease and wash. Every watch is now in designated containers, each marked and the corresponding spares in their respective containers also marked. As can be seen from above, I have a working box that contains my 'pings'.

Where is it going?

Don't care. I'm enjoying my life, My bride accepts the hobby. Keeps me away from Covid contact. Retired and learning. What more can I say?

Regards to all

Ross

 

 

 

If you are enjoying it Ross then you dont need to say much more.  I used to play the guitar years ago, tbh i was pretty crap at it, did i care , no. Did i care if  anyone moaned about my practicing, absolutely not, they usually got a basic reply of lol. So as long as your enjoyment is still there Ross how you progress doesnt matter. I have a few watches that i will be revising later in my learning. For instance one of my first repair attempts,i was completely stuck with it with really low amplitude and stopping.  I've recently spent a couple of evenings now 9 months later and breezed through its repair fault finding along the way. It now runs consistently for 36 hours. You will find your learning and skill clicks into place in stages. Problem after problem for weeks then suddenly a skill jump and then a good run of fixing follows. My usual approach on a working watch begins with an initial case and crystal inspection, a hand setting and winding check then straight on the timegrapher and record  the results. Demagnetise then timegrapher again with some regulation and more recording of results. The movement is then removed and i will spend a good twenty minutes watching it run from every angle before i disassemble and inspect every part making notes if i need to. This is mostly to rule out my own mistakes. I also developed the habit of replacing parts immediately after removal to help remember how they fit with each other. This way I'm assembling the same watch a few times rather than jumping in and doing a full strip down in one go, this way any faults that are present are picked up sooner rather than later.   Sooo pleased you are still enjoying it Ross

[grsnovi]

Great to hear you're still positive on the endeavor!

16 hours ago, rossjackson01 said:

What can I do well?

I wonder that myself. Like you, I'm pretty good at taking them apart and cleaning...  

I was sure the Pobeda was going to be my first actual watch that I was going to successfully "service" in as much as it was working when I got it and it had a case and crystal (as opposed to just a movement). During re-assembly I noticed that I lost the screw that fastened the pallet bridge and tried to replace it with a scavenged screw from the job lot pile. Unfortunately the one I selected didn't quite work as it sits in the counter bore but also sits proud so it interferes with the balance. This has been pretty discouraging and I've let things sit for the last week.

16 hours ago, rossjackson01 said:

Where is it going?

Another good question, Is my goal to scrounge around eBay looking for wondrous finds in the hopes of putting them back into running order? I rarely wear a watch these days. I was hoping to get the Pobeda purring, put a new strap on it and proudly wear the first of my labors. Now I'm not sure. I have a bunch of pieces that are worth working on and may proceed. I may also continue my search for a screw to replace the one that would properly hold the pallet bridge in place. But I may not. So, as the Magic 8 Ball says:

[LittleWatchShop]

Lol...coming up on my two~year mark...$15k investment! Crazy, no?  By next year I will be ready to fix my Valjoux 726.

not counting Summers working for my Dad.

Edited August 9, 2022 by LittleWatchShop

[grsnovi]

33 minutes ago, LittleWatchShop said:

$15k investment! Crazy, no?

I've gotten the impression that you're actually picking up the business again. Some of your purchases are way beyond what a hobbyist would buy.

I've only been fiddling around since March and I've dropped about $3k (no mainspring winders, no timegrapher, no lathe, etc...).

Anyway, at the moment I'm down but not out...