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Greetings fellow horologists


Stagesmith

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My name is Ernie.

I work as a building inspector in Seattle.

I have a background it many, many, many skills.

Blacksmith, welding, knifemaker, gunsmith, machinist, jeweler, glassblower, potter, foundry, carpenter, leather work, metal spinning.......

Lots and lots of skills.

Started watching Marshal's videos on youtube as Wristwatch Revival.

I remembered I had a pocket watch that had been broken for years, and would love to make it live again

Started acquiring tools and stuff, then bought a bunch of broken movements off eBay and began tearing things apart.

The broken watch I have had all this time is a Hamilton 975 I got for my High School graduation back it '83.

Chose it because of the lovely movement.

It got broken because I carried it in college and had a bad habit of catching the chain on things like lathe crossfeed handles.

I began this adventure winter of '22 and have dubbed it my winter hobby.

I think I have around 30 Hamilton movements now, and a smattering of others.

Definitely staying with pocket watches.

I did manage to fix my Hamilton 975, and also a larger 18s Hamilton.

Eventually I need to start casing the ones that work and kicking them back to eBay.

I have a long standing habit of not waiting for tools to become available and I just make them.

So far for watchmaking I have made a size 12 mainspring winder, a staking tool, and an oiler caddy.

You can check out my Flickr gallery to see all the silly things I build.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/129065511@N02/albums

I truly love fixing and building tools.

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Often it is not so much about the end result, but the journey towards it; "the hunt is often better than the catch".

With all your skills, you can make very interesting deviation / side-steps before you get to your desired goal.

Perhaps, during your journey, you may encounter some crappy movements whereby your anvil and blacksmith hammer may come in very handy 😃

Love to hear about your endeavours 😉

 

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5 hours ago, Stagesmith said:

My name is Ernie.

I work as a building inspector in Seattle.

I have a background it many, many, many skills.

Blacksmith, welding, knifemaker, gunsmith, machinist, jeweler, glassblower, potter, foundry, carpenter, leather work, metal spinning.......

Lots and lots of skills.

Started watching Marshal's videos on youtube as Wristwatch Revival.

I remembered I had a pocket watch that had been broken for years, and would love to make it live again

Started acquiring tools and stuff, then bought a bunch of broken movements off eBay and began tearing things apart.

The broken watch I have had all this time is a Hamilton 975 I got for my High School graduation back it '83.

Chose it because of the lovely movement.

It got broken because I carried it in college and had a bad habit of catching the chain on things like lathe crossfeed handles.

I began this adventure winter of '22 and have dubbed it my winter hobby.

I think I have around 30 Hamilton movements now, and a smattering of others.

Definitely staying with pocket watches.

I did manage to fix my Hamilton 975, and also a larger 18s Hamilton.

Eventually I need to start casing the ones that work and kicking them back to eBay.

I have a long standing habit of not waiting for tools to become available and I just make them.

So far for watchmaking I have made a size 12 mainspring winder, a staking tool, and an oiler caddy.

You can check out my Flickr gallery to see all the silly things I build.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/129065511@N02/albums

I truly love fixing and building tools.

Hi Ernie and welcome.

Just been looking at your staking tool that you've made, very impressive 🙂

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7 hours ago, Stagesmith said:

I work as a building inspector in Seattle.

Seattle's an interesting place for hobbyists and watch repair. They actually have a school for hobbyists. We also have meetings for anyone that has a interest in watch repair. I'll give you the links below.

http://www.norwestschoolofhorology.com/

http://www.norwestschoolofhorology.com/wwca/index.html

 

 

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