Hi!

[kd8tzc]

Hi all, I am new to the community and hope to learn a lot from you all.  I have collected watches for years, but most recently got into collecting older more economical watches (e.g. Timex, etc).  I'm doing that to wear them, but many times, the ones I find are broken or need some work done, so I hope with all the wisdom here, I will be able to learn some things, and also give back to the community in time as well.

[Klassiker]

Welcome! You've come to the right place.

[Waggy]

Welcome, Timex are a tough watch to work on as they are built to be economical to produce and not to be easily serviced. However, it is still possible to work on them, and I have just serviced 2 recently, but I would advise that you go with something more standard and become comfortable with that until you are ready to take on a Timex.

[JohnR725]

3 hours ago, Waggy said:

economical to produce and not to be easily serviced

the problem with inexpensive watches as noted above is that it's not that they're not meant to be service it's just that they're different to be serviced. Some of them were meant to be serviced by swapping the entire movement. Others you can get a service manual and explains how to service them.

I always like to recommend for somebody starting off and go to eBay and get a clone of a 6497 brand-new. If you start off with a brand-new watch in taken apart put it back together and get a feel for how it works how new watch looks for instance. How does the balance wheel look what is the hairspring look like you put it back together a couple of times and if it doesn't work you can blame your dog the cat burglars or some other source of why it doesn't work. Versus starting off on a broken watch where you don't have any idea what it's supposed to really look like when it's working and when you're just learning initially any way you're going to break things. It's oftentimes newbies will start off a broken watches and I'll be unhappy because the watch is still broken. It basically need to get some practice first and then you can undertake these more interesting projects but that's just the opinion that I have.

[oldhippy]

Thank you for your introduction and welcome to this friendly forum.

We all look forward to your contributions and continued involvement. 

[RichardHarris123]

Hello and welcome. 

[kd8tzc]

4 hours ago, JohnR725 said:

the problem with inexpensive watches as noted above is that it's not that they're not meant to be service it's just that they're different to be serviced. Some of them were meant to be serviced by swapping the entire movement. Others you can get a service manual and explains how to service them.

I always like to recommend for somebody starting off and go to eBay and get a clone of a 6497 brand-new. If you start off with a brand-new watch in taken apart put it back together and get a feel for how it works how new watch looks for instance. How does the balance wheel look what is the hairspring look like you put it back together a couple of times and if it doesn't work you can blame your dog the cat burglars or some other source of why it doesn't work. Versus starting off on a broken watch where you don't have any idea what it's supposed to really look like when it's working and when you're just learning initially any way you're going to break things. It's oftentimes newbies will start off a broken watches and I'll be unhappy because the watch is still broken. It basically need to get some practice first and then you can undertake these more interesting projects but that's just the opinion that I have.

Hi, thanks for the advice John...  what you say makes sense, but my one question is what is a 6497?  ETA6497?  Do you have any recommendations on a clone or what to get that would be easy to work on and easy on the wallet.  Granted, it is an investment in learning, so if I mess it up, I really don't lose anything, but it would be nice to not lose too many $$$ on that education if I mess it up.

[Nucejoe]

Hello and welcome to the WRT forum.

[tomh207]

2 hours ago, kd8tzc said:

Hi, thanks for the advice John...  what you say makes sense, but my one question is what is a 6497?  ETA6497?  Do you have any recommendations on a clone or what to get that would be easy to work on and easy on the wallet.  Granted, it is an investment in learning, so if I mess it up, I really don't lose anything, but it would be nice to not lose too many $$$ on that education if I mess it up.

Sea-gull ST36 or ST3620 are the generally recommended ones, there are clones of the clones out there too but they are all relatively cheap. You get a working movement to build your skills on and hopefully can build a watch for yourself after.

 

Tom

[JohnR725]

15 hours ago, kd8tzc said:

6497?  ETA6497

okay since are in the US typically I recommend eBay so let's see what happens. So it looks like ideally want to search for 6497 movement otherwise you get all the parts but I you scroll down the list and I found this one at the link below that's what I'm talking about which is what the other people are saying the sellers know what you're looking for I have no knowledge of one sellers better than another typically I prefer to find people who claim their stocking from the US as it means you're likely to get it possibly faster.  it also noticed that we looking up 6497 edition the movements you can find cases hands dials and conceivably you can put a watch together. Then because of parts availability issues and accidents you might think about purchasing two of them.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/354330903644

 

[Neverenoughwatches]

On 3/6/2023 at 2:53 PM, kd8tzc said:

Hi all, I am new to the community and hope to learn a lot from you all.  I have collected watches for years, but most recently got into collecting older more economical watches (e.g. Timex, etc).  I'm doing that to wear them, but many times, the ones I find are broken or need some work done, so I hope with all the wisdom here, I will be able to learn some things, and also give back to the community in time as well.

Welcome Kd, enjoy your learning experience.  This is a good place to start, also a very knowledgeable Timex fan here that may help you out if you run into trouble. As others say the Timex was an inexpensive watch to buy, a bit different to service compared to most watches. Here is a good site to check out when you decide to disassemble, with useful manuals on many Timex calibres.

https://heritage1854.com/

[kd8tzc]

7 hours ago, JohnR725 said:

okay since are in the US typically I recommend eBay so let's see what happens. So it looks like ideally want to search for 6497 movement otherwise you get all the parts but I you scroll down the list and I found this one at the link below that's what I'm talking about which is what the other people are saying the sellers know what you're looking for I have no knowledge of one sellers better than another typically I prefer to find people who claim their stocking from the US as it means you're likely to get it possibly faster.  it also noticed that we looking up 6497 edition the movements you can find cases hands dials and conceivably you can put a watch together. Then because of parts availability issues and accidents you might think about purchasing two of them.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/354330903644

 

Thanks JohnR... I did buy one of those exact movements yesterday to practice on.  I'm not sure what case it may need, but that is at a later point.  I'm thinking it would need the case, watch face, hands at least but I got it to practice on, so that will be a while off I'm sure.