What's your favourite YouTube watch repair channel?

[VWatchie]

Over the past few years, repair channels on YouTube have popped up like mushrooms. Some are really good and informative while many are more entertaining than educational.

One of the best and oldest channels is Watch Repair Channel but a couple of appreciated new additions are Chronoglide Watchmakers and Watch Repair Tutorials.

My question to you is what other educational (not mostly entertaining) channels do you usually follow on YouTube or elsewhere?

[Neverenoughwatches]

14 minutes ago, VWatchie said:

Over the past few years, repair channels on YouTube have popped up like mushrooms. Some are really good and informative while many are more entertaining than educational.

One of the best and oldest channels is Watch Repair Channel but a couple of appreciated new additions are Chronoglide Watchmakers and Watch Repair Tutorials.

My question to you is what other educational (not mostly entertaining) channels do you usually follow on YouTube or elsewhere?

The Nekkid watchmaker . Jo is humorous, good with case restoration but tbh has become mostly entertainment.  I also follow a guy called Christopher Soto, spoke to him a few times on a watchrepair facebook group. Really nice helpful bloke, very skilled, recently started a channel CS watch repairs or CSWR.  Also Richard Perrett

[tomh207]

Very interested in seeing what channels are put forward, my main channels to learn from are the same as yours @VWatchie I’ll add a couple;

“OBR Horology” pretty new channel not very frequent uploads but based around a professional watchmaker workshop 

“Jon the Watch” our very own @Jon good tutorials but would love to see more as Jon teaches watchmaking 

“The Watchmakers Workshop” a young independent American master watchmaker making his own watches. Very recent channel but I found it interesting, high production standards

 

Tom

[VWatchie]

2 minutes ago, Neverenoughwatches said:

The Nekkid watchmaker . Jo is humorous, good with case restoration but tbh has become mostly entertainment. 

I absolutely agree, that guy is very entertaining and very impressive when it comes to making old watches look better than new. What I can't stand is how extremely sloppy he can be with his oiling. So definitely disqualified for the educational category. 

The others you mention I haven't seen so I'll definitely check those out. Thanks!

6 minutes ago, tomh207 said:

Very interested in seeing what channels are put forward

So am I!

6 minutes ago, tomh207 said:

I’ll add a couple;

Thanks for your contributions! I'll have a look! 

[Neverenoughwatches]

10 minutes ago, VWatchie said:

I absolutely agree, that guy is very entertaining and very impressive when it comes to making old watches look better than new. What I can't stand is how extremely sloppy he can be with his oiling. So definitely disqualified for the educational category. 

The others you mention I haven't seen so I'll definitely check those out. Thanks!

So am I!

Thanks for your contributions! I'll have a look! 

https://youtu.be/4z3oc5UwrDk

[VWatchie]

Thanks for the link @Neverenoughwatches I was just about to ask you for it. Mind reader!? 

[Neverenoughwatches]

11 minutes ago, VWatchie said:

Thanks for the link @Neverenoughwatches I was just about to ask you for it. Mind reader!? 

No problem, just had to go looking for it. He hasn't made many videos which is a shame but he does post regularly on facebook what hes  up to.

[rossjackson01]

I have quite a few I follow. 

Not in order of preference. 

 

Chronoglide

Weekend Watch Repair

ddaavvee

My Retro Watches

Horology Biology

Blair watch Project

Vintage Watch Services

Watch Repair Tutorials

Nekkid Watchmaker

Wristwatch Revival

French Watch Collector

Watch Wizard Service

Art of Tinker

Watch Repair Channel

Ratfaced Git

spidiq8

Richard Perret Watchmaker

I shoot watches

JSG watches

KIM's watch repair

 

 

 

 

[Klassiker]

Repivot22

T&T&T

Dean DK

The best mix of entertainment and information I've found so far is Vintage Watch Services.

I've not got much patience for YouTubers who can't be bothered to edit their videos down to a reasonable length, or repeatedly make the same mistakes, no matter how entertaining the patter.

[oldhippy]

The only one I follow is Chronoglide Watchmakers. 

[Endeavor]

Less is more

https://www.youtube.com/@therealwatchdoctor/videos

Edited May 1, 2023 by Endeavor

[VWatchie]

20 hours ago, Klassiker said:

20 hours ago, Klassiker said:

The best mix of entertainment and information I've found so far is Vintage Watch Services.

That's one of the channels that annoys me and that I no longer follow. Whenever I've commented on one of his videos he's being dogmatic. It's his way or the highway. It's funny though, because he encourages people to comment and ask questions, but when you do he becomes irritated if you have a suggestion or a different experience.

Edited May 1, 2023 by VWatchie

[Klassiker]

33 minutes ago, VWatchie said:

Whenever I've commented on one of his videos he's being dogmatic. It's his way or the highway

Interesting! Where can I read the exchange?

[mikepilk]

The only ones I regularly watch are Chronoglide and Nekkid Watchmaker.

[VWatchie]

1 hour ago, Klassiker said:

Interesting! Where can I read the exchange?

Not sure how to link to it but if you search for @vostokwatchie4348 for example in this video or in this video I think you'll find the exchange. Note that I'm not saying that I'm right and that he is wrong. What I'm referring to is his bad temper and irritation over my comments.

[Klassiker]

58 minutes ago, VWatchie said:

if you search for @vostokwatchie434

OK, thanks. That was an interesting read. Anything in the content of the videos themselves which particularly annoys you, or are they just not to your taste?

 

[oldhippy]

I just picked this and I gave up after a few seconds because he called the leather strap a bracelet. 

 

 

[rehajm]

Wristwatch Revival kind of got me started and I'll concur Kalle and Alex are my favorites. Watch Repair Tutorials has some of the best videography for some topics and techniques others have difficulty capturing...

I'll admit Watcheyes is...unique but I've implemented two or three techniques from the Speed King video I haven't seen others use...

Edited May 1, 2023 by rehajm

[MechanicMike]

too many to list and because they've already been listed here but one I go for strictly entertainment value is bunnspecial. guy is from New York and I believe he works for the NY subway transit. He mainly does pocket watches but he'll make ya laugh as he "narrates" (talks to himself) as he works with minimalist tools. he knows his stuff, has been at it a long time you can tell and has somehow thru it all, taught me a thing or two about horology. 

[VWatchie]

17 hours ago, Klassiker said:

Anything in the content of the videos themselves which particularly annoys you, or are they just not to your taste?

I think you have to realize that the channel does not exist as a result of a passion for repairing watches but as a channel for selling watches through Chrono24 and his own site (links are always in the description). Stian has developed a tone to sound like a Master Watchmaker and is always both categorical and dogmatic. The purpose of this, as I see it, is to try to instil confidence in those who do not have their own knowledge so that they will buy his watches.

Examples are my links where he claims that 50 to 60-year-old Swiss watches never use synthetic oils, that you can generally count on a new mainspring to significantly increase the amplitude, or (in the same video I think) that the larger the balance wheel in a movement the better timekeeping (possibly true for a marine chronometer), and so on.

To summarize, what bothers me is that he tries to sound more competent than he is and that the underlying purpose is to sell watches rather than a genuine passion for repair.

[Waggy]

My favourite is probably Nekkid Watchmaker followed very closely by My Retro Watches. I think Joe (Nekkid Watchmaker) is very entertaining but remains sincere in his attempt to bring new knowledge and information to help his viewers whilst being entertaining and I like the fact that he provides great advice on case restoration. Similarly, Mike (My Retro Watches) is authentic and I like the his 'warts and all' approach to his videos. Neither of these guys are technically perfect, but then neither am I so I get to see and learn from how they fix their mistakes rather than pretend they don't happen by presenting highly polished videos with no mistakes as many watch repairers do.

I also like Chronoglide for many of the reasons above (especially the 'warts and all' live streams) and the training videos are very thorough and many a light bulb has gone off after watching one . However, watching Chronoglide is getting a bit like watching Top Gear, they are playing in $$$ cars I could never afford so are of little use in selecting my next runabout 'practical' car. I used to be a big fan of Wristwatch Revival, but this too has gone all 'Top Gear' so a little boring watching watches I could never afford to buy or work on.

[rehajm]

5 hours ago, VWatchie said:

Stian has developed a tone to sound like a Master Watchmaker and is always both categorical and dogmatic. The purpose of this, as I see it, is to try to instil (sic) confidence in those who do not have their own knowledge so that they will buy his watches.

I find and extract value from Stian's videos and I'm an American so I'm not opposed to capitalism but I'll add another data point to VWatchie's argument: Stian's channel posted a two part video where he serviced a Vulcain Cricket with pitted cap jewels. He replaced the jewels but I recall Vulcain once had the 'Exactomatic' shock system with curved cap jewels, so I mentioned it in the YT comments. Shortly thereafter the Cricket videos disappeared, came back without the comments, then disappeared again. Coincidence or was Stian worried about a sold watch? Draw your own conclusions...

Edited May 2, 2023 by rehajm

[Klassiker]

10 hours ago, VWatchie said:

I think you have to realize

Well, no I don't. That's your opinion, isn't it? Not a fact. Not something I have to realise, or even agree with. Sorry if that comes across as dogmatic.

My impression is, he's very passionate about watchmaking. Yes, He's promoting his business, but then so is just about every other poster on YouTube, including our illustrious host. Despite "trying to sound more competent than he is" (don't we all? I know I do, or certainly not the opposite! ), I don't get the impression that he tries to give a false impression of his competence for the purposes of deceiving potential customers, which I think you are implying. In the exchanges you had with him in the YouTube comments, I got the impression that he was trying to reasonably explain and objectively support his assertions. He was conciliatory and open to input from contributors with relevant experience. You, it seems to me, were less so.

Those are my impressions, as a neutral observer.

6 hours ago, rehajm said:

Coincidence or was Stian worried about a sold watch? Draw your own conclusions...

Impossible to draw any conclusions, for me at least. Maybe you could elaborate on the conclusions you drew? Better still, you could ask him to explain for himself, either publicly in the YouTube comments, or PM him on this forum. I believe his member i.d. is Stian.

[RichardHarris123]

I would prefer to come across as less competent than I am rather than giving bad advice or incorrect information. 

[Klassiker]

On 5/1/2023 at 6:36 AM, Endeavor said:

Less is more

https://www.youtube.com/@therealwatchdoctor/videos

That is a good tip, thanks. As far as I can tell, a well trained, well equipped professional watchmaker with excellent technique. Certainly I could learn a lot from him. Puzzling to see, despite the "less is more" mantra, how much oil he puts on the cap jewels here (at 12:55):

Is that standard practice now, or only when using epilame?