Strange question Sunday

[Neverenoughwatches]

Eyup watch peeps , so i have a random question regarding storage. I seem to be aquiring a fair amount of watch material in particular balance staffs and stems amongst other bits and pieces. And in doing so am rapidly running out of space in the temporary watchroom. I have a few of the mini Ronda chests of draws that hold a little under 1000 calibers but am looking for small containers to load into them. Many joblots of staffs etc come in small plastic or tin tubs with lids finishing at 20mm + diameter but these are too large for the draws. Also used are two part acrylic capsules which would fit perfectly but i cant find these anywhere. Soooo i was thinking of empty medicine capsules, these can be bought cheaply in gelatine or a veggie version. Any thoughts as to why they shouldn't be used, only thing i was wondering was how quickly degradable they are and how moisture resistant.  

[HectorLooi]

My mentor just seals the part with a slip of paper with the description in a plastic bag. He has a sealer that seals and cuts at the same time. Then puts the little bag in small plastic boxes. Everything is labelled and organized.

While me, I keep turning the house upside down looking for things that I know I have, and end up finding things that I don't remember having. Then I get distracted and forget what I was looking for. Anyone else like me, raise your hand.

[Neverenoughwatches]

10 hours ago, HectorLooi said:

My mentor just seals the part with a slip of paper with the description in a plastic bag. He has a sealer that seals and cuts at the same time. Then puts the little bag in small plastic boxes. Everything is labelled and organized.

While me, I keep turning the house upside down looking for things that I know I have, and end up finding things that I don't remember having. Then I get distracted and forget what I was looking for. Anyone else like me, raise your hand.

Thanks Hector, thats given me the idea of vci anti corrorion paper. 

[rossjackson01]

22 hours ago, Neverenoughwatches said:

Eyup watch peeps , so i have a random question regarding storage. I seem to be aquiring a fair amount of watch material in particular balance staffs and stems amongst other bits and pieces.

How do you keep the stems etc. Do you keep each one in an individual bag?

I'm giving consideration to doing what you do, but the contents of each movement I will place into the plastic bag and label it. I use little plastic tubs at present, but they take up so much space in height. In a bag it will be lower and I can place more in the drawers. (I think)

[Neverenoughwatches]

2 minutes ago, rossjackson01 said:

How do you keep the stems etc. Do you keep each one in an individual bag?

I'm giving consideration to doing what you do, but the contents of each movement I will place into the plastic bag and label it. I use little plastic tubs at present, but they take up so much space in height. In a bag it will be lower and I can place more in the drawers. (I think)

Hi Ross . The post was about seperate acquisitions of joblots of staffs and stems and are to be stored in miniature chests of draws that Ronda supplied to watchmakers years ago. If storing a complete movement best to keep that as a whole as fully assembled as possible inc. the stem. Small zip lock bags are ideal for this and are cheap as chips So i would say a good storage solution for whole movements would be a 2x2 zip lock bag to keep moisture out and then stored in egg boxes that you could stack somewhere. 

[rossjackson01]

1 hour ago, Neverenoughwatches said:

Hi Ross . The post was about seperate acquisitions of joblots of staffs and stems and are to be stored in miniature chests of draws that Ronda supplied to watchmakers years ago. If storing a complete movement best to keep that as a whole as fully assembled as possible inc. the stem. Small zip lock bags are ideal for this and are cheap as chips So i would say a good storage solution for whole movements would be a 2x2 zip lock bag to keep moisture out and then stored in egg boxes that you could stack somewhere. 

I agree and will do so. As a matter of interest, having many stems, how do you know which watch they are for? 

I only got stems and parts for the watches and movements I own, so I have all part for each watch or movement documented with each. But, I do have a lot now, probably 50 watches and movements in total.

Edited May 8, 2023 by rossjackson01
grammar. spelling.

[Neverenoughwatches]

22 minutes ago, rossjackson01 said:

how do you know which watch they are for? 

Most were bought already labelled. The stems and staffs i have that are unknown i measure them with a bench micrometer and check them with staff and stem lists. Balancestaff.com have a huge database of staffs and stems. After much practice it now takes around a minute to measure them and can take up to 5 minutes to find a calibre match on the data base. The stems require taking 6 dimensions and the staffs 5. The unknowns are like treasure hunting, interesting when i find something high end. Have recently pulled out VC, Blancpain, omega, Patek. My reason for aquiring large amounts of staff stock as most watches i was buying needed a replacement. I didnt want to be in a position of searching buying and waitng separately. 

Edited May 8, 2023 by Neverenoughwatches