Jump to content

Recommended Posts

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.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

  • Like 8
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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 by rossjackson01
grammar. spelling.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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 by Neverenoughwatches
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



  • Recently Browsing

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Topics

  • Posts

    • I recall a video on YT from Steffen Pahlow where he talks about getting himself a Chronometre (for which he paid more than he would have liked), but in his words "I had to. It is a Chronometre." I am wondering if you have more watch there than what you are aware of? Especially with what @Neverenoughwatches mentioned about two springs.
    • If you are having counter tops ( i think thats the amercan term ) and some cupboards underneath where you dont require working legroom then that corner doesn't have to be a difficult access void. Lazy susans , we ( kitchen fitters ) call them cabinet carousels or you could just have two adjacent doors with a corner post fixed to one of them, though it does make for a long reach to get to the very corner. But a carousel is a good access solution, also there are sliding steel baskets available but these are bloody expensive and typically problematic, i really think they are a crap idea. What i like about fully fitted worktops, very tidy looking, no loss of space, and sidewards pinged parts are hopefully going to stay worktop side and not end up crunched on the floor.
    • Aren't corners of rooms a bugger though as it is really difficult to use the space underneath the intersection of the two benchtops. Lazy Susans are an idea I suppose. Somewhere to be able to put tools/soldering iron/testing machines that aren't needed on the bench top all the time. It is a bit tight in there, but at least I won't have to move great distances to get to another area. I need to get hold of another chair to have at the cleaning bench. I'll stand all the time at the lathe and I already have the stool for the workbench. Need to get the power sorted now and move the LED lights for over the workbench. There are four downlight in the ceiling that are currently halogen bulbs. Really quite bright so that's good. Ceiling fan as well. What else could one hope for?
    • So all that glitters is not gold when it comes to buying from ebay ( in fact very very rarely) i bought this as554 a few months ago. It was it's dial that attracted me to the joblot, which turned out to be printed on a postcard, that was the first red flag. During disassembly many faults were discovered as listed above,  but i was prepared to soldier on and see what i could achieve. I managed to make a setting lever for it which was a great learning experience and also correctly shape and de rust the hairspring.  Turning my attention to the balance assembly i have hit a road block. The staff broke when removing the roller but that wasn't so much of an issue as it was quite deformed anyway.  I also had several AS554 staffs that I could replace it with, problem is they dont measure up the same. I thought i had identified the movement correctly but what i think has happened is some heavy modification has taken place to make an incorrect staff fit. A nos staff is a slack fit on the balance wheel, the roller and the collet. The balance wheel has also been filed to within an inch of its life. I'm starting to doubt my identification of the movement either that or someone has converted the movement into a pure nugget of trash. Bit disappointed as i managed to get the train to spin lovely and put a good few hours into the setting lever. A balance complete might be the only option if one is available but you know when you are just wasting money. My thoughts are to make and modify something else to fit and work if that is possible, any ideas anyone ? 
×
×
  • Create New...