Watch Database (LibreOffice Base)

[Waggy]

As my watch collection is growing I am starting to loose track of them, so I looked around for some software to help me out. I am aware that there are some products out there, but I have shifted to an open source life, so none are compatible with this ethos. So I have decided to 'take the bull by the horns' and create a database using the free and open source software (FOSS) LibreOffice Base format (software link here) which will be compatible with all OS formats and be 100% FOSS and should be compatible with MS Office (TBC). I'm currently putting the various fields (below) together and wondered if anyone could spot anything missing or have any suggestions as to what to add/remove? Being an open source junkie I will of course share the database on this forum completely free of charge and free of adds or any other nasties for anyone who wants to use/modify/redistribute it.

NOTE: In an effort to avoid scope creep AKA 'growing arms and legs' I want to play the 80:20 rule and keep the fields limited to essential and useful data that would cover 80% of all my watch data needs, I know there are additional fields that could be added that would only be relevant to 20% of watches, which if included in the database would increase the size/complexity exponentially turning the whole thing into a chore, rather than a useful tool, so please keep this in mind when looking at the below :

Currently I plan to have the following fields:

• Photo after - this will be displayed up front to provide a visual reference for the finished watch
• Nickname - easy way to identify the watch eg: "Watch I did for mother-in-law" or "Captain Willard" etc
• Make - eg Seiko
• Serial No - manufacturers serial number is present eg 2O12345 or if there were no manufacturers serial number I would use my own serial number based on the date started (see below) in yymmddxx format where xx is the sequential watch started that day, eg 23071601 would be the first watch i started on this date and 23071602 would be the second started that day and so on...
• Movement Cal. - eg 7009
• Movement Type - thinking a drop down box with: Manual, Automatic, Quartz ....... I know this could get very complex with options like chronograph, moon-phase, etc.. so just wanted to play the 80:20 rule and keep this basic. However, I am open to adding options if I have missed something essential
• Case - eg 7009-4040
• Previous service history - this is usually obscure scratchings on the inside of the case back, so thinking to make this a free text box where I can enter the date (if describable) or type yes/no if I cant make out the date(s)
• Date purchased/acquired - when I purchased or was given the watch, thinking yymmdd format?
• Date work started - when I first pickup the screwdriver, thinking yymmdd format?
• Date work finished - when I declared the watch is finished, or beyond repair, thinking yymmdd format?
• Before Rate (s/day) - timegrapher data used to determine effectiveness of repair/service/refurb
• Before Amplitude (Degrees) - timegrapher data used to determine effectiveness of repair/service/refurb
• Before Beat Error (ms) - timegrapher data used to determine effectiveness of repair/service/refurb
• After Rate (s/day) - timegrapher data used to determine effectiveness of repair/service/refurb
• After Amplitude (Degrees) - timegrapher data used to determine effectiveness of repair/service/refurb
• After Beat Error (ms) - timegrapher data used to determine effectiveness of repair/service/refurb
• Cost - how much did I pay for the watch (or average price if purchased as part of a job lot)
• Changed Parts - open text box to list what was replaced eg crystal, strap etc...
• Parts Cost - total of the complete cost of all new/replaced parts
• Repair successful - did I repair or junk the watch, thinking yes/no format
• Price - how much did I sell it for
• Date sold - when I sold or gifted the watch, thinking yymmdd format?
• Sold to Name - who did I sell/gift it to
• Sold to contact info - contact information: email phone No etc
• Assembly picture 1 to 10 - pictures I took during disassembly/assembly (see note below)
• Other - Open text (MEMO) to add any notes not captured above, can also add the other/missing 20% of data in the 80:20 rule here

Note: I'm trying to think of a way to embed a zip/7z file rather than have 1-10 assembly pictures (or are the individual pictures better?... I'm 50:50 on this), but having trouble finding a way to embed a .7z file (FOSS archive format -  similar to a .zip file only better) into a Base form/table - can anyone provide any help?

I also want to avoid having links to outside data sources eg manufacturers web sites, data/service sheets etc as these links often become dead over time and these dead links can then cause problems, so planning to have enough information covered above so a quick web search (eg DuckDuckGo) will point to the external data needed. Also, my plan is to keep my copy of my database on my synced (and therefore backed up) cloud storage and access it from my home PC (or my laptop) that way, but it would also work on a hard-drive if that is your preferred method.

Edited July 16, 2023 by Waggy
Duplicated bullet point

[rossjackson01]

Waggy.

That's a heck of an undertaking. Would be really interested in your final output. 

I don't use pictures as my only method that way is using a phone camera. Too much shake and it is always blurred. I've begun to use my Digital Microscope -(G200). For my own working practice, I am using Shotcut and saving in MP4. They're rubbish at the moment, but I will improve.

Will you offer the database to members? Reasonably priced I hope. I'll swap you my books for your database.

Regards

Ross 

Edited July 16, 2023 by rossjackson01

[Waggy]

I use my phone camera too, but just take stills. 

1 minute ago, rossjackson01 said:

Will you offer the database to members? Reasonably priced I hope.

Of course and completely free of charge!

[rossjackson01]

Wish you well. Take your time. I've got this on follow

Here is my free book. Please let your family read it. It has helped a lot of people

 

Regards

Ross

No_Man_Has_The_Right.pdf

Edited July 16, 2023 by rossjackson01
Spelling, Grammar

[Waggy]

 @rossjackson01 Do you think there are any more categories needed?

 

Edited July 16, 2023 by Waggy

[rossjackson01]

Do you think there are any more categories needed?

Only the facility to look at mp4 Disassemble and assemble and fault finding.

You already have them in you original, but at each stage, as you said, a photograph or MP4?

Daily log. Date of work and what done on that date. You have date started and date ended. Because of shopping requirement a retired man's needs to obeys his wife's instructions and this overrides any watch repair.

Facility of time allocated to the particular watch? This would allow the seller to realistically understand the costings. To explain to the buyer why they should understand why they are getting if for such a cheap price, as most of the time is not charged for. We are hobbyists. Imagine if a company did the costings and time charges? I'm sure Chronoglide, Omega, Rolex etc does.

Not anything is a nit pic. Overall it does look good.

 

[GuyMontag]

This is the input screen for adding watches to the database program I use.

 

[tomh207]

Only thing I can think of is the 0 hour positions data and the 24 hours positions data then you have a baseline for the future.

 

Tom

 

[canthus]

Great project.  I think I would be adding 'battery' for quartz/electronic movements.

I would check out any privacy laws/regulations/adherence relating to having 3rd party names etc (ie buyers) in your database.  You may need their permission.  May not be a problem if database is specifically and only used by you personally, but others outside accessing it may be.

Edited July 16, 2023 by canthus

[Waggy]

On 7/16/2023 at 9:58 PM, canthus said:

You may need their permission.  May not be a problem if database is specifically and only used by you personally, but others outside accessing it may be.

Perhaps I misunderstood your comment, but my intention is that this would be for personal use on my PC and not a publicly accessible database, just something to keep track my watches. I would let people have an empty version of the database so they too could populate their copy with their collection information of their personal watch collection on their home computer. Hence, I think that there should be no issues with using company names eg Seiko, Omega etc.

[Razz]

How about lift angle as a field? Maybe if it was a runner or non runner at aqcuisition. If a runner the timegrapher readings in the 6 positions at acquisition and after service?

[Waggy]

1 hour ago, Razz said:

How about lift angle as a field? Maybe if it was a runner or non runner at aqcuisition. If a runner the timegrapher readings in the 6 positions at acquisition and after service?

I'll add the above as this could be quite useful

Edited July 18, 2023 by Waggy
typo

[Waggy]

Hello everyone,

Well it has taken a while, but I have completed the first draft at my watch database and as promised I have made it available for anyone to use/edit/re-distribute completely free of charge, download link here

Please remember that I am not a professional and I do this as a hobby, so any constructive comments and suggestions are welcome.

For now, you will need libreoffice to open/use it (which is free) link here, I plan to port to MS Office in due course.

When you download you will get a window like this, if Forms is not already selected (in blue below) please select it.

You need to double click on the form, see circled red below:

Then the form will open:

I have populated the first record with some dummy data just as an example, please overwrite this with your first watch record, you can add a new record by pressing the forward button (circled in red above) and move between your records by using the forwards and backwards buttons. To add a picture, just double click on one of the picture boxes and you should get a box asking you where the picture file is located.

I am sure there are errors and it needs some polish, so lets call this an early beta version - please let me know what you think.

Forgot to mention, no fields are mandatory, except the ID field (top left) just make it the next number in sequence, so you can add as much or as little data as you want

On 7/16/2023 at 9:58 PM, canthus said:

  I think I would be adding 'battery' for quartz/electronic movements.

Sorry I missed this comment in the current draft, you could add this in the notes section until my next revision.

[rossjackson01]

Waggy

Thank you for your work. Downloaded and will be used.

Good man you are.

Ross

[Waggy]

I have had some issues, so working on a significant improvement.

Here is a sneak peak of the new version:

 

Just testing it out, should have it ready in a day or two.

[Waggy]

So here is the updated version - I have abandoned the Libreoffice version as this was buggy and pretty ugly - would have taken a lot of work to iron out the kinks and make it look pretty, hence I have switched to symphytum which is a stand alone database application which is free and open source (yay!!!!). The versions for Windows, Mac and Linux can be downloaded from this link.

The watch database I have created can be downloaded from the link here - completely free to use and re-distribute...etc.

I think this is much more stable and looks a lot better than my previous attempt.

Steps to use:

1. Download the software (link above) and install on your machine, latest version is 2.6
2. Download the database file - I had to do this as a data backup, so you will need to restore as if it is a backup of your data
3. Use and enjoy!

Steps to install the backup:

Start symphytum, you will get a screen that looks something like this:

 

Go to file (top left menu) and select backup, then you will get another window (below) and select Restore backup, then next

Now navigate (press the Browse... button) to the location of the backup file that you downloaded on your computer:

Highlight the file and press open

Then Restore int he box above

You will need to re-start the program and you should now see in the left hand side a new database, click on it and you should have your first record input sheet. as below:

You can now right click on the plant database to delete it, unless you like it

Here is an example of one of my records:

Any pictures I took during the service I simply zipped into one file and dragged into the file storage area (picture archive: bottom of record sheet) I'm also keeping my eBay receipts there etc.

Hope you like!

[Razz]

@Waggy thank you! Your instructions work like a charm! I like it and also the fact that you can edit or add or delete fields in the record to customize the database to your liking. 

[Waggy]

Yes, great bit of software and just what we need. Share any tweaks you make. I'm sure my first attempt could do with some refinement. 

[Waggy]

Just as an aside I have been experimenting with file formats for storing images in the database record. I have found that .webp image file format generates excellent results - great quality at small file sizes.

For example 44 files transferred from my android phone (.jpg format) are 44,164,390 B. When I convert these to .webp at 25% quality they only add up to 3,807,666B or the combined file size is reduced by 91.4%. To my eyes the quality appears the same between the original image and the converted one, even when I zoom in to 200%.

I then archive all 44 files into a single archive file (7z) but you could use zip if you prefer to make life easier to upload and reduce clutter.

Happy to go into more detail of the conversion and archive process if anyone has an interest .

[rossjackson01]

Thank you Waggy. Great work. Just installed and will use. 

Do you intend to add further fields. Such as for initial and on-going notes.

Regards

Ross

Edited November 11, 2023 by rossjackson01

[Waggy]

I just had a catchall notes section (Work log) - I split my notes in there and it seems to work

[rossjackson01]

Yes, doing that. Just wondered if there was separate 'notes'. Thank you the database. 

Regards

Ross

[Waggy]

Will add it to my to-do list