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Posted

Hi Everyone,

I looked to the forum for advice and input on starting my watch repair journey and I am now returning with an account to look for support on that journey. 

I am in my early 20's and I work as an applications engineer in industrial hydraulics, but I very much enjoy tinkering.

The community here seems to be very positive, supportive and knowledgeable, so I look forward to being a part of it.

Have been working mainly on cheap, old, automatic movements I have gotten in auctions, but I have been slowly growing my collection of vintage Seiko watches. Still have a fair amount to learn and I am hoping being a part of this community will aide in my growth. Look forward to meeting all the frequenters of the forum 🙂 

(please excuse the messiness of my station currently)

IMG_0956.jpg

Posted

Welcome! 👍

Well, no one asked for it, but one principle that I developed early on which has saved me a lot of headache is to always keep the work bench clean of stuff to the left and right of the work mat. So, I keep all the stuff in front of me above the work mat. Also, I only place the watch parts that I'm currently working on, on the mat. So, never any tools, consumables or other parts on the mat.

image.png.a5aeeb1b1303594341dc8dcf99dd2d5a.png

This thing caught my attention. May I ask what it is?

Posted
1 hour ago, VWatchie said:

Welcome! 👍

Well, no one asked for it, but one principle that I developed early on which has saved me a lot of headache is to always keep the work bench clean of stuff to the left and right of the work mat. So, I keep all the stuff in front of me above the work mat. Also, I only place the watch parts that I'm currently working on, on the mat. So, never any tools, consumables or other parts on the mat.

image.png.a5aeeb1b1303594341dc8dcf99dd2d5a.png

This thing caught my attention. May I ask what it is?

Sheet metal forming, perhaps.

Posted

Thank you all for the warm welcomes!

On 8/5/2023 at 6:18 AM, Nucejoe said:

 Is that big hammer on your bench a tool of watch repair?  I bet you have a Massey ferguson tractor. lol

Welcome here Pal.

 

Sadly no tractor here! Though I am sure that would be an even bigger headache to work on than most watches. What I was using it for was to remove the crimp for the bracelet clasp on a woman's watch. The crimp is pretty small but the metal was tough enough that I couldn't bend it by just pressing hard enough with a small punch. It got me annoyed so some light taps with the hammer did the trick.

IMG_0957.jpg.5d63bee5510cf570b170919eb1780307.jpg

 

On 8/6/2023 at 4:38 AM, VWatchie said:

Welcome! 👍

Well, no one asked for it, but one principle that I developed early on which has saved me a lot of headache is to always keep the work bench clean of stuff to the left and right of the work mat. So, I keep all the stuff in front of me above the work mat. Also, I only place the watch parts that I'm currently working on, on the mat. So, never any tools, consumables or other parts on the mat.

image.png.a5aeeb1b1303594341dc8dcf99dd2d5a.png

This thing caught my attention. May I ask what it is?

I wish it had a more practical and useful purpose like the one @Nucejoe suggested, but the answer is a little less exciting. In my sophomore year at college I had a manufacturing and design course (as a part of the mechanical engineering curriculum) where we learned, as some might guess, manufacturing and design. While learning about the theory and limitations of design and machining, we had to design that piece you see there. All it is is a gearbox with 2 gears, but each component was supposed to give us some exposure to different modes of manufacturing and material types.

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