Obligatory boring introduction

[RayNeuman]

Greetings! I am Ray. Retired to Green Bay Wi and for the most part a buttugly ol biker given a second chance. I have enjoyed horology for many years and have wanted to dabble in building watches for more then a few years now. Having the time on my hands, and the budget restrictions retirement brings, seems like a good time. Please know I am a complete open slate so whatever advise or direction you may have I would welcome. My first purchase will be a tool set.  I most likely will get a cheap ebay or Amazon set and regret it, but it seems a right of passage in most things. lol. My goal will be to build 2 distinct watches. One will be based on a ETA 2824 maybe a no-date. And the second will be a hand wind more dress watch. Of course, once again, my uneducated thoughts. 

Thank you for allowing the rif raf in and I hope to be a worthy addition. 

[Kalanag]

Welcome to this forum from another retired biker (H-D). 

[Nucejoe]

Hello Ray, welcome to this forum.

[Waggy]

Ray,

Welcome to the addiction!

When you say "build 2 distinct watches" can you explain what you mean by that, for example do you mean buy an complete vintage ETA 2824 watch, then strip it down to the last screw and then rebuild it, or do you mean buy the major new/working parts i.e. movement/case/strap etc. and simply assemble it. This choice will have a big impact on what tools and knowledge you need. If you let us know, the floodgates of advice will open I am sure

 

[watchweasol]

Hello Ray and welcome to the forum.  No introduction is boring we like to know our people and their skills.

[RichardHarris123]

Hello and welcome from England. 

[rossjackson01]

Ray

Welcome from across the pond. Tool set, regret? No such thing. I have been using my £13.50p set I purchased 23 month ago. Still using all the tools at some time. I make sure my screwdrivers and tweezers are always dressed (filed). 

I was less than at your state then. Apart from owning a watch I had never done anything other than wind. Really did start from scratch. 

I've listened, been advised, cajoled by the wonderful members of this forum. Many are experts, some professional. All have taken the time to offer help and assistance. Can't fault them.

Two pieces of advice I offer. Do a distance course. Practice, practice, practice and then, practice some more. 

Can't fault this hobby either.

 

 

[trystan]

Ray - you are already ahead of me, as I registered and joined Mark's course only this evening. 

I hope you enjoy the journey as much as I look forward to.

My background is in soldering and making little electronic circuits as a hobby, so I'm hoping some techniques are in a way transferrable (dealing with small bits and making sure they don't fly off).

On with the adventure!

Trystan (Manchester, United Kingdom)

 

 

[RayNeuman]

I dont have the skills to rebuild a movement........yet.  I want to get a working 2824, select the case, dial hands and face to put it all together.  I am sure its a pretty simple procedure for the likes of this group, but my skill set so far is blowing a mean blues harp!  The short version- I used to work on Harley's and play 11 string instruments. Proficient  in martial arts and could be found on a stream side with a fly rod most days off. Then.......open heart rebuild. It took about 80% of my right arm, neck and hand. (yeah, they messed up) so now I have to approch everything with extreme caution in both physical and budget. So ANY direction (and ways to save a buck) is very welcome!

For my former biker friend, you are going to hate my russian cranky old gal! 

 

[Kalanag]

16 hours ago, RayNeuman said:

…For my former biker friend, you are going to hate my russian cranky old gal! 

 

Four strokes and two jugs are fine! 

Edited November 22, 2023 by Kalanag

[oldhippy]

Thank you for your introduction and welcome to this friendly forum.

We all look forward to your contributions and continued involvement. 

[trystan]

Ray,

Well putting together a watch is quite straightforward. You get your movement, iso for you a 2824. Then you look for a face for that movement that you like, likewise with hands. Then select a case for that movement and at the right size for the face. Then buy a few winding stems.

Put the face on, put on the hands. Put the movement in the case. You cut the winding stem to the right length so that when you push the crown in, it goes in the correct amount. The you put the crown (that probably came with the case) onto that stem, with a bit of threadlock. Then you put the back on the watch, put a strap on it.

Then sit back and admire your work.

I've done just that with a Seiko 5, putting in a different movement (NH36) to what it came with. It now handwinds, hacks and I've regulated it to around +4 s/day. The biggest difficulty I found was cutting the winding stem to the correct length. Oh, and putting on the second hand was really tricky! Have a go. It's very achievable and incredibly rewarding. 

So this course is my next step. 

Trystan

[RayNeuman]

Thank you all for the great advise. I am going to start picking up a piece here and there perhaps one each month. I once was given a very expensive "grail" watch. Wore it for 5 years and discovered a problem with it. Initial estimates were $1000-2000 for general service and small repair. I could never afford that and I could not see it setting in the drawer so sold it and got a very nice Seiko solar GMT. But I do love auto movements. Going this route would be somewhat affordable to me and sounds like it would be interesting as well. I have a great deal of respect for the NH34 styles of movement and the thought that if it goes south, $50 and a couple hours I can get it back running! 

[tomh207]

If you want to build an ETA (real one), I can recommend this eBay seller. No affiliation other than I have bought and built with their parts at a friend’s request.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/swissmadetime?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=hL35BJNHR7W&sssrc=3418065&ssuid=suvalalxrs6&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
 

pricey but Swiss

 

Tom

 

[Sirius]

Hello Ray,

i am from Switzerland and the above mentioned eBay seller is more than ok. i bought many Movements and other Parts from them.

But, if it has to be a Swiss Movement, i would buy a Selitta from them ( i have 2 x SW200 and 1 x SW220 from them).

for the start i would suggest to buy Seagull Movements from Aliexpress or eBay, the ST2130 is equivalent to the ETA2824-2 and Selitta SW200, i pay about $58 for a ST2130, but for a SW200 or ETA2824-2 you pay between $200 and $300 depending on the Quality Grade (Standard / elabore / Top / Chrono )

 

hope this helps

Ernst

(And yes, many Years ago i was a Biker too, but different Bikes than yours)