Newbie just blown a fortune on vintage watches, now I need to recoup some money before the wife finds out!

[JoeB]

Greetings from Wicklow in Ireland. I've just recently got the vintage watch bug and have bagged a load on vintage Certinas plus others. I've also splurged a small fortune on watch tools to start doing them up and servicing them. I plan to responsibly refresh the watch cases also to a high quality finish. Then sell them on eBay and recoup some of my money before the wife cops on and murders me!

I've noticed that any tools one buys that include the word "watch" in it, adds a premium to the price. Adding works like Burgeon, etc. will add hundreds more. Trying to pick tools that one can skimp on and get away with seems to be the key to not losing one's shirt.

Anyway, I hope to positively interact with members here in getting help and helping members in overcoming our "hurdles"in achieving a state of watch zen!

[RichardHarris123]

Hello and welcome from Leeds, England . There's a  thread on here about cheap Chinese tools, so ok , some rubbish.  For screwdrivers and tweezers, you really can't scrimp.

[watchweasol]

Hello and welcome to the forum,  as Richard said don’t skimp on tweezers and screwdrivers both of which you can get at reasonable prices, Check out Cousins uk. There are many other makes. Favorite, vetus etc which won’t break the bank.

[gpraceman]

Welcome to the forum.  Yes, watchmaking tools are quite expensive.  There are certainly cheaper hobbies to take up.  Sometimes there are tools that will work just as good as the big name brand tools.  But sometimes it makes sense to just bite the bullet and get the name brand tool than to settle for something cheaper that you will end up being unhappy with and then later upgrading to the good tool.  Sometimes you can find vintage tools for a good price that are as good if not better than new tools.

Some of the Chinese tools are good and can save you quite a bit, but you may need to do some adjustments to them to get them to work perfectly.  Definitely check out the Quality Chinese Tools thread.

 

[CYCLOPS]

another option is eBay and other resellers, used tools can be affordable and sometimes better made, the prices can very...

[gpraceman]

5 hours ago, CYCLOPS said:

another option is eBay and other resellers, used tools can be affordable and sometimes better made, the prices can very...

Some vintage tools can be a good deal over the cost of new.  I have some nice vintage Dumont tweezers and some other vintage tools that were a good deal.  Then there's some vintage tools that go for pretty insane prices.  I'm still trying to understand why people would buy a JKA-Feintaster micrometer off of eBay for more than you can buy them new.

[CYCLOPS]

sometimes that is based on where the buyer lives with no access and sometimes they just don't know any better, jmo.....

[JoeB]

Thanks for all the advice, all very helpful.