Watch book corner.

[Neverenoughwatches]

Eyup watch peep, i figured an active thread where we can post and review good books to read would be useful. When i have questions and ideas i promptly dive into a book and then ask the forum for advice. Most beginners start with the greats such as Fried, de-carle and Daniels, these seem to be the most well known and referred to authors, experts in the field of watch making, a lot of Daniels probably being overtechnical to begin with. But there so many more, Nickelsilver recommended Gazeley a while back so i didn't waste time picking up 2 pre owned books, i wasn't disappointed and can see where the others may have aquired some of their knowledge.  Recently i reviewed and suggested modern watch repairing and adjusting by E.Borer this guy was heavily involved with Rolex and head of their technical department early on, so i assume he knew a thing or two. 1st printed 1931 and revised  twice over a period of 11 years, so the latest edition will contain better more upto date info. Here is another to look up by F.W.Brtten, I've just borrowed this from my local library, slightly earlier than Borer's book 1929 so again old school stuff. In it he mentions the method of cutting away the rivet of a staff to remove it from the balance wheel, that i have heard of before in our forum from Nicklesilver and other pros,  and was brought up by myself and someone else on another group site. That method i thought was a relatively new idea even though the Molfres tool has been around for a long time and employs the same way. Most folk on the other site poopooed the idea , only me and one other guy promoted it to be the safest option, that now taken up by Chris Spinner ( a fantastic amateur and worth watching his video content ). In Britten's book nearly 100 years ago he also states this as a safe way to avoid deformation of the balance wheel and it's hole over time and repeated staff changes. Old fashioned terms and part names used as well which are interesting, i used one not so long ago " pull out piece " we know as the setting lever. Britten actually calls it a " pullout piece or lock " the "pull out " we know as the stem.  So there you are two interesting old school books to check out, enjoy watch people 

Edited January 12 by Neverenoughwatches

[tomh207]

Reading the Borer book now Rich after your recommendation and very much enjoying it. Veery straight no fluff style of writing. As you say old school but I’m finding lots of nuggets of information that is expanding my understanding of things.

 

Tom

[Neverenoughwatches]

2 minutes ago, tomh207 said:

Reading the Borer book now Rich after your recommendation and very much enjoying it. Veery straight no fluff style of writing. As you say old school but I’m finding lots of nuggets of information that is expanding my understanding of things.

 

Tom

Exactly Tom that's why i posted about it a while back. This book by britten is very similar but with the English take on the same principles ( I'm sure all the old masters learnt from each other ). I think a lot of the old ideas get lost during evolution, it's like the old carpentry and building techniques i still sometimes use, I've worked with guys a little younger than me, funny when they exclaim   " how the f..k did you do that !! "

[rossjackson01]

I now have 3 books

1. Clock and watch repairing - De Carle.  Half the content of the book seals with clocks. Uses Photographs and illustrations

2. Complicated watches- De Carle. 10 chronometer watches. Line drawings.  

3. Watch repairer's manual - Fried. An excellent book. Large print. Good visual line drawings. Reading a chapter most nights. Well, re-reading the basics most nights. Very interesting. Recommended by members. I agree with their comments.

If I did not have knowledge from 2 years practice and internet courses, I would be totally lost if it were just down to the books for study. 

I did buy one book when I started. Watch repair for beginners - Kelly. Could not make head nor tail of it. Too advanced for me. Resold within a week.

 

 

Edited January 12 by rossjackson01
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[Neverenoughwatches]

11 hours ago, rossjackson01 said:

I now have 3 books

1. Clock and watch repairing - De Carle.  Half the content of the book seals with clocks. Uses Photographs and illustrations

2. Complicated watches- De Carle. 10 chronometer watches. Line drawings.  

3. Watch repairer's manual - Fried. An excellent book. Large print. Good visual line drawings. Reading a chapter most nights. Well, re-reading the basics most nights. Very interesting. Recommended by members. I agree with their comments.

If I did not have knowledge from 2 years practice and internet courses, I would be totally lost if it were just down to the books for study. 

I did buy one book when I started. Watch repair for beginners - Kelly. Could not make head nor tail of it. Too advanced for me. Resold within a week.

 

 

Three good books Ross, another popular fried book is his bench practices, de-carle also has a dictionary of parts and terms.