Hello from Essex, UK

[agg221]

Hello Everyone,

My interests are in wristwatches - Cheltenham made Smiths, early English-made such as Rotherham & Sons, Henry Williamson etc and an eclectic mix of random other watches which have something about the design that I find interesting and innovative, e.g. Harwood, Autorist, original Reverso etc. I also have interests in longcase and lantern clocks.

I am not great on movements and tend to leave them alone, although I can do a basic service if I have to. I am however quite happy repairing cases, grinding and re-profiling crystals and making straps. I also do the odd bit of dial repair if it does not require anything too artistic.

With watches and clocks of this age however, the issue of parts availability inevitably arises. I am patient (I have finally found a winding crown for a Rotherham & Sons I bought in 2016) but I do try to find good ways to get new parts made - this is getting me into casting for English crowns and I am looking at hairsprings - I would rather buy parts from someone who knows what they are doing and is good at it, but if nobody is doing it then the only option becomes DIY and muddle through.

Anyway, I am sure I will have plenty of questions.

Regards

Alec

 

 

[RichardHarris123]

Hello and welcome from Leeds. 

 

Edited June 22, 2024 by RichardHarris123

[watchweasol]

Hello and welcome to the forum.   Enjoy

[oldhippy]

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

We all look forward to your contributions and continued involvement. 

Have you looked around Auction houses near you. Ebay sell lots of old watch parts. Any watchmakers selling up near you. Visit the old watchmakers you never know what they could tucked away. Members on here will even help out.  

[Nucejoe]

Welcome to the WRT forum. 

[agg221]

Thank you for the welcome.

Yes - I do make use of Ebay and local auctions, and have got very lucky on occasion. Parts may be needles in haystacks but there is more chance of finding them when there are more needles in a bigger haystack.

There are some major challenges though, the two largest being unlabelled parts (is that part actually for my watch or something quite similar in size?) and, particularly for early wristwatches, the fact that parts are not actually interchangeable so even if it came from the same make/model it may need some fettling to make it work. Balance staffs are a particular case in point.

Alec

[Knebo]

That's a nice introduction! 

Welcome.