Which Bergeon Screwdriver Box is the better buy?

[Pap3r]

Hey everyone,

Hope you're all doing well.

A local seller is offering her late husband’s watch tools for sale, which are two boxes of Bergeon screwdrivers. One box has a lot of spare bits but is missing a few screwdrivers. The other box has a full set of screwdrivers, though the colors don’t seem to match, and the seller isn’t sure if three of them in the smaller box are even Bergeon. The larger box is priced at $35, and the smaller one at $24.

Which option do you think is the better deal? Thank you!

 

[RichardHarris123]

What are you going to be working on?  The 0.5mm is only usually used on small ladies watches and the 3.0mm on large pocket watches. 

[Pap3r]

58 minutes ago, RichardHarris123 said:

What are you going to be working on?  The 0.5mm is only usually used on small ladies watches and the 3.0mm on large pocket watches. 

I mainly work on mechanical and quartz watches, with a focus on men’s watches. Currently, I’m practicing on a couple of standard pocket watches. I also have two Citizen ladies' watches, but they require a special screwdriver to remove the rotor, so they’re on my project list for now.

[RichardHarris123]

At €35 I would go for the larger set, buy the missing screwdrivers as required. 

[Knebo]

16 minutes ago, RichardHarris123 said:

At €35 I would go for the larger set, buy the missing screwdrivers as required. 

I agree. But you need to buy the missing ones, at least the 100, 120 and maybe 160. Not necessarily the 250. 

The smaller set will not suffice. Particularly, you'll not be able to deal with most barrel arbor / ratchet wheel screws. 

As for the 50, included in the small set but not the large one, I've never needed it. 60 was always small enough. 

[Klassiker]

Get both. You can dress the tips of any duplicates for different slot widths.

[oldhippy]

The first box is probably all you will need. You can always buy individual screwdrivers. The second box most missing and in a bad way not worth buying.  

[Neverenoughwatches]

11 hours ago, Pap3r said:

Hey everyone,

Hope you're all doing well.

A local seller is offering her late husband’s watch tools for sale, which are two boxes of Bergeon screwdrivers. One box has a lot of spare bits but is missing a few screwdrivers. The other box has a full set of screwdrivers, though the colors don’t seem to match, and the seller isn’t sure if three of them in the smaller box are even Bergeon. The larger box is priced at $35, and the smaller one at $24.

Which option do you think is the better deal? Thank you!

 

If i had to choose then possibly the second bigger box if the spares cases were full...can never have enough quality spare tips to dress in different ways, shame there are gaps in the driver sizes...addition of the smaller box does fill two of those gaps but also gives you 3 spare duplicates. I would probably go with Klassiker's advice and buy both you then just need to make up the 140 and 160....for 60 bucks you're getting 10 hopefully genuine Bergeon or at least Swiss, all the good Swiss ones i have ...have shallow slots up the heads....this is what you need to be inspecting....for wear in the revolving head.....i still use my first bought cheap ones lol. 

Oh and the 250...sorry i didn't see that one missing. It would cost you more than 25 to buy the 2 new to fill the .5 and 1mm.

[Knebo]

For reference, this is the set I have (80, 100, 120, 140, 160, 200) and all I ever needed. Except, the 60 which is often needed for the tiny screws in non-shock protected balance jewels. I bought that one extra.

https://www.cousinsuk.com/product/bergeon-screwdriver-sets-static-stands

 

[Neverenoughwatches]

33 minutes ago, Knebo said:

For reference, this is the set I have (80, 100, 120, 140, 160, 200) and all I ever needed. Except, the 60 which is often needed for the tiny screws in non-shock protected balance jewels. I bought that one extra.

https://www.cousinsuk.com/product/bergeon-screwdriver-sets-static-stands

 

That looks like a good set, i like the larger heads as i have large hands, 70 something quid plus 14 for vat and then shipping so around 90 quid and you know the head bearings will be smooth.

[Pap3r]

1 hour ago, Neverenoughwatches said:

If i had to choose then possibly the second bigger box if the spares cases were full...can never have enough quality spare tips to dress in different ways, shame there are gaps in the driver sizes...addition of the smaller box does fill two of those gaps but also gives you 3 spare duplicates. I would probably go with Klassiker's advice and buy both you then just need to make up the 140 and 160....for 60 bucks you're getting 10 hopefully genuine Bergeon or at least Swiss, all the good Swiss ones i have ...have shallow slots up the heads....this is what you need to be inspecting....for wear in the revolving head.....i still use my first bought cheap ones lol. 

Oh and the 250...sorry i didn't see that one missing. It would cost you more than 25 to buy the 2 new to fill the .5 and 1mm.

Would this here serve as replacements for the bigger box:

https://www.cousinsuk.com/product/bergeon-chromium-plated-30080

[Pap3r]

Update: I went with the larger box since buying both wasn't feasible at the moment. I also invested in a watch cleaning machine last month for restoration work, so funds are a bit tight right now.