What watchmaking task should be easy but rarely is?

[mbwatch]

What's the watchmaking task you always think is going to be straightforward, but throws up some unexpected frustration or obstacle for you whenever you do it?

I would especially be interested in hearing from the professionals!

For me, a hobbyist with 3 years experience on maybe 50 watches, it is stem and crown fitting. Replace a broken stem, cut to length and file. Everything is feels right, put it into the case with the movement and find that something doesn't work once the caseback is screwed down. Maybe it's 0.1mm too short now, maybe the crown is binding on the case tube, maybe it turns out that the case tube is actually damaged out of round. Maybe the gasket is too elastic and pulling outward on the crown, fouling the keyless in some way.

It should be easy. It never is. What's your frustrating task?

[markr]

Putting the cap back on the G-S glue.

[mbwatch]

13 minutes ago, markr said:

Putting the cap back on the G-S glue.

Or removing the cap

[Paul80]

Putting the balance back has always been one of those hit or miss tasks, once in a blue moon it goes in first time then for the next 10 times it's a fight, sometimes the pivots refuse to locate in the jewels properly or it ends up over banked, then the next one for no rime or reason just falls into place without any issues, the one task I just can't seem to master.

[GPrideaux]

When I was first beginning to work on watches, EVERYTHING was difficult. The thing that most frustrated me was reinstalling case clamps. Should be easy, but I only had steel tweezers (that needed a heavy touch) and cheap steel "jeweller's" screwdrivers and no matter how much I tried they always had a bit of residual magnetism so the screw just refused to stay put. I had to hold it with the tweezers with my left hand while I got the screwdriver seated with my right, then turn the screw at least half a turn before I could safely remove the tweezers. Getting some decent non-magnetic tools was transformative.

[HectorLooi]

Changing batteries of a dead quartz watch. 

You never know what you'll find inside. It could be a straightforward battery change, to a complete disassembly, clean and oil. Or even a total movement replacement. 

It becomes even harder when it's an expensive watch and the owner never expected anything other than a simple battery change.

[Klassiker]

Fitting the hour and minute hands so that they line up perfectly when the watch is running.

[Eqv89]

Working on a cheaper, heavy worn steel/titanium bracelet, when the splints are rusted, broken in many pieces, stuck in like hell. 

Customer thinks it's a 10min job and you need a bigger hammer, penetrating oil, hard metal drills, another pair of hands to help you... 

[Neverenoughwatches]

1 hour ago, HectorLooi said:

Changing batteries of a dead quartz watch. 

You never know what you'll find inside. It could be a straightforward battery change, to a complete disassembly, clean and oil. Or even a total movement replacement. 

It becomes even harder when it's an expensive watch and the owner never expected anything other than a simple battery change.

A watch owners expectations are the polar opposite of a watchmakers expectations .

[mbwatch]

10 hours ago, GPrideaux said:

reinstalling case clamps

I'm still awful at this too. Especially if I try to install a vintage movement in a modern case made for that movement (e.g. a genuine 6497 in a new case even a high quality one) - the clamps always need modification and I end up destroying a couple.

[Jon]

Fitting a chronograph sweep second hand at exactly 12 O'clock. I mean exactly!

This is where a dedicated movement holder with pushers comes in handy

Here's a slide from my 7750 lessons

[VWatchie]

Casing the movement. While the components of a watch movement almost always fit together perfectly, it is far from certain that one can expect the same precision between the movement and the case.

Also, getting the movement out of the case can sometimes require a lot of research. You think it should be quick and easy, but no.

 

Edited January 26 by VWatchie

[Paul80]

Getting the crystal back in without mullering the thin white gasket.

[eccentric59]

Holding the cap jewel while oiling. 

[oldhippy]

Explaining to a customer that what they have is utter crap. Trying hard to be tactful about it. This is something these days I couldn't do I'm not very tactful these days it's my age. 

[mbwatch]

6 minutes ago, oldhippy said:

Explaining to a customer that what they have is utter crap

"I'm sorry sir, but a real Rolex ends with x and not with cks"

[Neverenoughwatches]

24 minutes ago, oldhippy said:

Explaining to a customer that what they have is utter crap. Trying hard to be tactful about it. This is something these days I couldn't do I'm not very tactful these days it's my age. 

Haha OH , I'm completely shocked, i never knew and thought you were the soul of diplomacy

19 minutes ago, mbwatch said:

"I'm sorry sir, but a real Rolex ends with x and not with cks"

Might that be bol--cks by any chance Michael  ?...lol

[SwissSeiko]

Shellacking impulse jewels is my hardest "easy" task. I always heat it up too fast and have to redo it. Hairspring straightening is another one. I think i'm close, and then my adjustments keep compounding into more and more adjustments.

[Knebo]

Definitely this:

After fitting the hands and before casing... removing the stem... 

With the left hand, gently holding the movement, balancing it on its side (on a gel casing cushion), avoiding to touch the hands and balance, and pulling the stem at the same time (as perpendicular as possible). 

With the right hand, trying to push the "button" with a probe to release the stem (sideways..). 

I hate it. 

 

Or is there a better way that I'm missing? Do you put it in a movement holder (clamping the dial???) ? 

[SwissSeiko]

29 minutes ago, Knebo said:

Definitely this:

After fitting the hands and before casing... removing the stem... 

With the left hand, gently holding the movement, balancing it on its side (on a gel casing cushion), avoiding to touch the hands and balance, and pulling the stem at the same time (as perpendicular as possible). 

With the right hand, trying to push the "button" with a probe to release the stem (sideways..). 

I hate it. 

 

Or is there a better way that I'm missing? Do you put it in a movement holder (clamping the dial???) ? 

Haha I totally forgot about this. I cant believe there isn't a Bergeon tool for this. They have their patented pivot Straightener(breaker) thats hundreds of dollars. Im going to do some thinking on this and see what I can come up with.

[mbwatch]

12 minutes ago, SwissSeiko said:

I cant believe there isn't a Bergeon tool for this

They would be movement-specific and $250 individually or sold in a $4000 set.

[Neverenoughwatches]

10 hours ago, Knebo said:

Definitely this:

After fitting the hands and before casing... removing the stem... 

With the left hand, gently holding the movement, balancing it on its side (on a gel casing cushion), avoiding to touch the hands and balance, and pulling the stem at the same time (as perpendicular as possible). 

With the right hand, trying to push the "button" with a probe to release the stem (sideways..). 

I hate it. 

 

Or is there a better way that I'm missing? Do you put it in a movement holder (clamping the dial???) ? 

This one comes up a lot as a question. Your right hand needs to perform two things at once, pressing the stem button and pulling the crown which takes practice.  I had an idea then RichardHarris123 improvised on it. Have a pin fitted upside-down to something solid so you dont need to hold it, then lift the movement up to it, this frees your right hand up for just pulling the crown. Richard suggested a pin fitted to a thimble, which means you are not gripping a probe ( I am patenting that one ) . Another option is using the plastic cup style movement holders that allow the dial to be face down without worrying about the hands being crushed....leave off any sweep seconds.

Edited January 29 by Neverenoughwatches

[Klassiker]

10 hours ago, Knebo said:

Do you put it in a movement holder (clamping the dial???

Yes. Plastic movement holder, and some care needed to avoid dislodging markers etc., but it was safe so far.

[RichardHarris123]

18 minutes ago, Neverenoughwatches said:

This one comes up a lot as a question. Your right hand needs to perform two things at once, pressing the stem button and pulling the crown which takes practice.  I had an idea then RichardHarris123 improvised on it. Have a pin fitted upside-down to something solid so you dont need to hold it, then lift the movement up to it, this frees your right hand up for just pulling the pin. Richard suggested a pin fitted to a thimble, which means you are not gripping a probe ( I am parenting that one ) . Another option is using the plastic cup style movement holders that allow the dial to be face down without worrying about the hands being crushed....leave off any sweep seconds.

I'd forgotten about this, I could of been a multimillionaire by now. hehe.

[Neverenoughwatches]

1 minute ago, RichardHarris123 said:

I'd forgotten about this, I could of been a multimillionaire by now. hehe.

 Just keep thinking up the ideas and then forgetting about them Rich...thats all you need to do from now on

Or should I call you Del-Boy from now on  ?