What Got You Into Watches?

[hihenal]

Hey everyone,

Just dropping in to start a casual conversation—hope that’s cool here in the Relax Zone. I’ve recently been diving into the world of watches, and it’s turning into quite the rabbit hole (in the best way). I’ve always liked them, but after inheriting my grandfather’s old Seiko, I started getting curious about how these little machines actually work.

Funny enough, I’m also working on my Sitecore certification for my day job in digital marketing, and I find watch repair has a similar appeal—detailed, structured, and super rewarding when things click into place.

I was wondering—what pulled you all into watches or watch repair? Was it a special piece, a curiosity, or maybe just a love for tiny gears and tools?

I’m slowly building up my toolkit and learning the basics, and this forum has been an awesome place to browse and learn.

 

Looking forward to hearing your stories!

Cheers

hihenal

[Neverenoughwatches]

Have always loved fixing things, cars mostly but also as a joiner...- take stuff apart, put it back together better - . And then my grandfather's watch that nobody wanted to fix in my town. 

And I love puzzles .

My kids say if dad cant fix it nobody can,   this ere proves it !

[RichardHarris123]

Snap 

[Neverenoughwatches]

Our kids obviously know best.

[SteveF]

You look familiar!!

 

It’s quite strange as it was only last November when I asked myself, “how exactly does a watch work?”.  Six months later I’ve spent a fortune on watches, working and broken, and an equal amount on tools. 
 

I find it interesting and frustrating in equal measure. I see watchmakers on YouTube getting things right every time, yet I struggle to put in case clamps!! 

[AndyGSi]

16 minutes ago, SteveF said:

You look familiar!!

It’s quite strange as it was only last November when I asked myself, “how exactly does a watch work?”.  Six months later I’ve spent a fortune on watches, working and broken, and an equal amount on tools. 
I find it interesting and frustrating in equal measure. I see watchmakers on YouTube getting things right every time, yet I struggle to put in case clamps!! 

The problem with a lot of YouTubers is you don't see the mistakes they make as they edit them out.

[RichardHarris123]

I was just going to post the same thing, edited. 

I also find case clamps fiddly.  

[watchweasol]

Many years ago we used to build our own bikes from scrap, so was always poking about, cars motor bikes etc, and an apprentice ship as an office machine mechanic, typewriters adding mcs calculators accounting machines to automated data processing kit and into computer hardware. A duff watch with a broken mainspring started me on the path, strangely enough I fixed it .the rest is history sixty years on still can’t pass up a clock. Just back from Edinburgh with three clocks and a watch. You would think at my age I should know better.

[RichardHarris123]

4 minutes ago, watchweasol said:

You would think at my age I should know better.

I would be very disappointed if you did.