Left-Handed Watchmakers Not Allowed?

[Endeavor]

Today I heard an interesting story and try to find out if there is any validity to it?

Apparently my father in law, now 84, was, as a young boy, offered an apprenticeship by a watchmaker. This must have been around, or shortly after the 2nd WW. But as soon as they found out that he was left-handed, he didn't get it !?

 

Anybody ever heard anything like this before? If yes, what was the "left-hander's" drawback?

 

Very Curious..........

[bobm12]

Probably none, other than the [false] idea that there was something wrong with all lefties...

[jdm]

I don't know about watchmaking specifically, but I know for sure that being left handed was much frowned upon until some 40 years ago, with teachers trying to force highhandedness on kids. Which may have produced sufferance, but also a good number of ambidextrous people.

[BeyondWorld]

That's sad to hear.

[Endeavor]

I'm /was a stubborn lefty. The system couldn't beat it out of me, they tried hard but to no avail  After a while, they left me alone  :D 

[oldhippy]

I'm left handed and while working as an apprentice my master always joked saying I was an awkward **gger because I was left handed and did things opposite to him.  :D

[ramrod]

i'm also a lefty. i do two things right handed - 1) shooting a pistol and 2) shooting a rifle. i believe the reason is because that's the way i was taught. watching westerns and watching my father shoot - they were all right handers. so, i assumed that their way was how it was done.

and i own only one lefty watch.

[klinej54]

I'm a southpaw as well.  Although I shoot and throw left-handed, I always boxed orthodox (right-handed).  I still had a pretty good punch with my right, but my jab was every effective.  And like most lefties, I could switch to unorthodox when it suit my propose. I think in general, it's easier for a leftie to go right an a righty to go left; after all we have spent all of our lives in a righties' world.

[Chainstay]

And I'm left handed, so I bid all of you lefties very welcome to share your experiences.

 

I'm a surgeon and I know for sure that if you were left-handed in the forties or fifties (19..-) you had absolutely no career as a surgeon because it was believed that it was impossible to achieve the dexterity needed. That is of course bull-**** because you tend really fast to adopt to all the right-hand instruments provided and in my belief getting much better prepared for ambidextrous instruments. And the lefty often has very good 3-D skills helpful of mapping human anatomy.

 

As for watch-repairing skills I also think it's bull**** because of the low-torque precision movements required to disassemble and assemble watch-movements - the lefty often has a lot more precision and dexterity (oddly enough given the meaning of "dexter"...) than average. Yes, the ordinary screw is right-turning, so if you are right-handed you can tighten screws with more power than an average lefty but that's not the point in watch-making or -repairing.

 

I strongly recommend the book "Right hand, left hand" by Chris McManus (available on Amazon)

[Michael]

I am also left handed,

 

Chainstay,  "the lefty often has a lot more precision and dexterity (oddly enough given the meaning of "dexter"...) than average"

 

 

 

Unfortunately I must be the except to the rule

[mwilkes]

I'm a leftie too - and actually using a watchmaker's lathe is a bit tricky. I have to use it end-on, which has its own disadvantages.

[Marc]

I'm a leftie too - and actually using a watchmaker's lathe is a bit tricky. I have to use it end-on, which has its own disadvantages.

 

Could you not just flip everything around and spin it the other way?

 

Probably not possible if you use a cross slide but for free hand graver work it should be ok.

[jnash]

I'm a leftie too - and actually using a watchmaker's lathe is a bit tricky. I have to use it end-on, which has its own disadvantages.

 

interested you say that as im looking for a new lathe and i noticed that the ones with the build in motor and stand (especially the armrest) will not for me... but then saying that the only thing i use my left hand for is in fact writing.. everything else is with my right (including using a graver!)

 

lefties rule!

[jdm]

Could you not just flip everything around and spin it the other way?

 

Probably not possible if you use a cross slide but for free hand graver work it should be ok.

 

Can't flip screw tightening around unless turning upside down as Chainstay pointed out before.

Can't reverse flow of writing unless switching to Arabic or writing upside down, a leftie will always cover their writing.

And let's not even get to discuss if it's better to shift and rummaging with right or left hand while driving.

Certain things in our world are designed for right-handiness, most watches having crown at 3 is a pertinent example, lefties known that better than us.

Edited February 16, 2016 by jdm

[bobm12]

 

a leftie will always cover their writing...shift and rummaging with right or left hand while driving...

 

Let's start by saying that I work with both hands the same: I write, shoot, throw and work with tools as well as drive either way and with the same precision and force (hopefully). We train martial arts that way too: hands and feet. It is handy because some right hand stuff is better used left hand and the other way around.

 

Now, I believe we deserve some corrections here. NOT all lefties write covering their writing (I'm one of those who don't when writing left hand (I do this when I want speed when speed and beauty is not an issue...and I pride myself, having studied calligraphy and Palmer, to have good penmanship both hands) and I know lefties that do as well. When driving, most controls for turning and cruise are naturally on the left so I use my left hand and windshield controls and shifting are on the right so I use my right hand...(I don't worry about radio controls since my kids and wife handle those) Well, I do all that except when my right hand/arm is busy hugging the wife in the other seat and then I use (comfortably) my left hand for everything not wanting to let go. Also, if my left hand is busy showing my finger to a stupid driver -- they all meet here in Miami -- then I can do (comfortably) the opposite but not hug the wife! The real problem, when driving in my area, is when I'm showing my finger to several stupid drivers and the left hand is engaged in this maneuver longer -- remember it is Miami -- and I don't want to quit hugging the wife with the other arm at the same time... Ooops! no hands left!  :D

 

So, apart from some minor occurrences in life, left handedness is not a problem...and I would go as far as saying that even though many things are designed with the right hand mindset built in (consciously or not, considering the great majority of right handed designers), it just makes the left handed person more adaptable, for lack of a better word.

 

In fact, I don't think left or right handedness makes any one's abilities any more better than -- or superior to -- others but the will to do a good job of whatever presents itself in life, regardless hand preference. That said, some things like language, preferred hand use and other factors apparently affect what side of the brain we use the most -- someone said that each hand is ruled by its opposite side of the brain -- Maybe we lefties are the only ones in our "right" mind!  :)

 

In any case, watches are now made for both hands so I don't see any problem enjoying them either way...better, right handed watches worn on the left and the other way around as many people do!

 

Happy watchmaking!

 

Cheers,

 

Bob

[Geo]

I'm well impressed Bob! Being right handed, the only thing I do naturally left handed is archery.

[bobm12]

Thanks Geo, but I've never shoot an arrow in my life so my admiration to you too! The use of both hands is pretty much a matter of training or at least it seems to me it is.

[jdm]

I write, shoot, throw and work with tools as well as drive either way and with the same precision and force (hopefully).

Now, I believe we deserve some corrections here. NOT all lefties write covering their writing (I'm one of those who don't when writing left hand (I do this when I want speed when speed and beauty is not an issue...and I pride myself, having studied calligraphy and Palmer, to have good penmanship both hands) and I know lefties that do as well.

So I take you're fully ambidextrous. Which makes you part of a different, smaller and more gifted category than left-handed. I would like to be like that too, but I can't because of my natural inclination.

[klinej54]

Sorry, but I just can't resist

 

 

I been Norman Mailered, Maxwell Taylored
I been John O'Hara'd, Mcnamara'd
I been Rolling Stoned and Beatled till I'm blind
I been Ayn Randed, nearly branded
Communist, 'cause I'm left-handed
That's the hand I use, well, never mind

 

A Simple Desultory Philippic (Or How I Was Robert McNamara'd Into Submission)

 

And the sad part is, I know who all those guys were
 

Edited February 17, 2016 by klinej54

[ramrod]

Also, if my left hand is busy showing my finger to a stupid driver -- they all meet here in Miami --

 

bob - i gotta respectfully disagree with you. ALL of the stupid drivers are here in north carolina. all of them. i could tell some stories.

 

i liked this watch so much, i got one for each wrist.

[Folkvisor]

I'm not left handed but, sometimes when I am working on a watch, I think it would be beneficial; easier to see what I am doing.

 

In Italian MS = Mano Sinistra

 

I do like the fact that Highwaymen in England held their pistols in their LH and rose their RH to approaching riders to show they had no weapon. Hence MS applies to them. 

 

Dave

[Endeavor]

From the above it clearly shows that there is validity to the story of my father in law. He became instead a very skilled craftsman; a missed opportunity for the watchmaking guild I would conclude. 

[steven]

So for the lefties, is it the left eye you wear the loupe?

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[bobm12]

I suppose that it doesn't matter which hand you prefer in order to wear a loupe but what is your dominant eye which is always the case in a similar activity: shooting. I've seen some people  regardless of being left or right handed who have an opposite hand dominant eye.

[Endeavor]

Eye loupe in the right eye.......... In the left eye my hand would be in the way. Whether that's because it's my dominant eye, or because it's "grown" that way, not sure? As somebody wrote before, some things as a child you just have adopted to, never questioned why or that another way was possible. For many years I struggled with scissors, especially those with the pre-moulded right-hand finger-grips (they were plain painful; talking about ergonomics) until I discovered by coincident that scissors existed for left-handed, or for both. Left-handed (household) tools are not advertised, not really.....

As for advertising.......there are only a very few cups/mugs who have there brand / logo / message on the "back-side", meaning that if I drink out of them, the person opposite me gets to see what's written on it. Advantage is that I get less sub-consciously brainwashed  :D

Edited February 18, 2016 by Endeavor