having serious doubts about my abilities lately

[ramrod]

the title says it all. i have been working on a few recent purchases and i'm not having too much success - except when it comes to screwing up.

i began working on my seiko EL-330 last night. i wanted to look at the movement and take a closer inspection of the keyless works. it looks like some water had gotten in in the distant past. i removed all of the works, taking pictures as i went along. well, i lost a screw somewhere in the carpeting. on top of that, there is a part of the keyless works that has a very tiny wire riveted to it. yup, broke the wire. now i need a screw and that part for the keyless. not an easy find.

next up - an elgin that i got this week. a monster of a watch with no complications. it is an auto with an elgin 996 movement (AS 1920). well, it was grinding when i would wind it so i wanted to check it out. i removed the rotor and the winding bridge. it took forever to reinstall that bridge. after i reinstalled it, i spun the rotor and could see that the barrel was winding. all buttoned up and now it won't manually wind. the crown won't even turn. it will auto wind, but no manual wind.

next up - my latest bulova accutron. a beauty. i took the movement out to take some pictures of it to post up on  "my watch collection". buttoned it all up, pulled the crown to set it - the crown came right out. i can't tighten the screw to lock it in. the watch runs beautifully, but i can't set it.

 i think i'm gonna back slowly away from the desk so no other watches get hurt. believe me, i can do some damage.

[noirrac1j]

Easy does it Ram,

I know the feeling only too well. Your instinct to just put everything aside sounds right. I've gone through similar circumstances and I just take a break, cover everything up and leave it alone. 

JC

[ramrod]

can't even spell "about" properly. what next?

[ramrod]

well said, JC. i'm gonna wrap it up for a few days.

[Bill3]

It is reassuring to learn that I am not the only person who has watches turn to feces when I work on them.  

[noirrac1j]

That's right. It happens to everybody...you'll be OK ramrod, just ease off a few days and things will improve tremendously.

JC

[Folkvisor]

It's like my click spring problem. It was obviously me. I took a break from it for a week and it went in without a problem; works fine now.

[oldhippy]

We all get good and bad days I can think of a few in my time. ramrod have sometime away from the bench leave the repairs alone it sounds as if you need a holiday. It will all come back and you will find you will be better with your skills.

[frenchie]

Bad days suck! Best you can hope for is that nothing gets broken or lost forever, just a silly mistake or shaky hands.

Put your stuff away, get your favorite beverage for your favorite sitting spot and enjoy life. Then get back to it.

(I have 3 watches "in progress" right now, all are pretty frustrating adventures, but I'll go back to them for 15 minutes at a time, taking parts of, cleaning well, putting  it back and calling it quits, to keep frustration at bay. Eventually, they'll get done)

[jnash]

this is nothing new, haven't touched a watch for a few weeks now because im stuck on the current one.... come back to it when you "feel" like it!

[WillFly]

This is a very common experience when dealing with something complex or learning something new. Now and then, when I'm learning a new piece of music (for example), there might be one or two passages which have what I call "sticking points", i.e. they might have some really tricking fingering or - for whatever reason - just don't stay in the memory. Every time the piece is practised, one gets almost to dread these moments!

And all the advice above is good when dealing with mechanical things - leave it, put the watch down, have a beer, go for a walk, do something else. Not quite the same as music practice - and this is where the analogy ends - because the only way to get over musical obstacles is to practise, practise and practise again! But the same feelings of frustration are recognisable.

Cheers,

Will

[rogart63]

I think we all have been there many times. I worked on a AR 1141 and couldn't find why it would run properly. Took me a long time and a lot of parts to find that it was the pallet fork that was the problem. Take some time of and come back some other day. 

[ramrod]

Thanks fellas. All good advice.

My biggest worry is finding the parts i lost or broke.

Aaaaaarrrghhhh. Bangs head on desk.

[Folkvisor]

My advice is: Don't bother looking for broken parts. ;-)

I found a Novodiac spring in the pocket case for my glasses with a magnet once. 

[stroppy]

It's a common thing in any profession or trade to have Sh#tty days, weeks or months...ones you'd rather be written off into history.  Doesn't mean you're losing it.  It DOES mean you might need a break.  A nice holiday might do the trick.

In my old line of work I made a super serious mistake which was then compounded over a week.  I could have been in big trouble...a dismissal action may even have been started but things did cool down...I realised my mistake AND I realised that I had been pushing myself a little too much...causing the error in the first place.  I took a week off and vegged-out.  It did wonders for me. 

[noirrac1j]

34 minutes ago, ramrod said:

Thanks fellas. All good advice.

My biggest worry is finding the parts i lost or broke.

Aaaaaarrrghhhh. Bangs head on desk.

I've looked for lost parts and sometimes found them. Other times I've found them long after I obtained a replacement...and of course some are never, ever found. Look for them if you must, but don't go crazy.

J

[steven]

Ramrod, take it easy.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[ramrod]

Well, what I meant by finding lost parts is: getting a scrap or broken movement and cannibalizing it. Not physically looking for thwm in the carpet. The only one that concerns me is the EL-330. Gonna be hard to find one.

I just had to clear that up.

Thanks again  guys. This is great advice. It looks like this is common ailment amongst us.

[jeffc83]

@ramrod I see that others commented here as well but you are CERTAINLY NOT ALONE!  I was going to hang it up over a dozen times recently because of a few bad days/weeks along with a bad lot or two from Ebay. (that combination can be lethal to a watch-"guy", lol)  Please don't make me show you my box of "f" ups and duds, it WILL make you cry and if not, you will at leat tear up...I never want to harm a watch and/or movement in the process but I seem to go through bad spells where nothing goes right for me.  Heck, just last night, I was working on a pre-US Time Kelton and fully serviced it over the course of 6 hours or so.  I wound her up, went to set the time and the crown split right off the stem. (no, it was not a split stem, lol)  To me, I got nowhere but I currently have a replacement on order so all is well :/  As JC mentioned, I will find parts months after a project or most of the time, NEVER.  We can't let it get us down but, it IS recommended to take a little breather when it happens. (I tend to take a full day or two myself)  Let us know if you need anything! (happy to help you troubleshoot those issues when YOU are ready)

Edited April 15, 2016 by jeffc83

[WileyDave]

I just started a Seiko 7009a yesterday, my first one and right outta the gate found hairspring extremely eccentric, no problem, removed and forgot to mark collet position on wheel...ARRRRRG!  Then noticed dial appeared to be glued on, double ARRRRRG! On top of that, my parts guy isn't answering email, yet another setback and to top it all off the guide for hairspring on the regulator was bent!!!!!!  Just another day of challenges in the world of watches. Sometimes your the hammer, other times your the nail.....

[WileyDave]

Oh and in addition, I went to print parts catalogue of 7009a, which I do to see all parts and order of assembly and BAM printer takes a holiday AND FINALLY called parts guy and balance complete $25......OUCH

[ramrod]

Dave.....nothing says "fun" like a glued on dial.

You just reminded me of something.....I have a concentric hairspring on one of my movements and don't know what to do about it. 

Time for a tutorial from someone.

[WileyDave]

4 hours ago, ramrod said:

Dave.....nothing says "fun" like a glued on dial.

You just reminded me of something.....I have a concentric hairspring on one of my movements and don't know what to do about it. 

Time for a tutorial from someone.

I don't know if you feel comfortable doing this procedure, but here it is anyway.

 

[presto0906]

Vacuum cleaner over the work area then go through the recoverd dust with a loupe - done it several times when working on 1342s - 100% recovery

[Folkvisor]

Just so you know, 1342 is the date for the Battle of Brest.