Beginner Tool Order Sanity Check

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Hi AHW

I‘m servicing Watches since 3 years now as a hobbist and almost all of my Tools are from ali express. I‘m surprised by their quality. There is a guy called chronofix. He offers all the oils you need in small capsules for a fraction of a full moebius set. In the Picture you can see the Most important tools you need for a service. Dont forget a good magnification Glass.

For cleaning you can use a brush and isopropanol. You can clean all parts exept the pallet fork and balance.


As an example: i dont think you need a horotec hand remover. There a realy cheap Hand removing levers out there. In some tools its important to invest money but some replicas are really good enough for a beginner.

GuiltyGear

I bought a bunch of stuff from Ali initially. Like movement holders, cushions, screwdrivers, loupes, etc. Maybe it's me and my intolerance to the little details, but I've replaced them all with proper Bergeon or Horotec. Of course it depends on how serious you're into the hobby. Maybe you'll try your hand on the Tissot and decide it's not for you, so why bother in spending a bunch of cash on quality tools?

I do all my purchases at Cousins, since there's no local shop in here neither.

The Bergeon 30081 screwdriver set is very decent, but not really cheap compared to Ali offerings. Bergeon 4657 blower is cheap enough. 8008 rubber ball is cheap enough. 5395 75mm cushion is not terribly cheap for what it is, but it's way better than those from Ali. 4039P and 4040P movement holders are not terribly expensive. 2611 loupes are cheap enough. Get a nr. 3 or a nr. 2 as a start, and later on a higher magnification. Rodico from Bergeon as it's cheap and you can't trust the random ones from Ali.

Horotec hand levers are very good and cheaper than the Bergeon. You could buy the ones from Ali, since there's no massive difference in quality. Just make sure there's no imperfections in the finish and if there are, a bit of high grit sandpaper goes a long way. Same for hand presses. You can replace them later on.

Tweezers you can also buy some Vetus from Ali to get the job done. Start replacing them with Dumont when you have the funds. With the oiler needles don't even bother with Ali. The plain ones from Bergeon are cheap enough to start with. Get the ergonomic ones later on. The oil cups you can get from Ali though.

Oils I was also tempted to buy the small 0.5ml jars from Ali. Problem is that you have no idea if they're actual Moebius and if they didn't expire 10 years ago. So you're taking a gamble and not even saving that much. I ended up buying the actual sets of 9010, 9104, 9504, 9415, and 9000. It's a small investment on top of the other tools, but they'll last forever. For the pocket watch to try it out, you can get a cheap vial of 8000 oil.

Pin vices can get expensive and you'll probably do fine with the cheap ones from Ali. Maybe start replacing them slowly once the budget allows. I bought the Bergeon 30026 set, which is crazy expensive and I'm an idiot, but the quality and feel is probably next to none. Also got a 30432 sliding grip for good measure.

Then there's pegwood, pith wood, dial holders, case knives, bracelet tools, watchmaker's paper, and a myriad of other things you'll need. Not mentioning heavy hitters like crystal press, crystal lift, ultrasonic, movement cleaner, and whatnot. Buy what fits the budget.

This post got way too long 😂

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When imperfections bother you then it is a good Plan!
I do not mind when a srewdriver is wobling a Little Bit. He has to unsrew a screw without damage and thats what he does. When you want to go further with the hobby you can consider buying yourself a sharpening device to sharpen your scewdriver to fit each Movement.

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Im currently trying out this thing here. It Spins in a jar. I will try it in an ultrasonic cleaner soon. Its just around 50€

ErichKeane

Those things are absolute garbage. While they do a fine job (though their spin speed is pretty bad), their batteries are crap. All of mine (I bought 6, they seemed nice after a short time!!) have bad batteries after only about 2 months of use.

Also, the baskets tend to get soft over time in the cleaning fluid (just L&R), so they kinda fall apart. Mixed with the fact that the holes in it aren't particularly large, they don't do a great job of letting cleaning fluid in.

In the end, they were kinda total wastes of money.

I ended up fixing a vintage cleaning machine (see my thread!), but if I hadn't, I probably would have gotten the hand-wind one that folks have, its pretty cool looking.