Learn about watchmaking - for non-watchmakers

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Thanks for the great summary. Do you have a tool for setting the mainspring, or do you do it by hand? That part more than anything (other than the expense) intimidates me from starting a project of my own.

I ended up getting the bergeon one, but before that I was just buying new springs as they come in a holder pre-wound.
 
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I ended up getting the bergeon one, but before that I was just buying new springs as they come in a holder pre-wound.

how many different barrels do you find yourself using? I heard for wristwatches you typically only use about 3-4 different ones anyways.
 
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so far Ive used 3 barrels and a few different arbors.

For the 550 series movements and the 1010 series movements i found the number 6 and number 7 barrels were needed, for womens movements i think it was the number 2? but ive also had to use different arbors a bit to fit the smaller internal coils.

I got the smaller set of bergeon winders and then had to get the number 7 after i discovered the 1010 mainspring wouldn't fit in the number 6 barrel...

I think now that the chinese winders have steel arbors its probably ok to give them a go. My hand was forced to go with the bergeon as I was working with womens 620 movements.
 
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You can read a lot of information here on this forum. There is no technical/watchmaking section, although the mods have apparently talked about it. No idea if it's going to happen, but it would be a good place to put threads like these.

I've posted a number of threads on specific topics related to watchmaking, and unfortunately they get buried, so here are some links for anyone who wants to learn more to read:

Basic watchmaking tips - cleaning | Omega Forums

Basic watchmaking tips - Oiling Part 1 | Omega Forums

Basic watchmaking tips - Oiling Part 2 (the mainspring barrel) | Omega Forums

Basic watchmaking tips - Spotting wear | Omega Forums

Basic watchmaking tips - Oiling Part 3 (the wheel train) | Omega Forums

Basic watchmaking tips - Oiling part 4 (the escapement) | Omega Forums

Basic watchmaking tips - replacing a balance staff | Omega Forums

Basic Watchmaking tips - checking and adjusting end shake | Omega Forums

Cheers, Al
 
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so far Ive used 3 barrels and a few different arbors.

For the 550 series movements and the 1010 series movements i found the number 6 and number 7 barrels were needed, for womens movements i think it was the number 2? but ive also had to use different arbors a bit to fit the smaller internal coils.

I got the smaller set of bergeon winders and then had to get the number 7 after i discovered the 1010 mainspring wouldn't fit in the number 6 barrel...

I think now that the chinese winders have steel arbors its probably ok to give them a go. My hand was forced to go with the bergeon as I was working with womens 620 movements.


I have been considering biting the bullet and buying a Chinese set but I know the better long term investment is to get the Bergeon slowly over time.
 
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Do you mean winding the mainspring into the barrel? I’ve done it successfully by hand but you are better off spending a little extra and getting a right hand winder + barrels for the winder as you need them. Bergeon is worth the $$$ in this case.

although my personal opinion is to replace the mainspring with a new one when available every service. Usually costs about $8-15 but well worth it.
Yeah, that's what I meant. I didn't know that buying a new one for that cheap was an option. Thanks.
 
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There is some good advice provided here, already. I particularly appreciate Archer’s long time contributions and support of the community.

I recommend some YouTube videos by Mark Lovick - “Watch Repair Channel.” He also has a class you can take.
 
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I did the opposite of what everyone says and actually cut my teeth on womens movements. While they are TINY, there are a good amount more available at considerably more affordable price points.
If the OP is married, I wouldn't recommend this.
 
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well, your mileage may vary 😀

for me the missus has been quite happy with receiving some nice little omegas
 
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well, your mileage may vary 😀

for me the missus has been quite happy with receiving some nice little omegas

Maybe @GrouchoM identified this as the problem. Two collectors within one family might not be affordable 😉
 
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Hi all,

I think it might make sense to keep you updated, so that if somebody else could profit from my experiences as an absolute newbie starting to work on movements.

In the mean time the ETA 6498 as well as the screwdivers (Beco) arrived and at first I did not order a loupe as I thought "hey, my eyes are quite good". I am quite happy with the screwdivers, but I will come back to the loupe later.



I was able to take the ETA movement apart. However, I could not remove the cannon pinion as I simply don't have the tools for this. The movement holder was part of a cheap toolset I already owned. However it is quite clumsy and the screw can only be operated using both hands. I might want to buy a better one if I would proceed. I am also thinking of buying a proper working mat that does not slip - the green thing I am using right now is just a cardboard folder that is moving the whole time.



Afterwards I managed to put all the different parts together again, and after winding the movement immediately started working.


The I thought "Let's carefully have a look onto the old Omega Pocketwatch that I own but is not working"


First I unwinded the mainspring to remove the stored energy out of the system before starting to disassemble the movement. It looked quite dirty but right in the beginning you could already see, that the balance wheel was not just moving in a horizontal direction but also vertically. Therefore I assume reason #1 for the non-working state is a broken balance staff. On the bottom side it looked good (see picture), but on the upper part there is not such a "pin" (difficult to see behind the hairspring).


After removing the balance wheel the pallet fork should move from one side to the other upon a gentle touch with the tweezer (and winding the mainspring). This was not the case and the escapement wheel seemed to have a similar defect as the balance wheel. Without a loupe all of the small parts are difficult to see, so I tend to order a loupe too.


To sum it up:

I would like to source a new escapement wheel as well as the balance staff. As I certainly don't have the tools and know-how to change the bance staff, I would like to give this part to a watchmaker.

To find the parts I need to know which caliber the movement is. Is anyone here able to identify the movement?

Let's see if we can revive the watch step by step.

Thank you!
Edited:
 
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Sounds like you are coming along nicely!

Since you are Germany based perhaps the Eschenbach loupes are cheaper in your area? They make nice loupes.
Again I advise looking for something that can directly clip to glasses if you have glasses.

When I was starting out, I actually just either used a pin vise or a stout pair of tweezers to remove the canon pinion and just did it carefully.
I have very recently picked up the bergeon presto style cannon pinion remover, as I haven't been able to find one of the other style ones locally, and this one was discounted.

I would probably suggest a new thread for identifying the movement, due to the stepped balance cock I don't think its one of these ones, but perhaps this can be a starting point in identifying it?
 
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I've been collecting tools for the last few weeks (while hemorrhaging money, but I'm excited about the prospect of this hobby), and I think I'm about ready to tackle my first disassembly/reassembly. Luckily, my father has bought hundreds of watches in lots from eBay to extract gold from the cases, so he has very many movements that are useless to him. So I get plenty of freebies to practice on before attempting to clean and lubricate any of my watches.
 
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Very informative thread, keep it up and have fun 👍
 
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I've been collecting tools for the last few weeks (while hemorrhaging money, but I'm excited about the prospect of this hobby), and I think I'm about ready to tackle my first disassembly/reassembly. Luckily, my father has bought hundreds of watches in lots from eBay to extract gold from the cases, so he has very many movements that are useless to him. So I get plenty of freebies to practice on before attempting to clean and lubricate any of my watches.

When you are disassembling the movements, make sure you pay attention to how the parts interact with each other, and understand their functioning. While you can follow a guide, or take photos to help you put it back together, having a true understanding of how things work is how you really learn.

Have fun!

Cheers, Al
 
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When you are disassembling the movements, make sure you pay attention to how the parts interact with each other, and understand their functioning. While you can follow a guide, or take photos to help you put it back together, having a true understanding of how things work is how you really learn.

Have fun!

Cheers, Al
Thank you very much for the advice. I think that I'm going to try my best to make sense of the movement components on my first attempt or two, then go through Mark Lovick's course and try a couple more.

I am quite a bit worried about remembering which screws go where, but I'm hoping it will be more obvious than I expect once I get into it. And I'm going to try my best to keep the parts very well organized throughout the process.
 
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T..........................
I am quite a bit worried about remembering which screws go where, but I'm hoping it will be more obvious than I expect once I get into it. And I'm going to try my best to keep the parts very well organized throughout the process.

As you disassemble, place the screw/s from each component into a compartment of a small "weekly" medicine/tablet container, on paper, list the part,
e.g.;
M - Balance
T - Barrel Bridge
W - Train Bridge etc.

If you take macro shots of the screws, have them all together (lined up in a groove in a small bit of soft wood). It's easier to sort them when you can compare sizes against each other. After a while you get familiar with them and can wash them all together and sort them to their parts.

You can also make "screw guides", then print one off and place the sorted screws on the print.

One I created



One from my service manual
 
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You can read a lot of information here on this forum. There is no technical/watchmaking section, although the mods have apparently talked about it. No idea if it's going to happen, but it would be a good place to put threads like these.

I've posted a number of threads on specific topics related to watchmaking, and unfortunately they get buried, so here are some links for anyone who wants to learn more to read:

Basic watchmaking tips - cleaning | Omega Forums

Basic watchmaking tips - Oiling Part 1 | Omega Forums

Basic watchmaking tips - Oiling Part 2 (the mainspring barrel) | Omega Forums

Basic watchmaking tips - Spotting wear | Omega Forums

Basic watchmaking tips - Oiling Part 3 (the wheel train) | Omega Forums

Basic watchmaking tips - Oiling part 4 (the escapement) | Omega Forums

Basic watchmaking tips - replacing a balance staff | Omega Forums

Basic Watchmaking tips - checking and adjusting end shake | Omega Forums

Cheers, Al

This was an awesome read, thank you

I now know why my amplitudes are around 220 😀

------

For me #1 has always been not damaging dial and hands, it's why I started approaching servicing watches myself that definitely needed it (not running), I can't bear the thought of a dial getting damaged out of my control, if you watch Youtube videos, you can see applying putty to the dial as a common practice, but many dials have coatings and a natural wear on them, even applying putty leaves marks, and there are even more brutish practices

Even established/professional watchmakers just turn the watch over with the dial and place it on it's dial onto the bergeon cushions, seems like a violation to me, aren't lume pips soft?

I've spent too much on experimental watchmaker tools lately, so I want to throttle myself a bit, yet, I've been really wanting this:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003236561525.html


I'm hoping that it'll be precise enough to pull the seconds hand individually and afterwards pull the hour/minute hands without ever touching the dial

My suggestion for tools is just buying the best first as it ends up being cheaper
 
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.......................................

To find the parts I need to know which caliber the movement is. Is anyone here able to identify the movement?

Let's see if we can revive the watch step by step.

Thank you!

First step to identify the movement is to measure the diameter of the plate from edge to edge (in mm). That will give you the size to search for, e.g. 19'''.

Next is to get a pic of the keyless works, then with the pics you can identify the caliber using various references.

.
 
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Also, when providing photos of the movement, the pics should be centred above the movement with the stem at the top (for a Lépine caliber) or to the right (for a savonette/hunter).