Learn about watchmaking - for non-watchmakers

noless · Apr 30, 2022

Olhenry56
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.

I take photos of the bridge and parts along with the screws as I go, this allows me to keep track of what screws came from where.

Another handy thing to keep an eye out for is if the bottom of the screw has also been polished or not, as well as the shape of the screw head.
For example, most bridge screws have a flat head, and screws that go into the automatic winder modules from the bottom will often have polished bottoms as the bottom of the screw will show through on the other side.

Its also not a bad idea to take a photo of how everything went together just after you have taken a plate off, this way you can get an indication of whether a screw went in one way up or another.
If you forgot to take a photo, as I have done in the past you may find that watchguy.co.uk may have taken a photo of just what you need to know in the past, has certainly saved my bacon before.

Good luck!

Rjay8 · May 1, 2022

Lots of great info here! I've picked up some old/cheap watches on my local classifieds to practice on when my schedule frees up. I'm hoping I have some steady hands and that my eyes will be able to keep up. This should pay off since I have some watches sitting that are in need of service

Truva1 · May 1, 2022

I would recommend this book. Fantastic read.
Maintaining and Repairing Mechanical Watches
by Mark Wiles

Truva1 · May 1, 2022

As mentioned above, Wristwatch revival channel in youtube is very useful. I really enjoy to watch it.

Olhenry56 · May 1, 2022

Rjay8
I've picked up some old/cheap watches on my local classifieds to practice on when my schedule frees up.

Truva1
Wristwatch revival channel in youtube is very useful. I really enjoy to watch it.

There are a couple of Wristwatch Revival videos where he works on very cheap movements and it is some ways more difficult to understand and service the movement. So just a heads up for anyone else looking for inexpensive practice pieces. Perhaps still seek out movements that were decent quality once upon a time.

Rjay8 · May 1, 2022

Olhenry56
There are a couple of Wristwatch Revival videos where he works on very cheap movements and it is some ways more difficult to understand and service the movement. So just a heads up for anyone else looking for inexpensive practice pieces. Perhaps still seek out movements that were decent quality once upon a time.

I agree. His Mickey Mouse watch repair video was what turned me away from toy watches. I was contemplating picking up some Aliexpress $30 pocket watches but realized they'd all be paper weights. The "cheap" watches i got from the classifieds have been a mechanical Citizen and Seiko 5. I should call them affordable. Quite solid movements and still reputable even if they arent Swiss.

kaplan · May 1, 2022

I hope they end up opening the watch repair / solution subforum, by the way if anyone in Turkey stumbles onto this I'm disassembling, oiling, reassembling 550/600 series free of charge in Turkey, for experience, no guarantees

I ended up buying the air lifter I shared today, along with a 5700 caseback opener @noless suggested

Olhenry56 · May 7, 2022

This is a pretty neat visual aid for understanding the basics of how the major mechanisms work in theory: https://ciechanow.ski/mechanical-watch/

Rjay8 · May 7, 2022

kaplan
I hope they end up opening the watch repair / solution subforum, by the way if anyone in Turkey stumbles onto this I'm disassembling, oiling, reassembling 550/600 series free of charge in Turkey, for experience, no guarantees

I ended up buying the air lifter I shared today, along with a 5700 caseback opener @noless suggested

How much did you pay for them? A quick search on Amazon and the Caseback tools was minimum $150

Hilts · May 7, 2022

kaplan
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

That tool from Ali Express does look pretty nifty, however, if you're dextrous enough a dial protector and a pair of hand levers (I use Horotec) will do just as good a job (especially paired with a stereo microscope). I'm not a watch repairer (yet, roll on retirement) however I've had to remove and replace hands quite a lot and the hand levers really give you a lot of control and precision.

For setting hands there's a jewelers tool that is shaped like a pen with a slightly sticky silicone end to it that allows you to pick up the hands and place them when setting, here's the Cousins link:

https://www.cousinsuk.com/product/jewel-picker-upper-with-silicone-tips?code=P32168

Revo · May 8, 2022

This is all you need.

Fun, too.

https://ciechanow.ski/mechanical-watch/

kaplan · May 8, 2022

Rjay8
How much did you pay for them? A quick search on Amazon and the Caseback tools was minimum $150

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32965681928.html

I pay 30% tax because I live in an extremely prosper country with an extreme amount of disposable income 😁

They didn't arrive yet

For the hands picker, I was actually using the cheapest tool and found it very useful, especially because it pressed on with it's plastic parts onto the dial protector

However for sunburst dials that have bubbles as patina on them, anything you press on the dial, including the protector, flakes those bubbles, so the air picker seemed like a solution to me in theory, it's yet to arrive, and I really hope the theory will apply in practice

I think I'll ask my brother for help though, while I hold the movement vice still comfortably with 2 hands and position the dial, he can then gently pull the hands with the tool

For me, caseback opening was a 2-man job too (unless you have a big vice mounted somewhere, I had my brother push onto a drawer that we used as a vice, while I pushed down on the caseback opener so it doesn't slip) - so I really hope this new tool will allow me to open casebacks alone

BAJJ · May 11, 2022

I recently came across this timing app for my phone. Now, while I do not expect it to take the place of a timegrapher it does seem to do a reasonable job to my untrained eye. Anyone have experience with this app, good, bad or indifferent?

Screenshot_2022-05-06-15-09-06-739_com.watchaccuracymeter.app.jpg

Olhenry56 · May 11, 2022

BAJJ
I recently came across this timing app for my phone. Now, while I do not expect it to take the place of a timegrapher it does seem to do a reasonable job to my untrained eye. Anyone have experience with this app, good, bad or indifferent?

I've been using that one, too. I sure wish my watch would give results like yours!

Olhenry56 · May 11, 2022

I've also been using super slow motion on my camera to estimate the amplitude.

kaplan · May 11, 2022

I bought Watch Tuner on iOS, but should’ve just bought a timegrapher initially, the moment I put the first watch on the timegrapher regret set in, shouldn’t have suffered all those times without a timegrapher

Edit: With some watches the app was struggling to catch a beat, mainly small calibres, also it never read accurately, but it was relatively accurate compared to its own readings

BAJJ · May 11, 2022

Olhenry56
I've been using that one, too. I sure wish my watch would give results like yours!

That was from a 105year old pocket watch too 😲, I guess which is why I was wondering, although the watch is very accurate worn 🙄over 24hrs it's not -1 sec, more like -8. Still not bad though and I think the app is good enough for non precision tuning

Olhenry56 · May 11, 2022

Here's a recent result from my cal 505 constellation. It needs a service. You can see the beat error.

Rjay8 · May 14, 2022

kaplan
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32965681928.html

I think I'll ask my brother for help though, while I hold the movement vice still comfortably with 2 hands and position the dial, he can then gently pull the hands with the tool

For me, caseback opening was a 2-man job too (unless you have a big vice mounted somewhere, I had my brother push onto a drawer that we used as a vice, while I pushed down on the caseback opener so it doesn't slip) - so I really hope this new tool will allow me to open casebacks alone

Im planning on buying a small table vice instead. They go for around $20-40. I think i can clamp the case holder so it doesnt move and get two hands on the caseback tool. I haven't experienced a tough screwdown caseback yet though.

Also, i recently put in an order for one of these https://www.aliexpress.com/item/100...416525581205363513eaf80!12000028224824658!rec

The reviews on youtube seem pretty good. There are also aluminum dies that can be bought on aliexpress for an extra $30 or so when the nylon ones eventually fail.

kaplan · May 14, 2022

That press is awesome, nylon ones indeed splinter, but I guess it's good because better they splinter rather than the watch splintering 😀

I'm in love with the caseback opener, arrived today 😁

At this point my only regret is not buying an expensive screwdriver set when I first started, my beginner set is pretty good, I have a different spare beginner set, and at this point it just seems wasteful to buy yet another set

^ These are also like $5-ish on Aliexpress and the $7 set I bought compared to these is a child toy, never used them, I've been using a Pro's Kit tweezer I had, going to switch to the new plastic tipped one for most things (the brand is BST)

Learn about watchmaking - for non-watchmakers

noless

Rjay8

Truva1

Truva1

Olhenry56

Rjay8

kaplan

Olhenry56

Rjay8

Hilts

Revo

kaplan

BAJJ

Olhenry56

Olhenry56

kaplan

BAJJ

Olhenry56

Rjay8

kaplan

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