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Learning to care for my collection

  1. Julieme Apr 26, 2020

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    Hi all,
    My soon to be really retired watchmaker is helping me learn to do basic cleaning and simple disassembly/reassembly but recommends I look for a technical school/online follow up. Are there any good ones. Jim has suggested watchrepairlessons.com/

    Does anyone have experience or advice. My oldest watch is a women's enameled dial pendant back to the early 1860's - watchmaker guess it has a cylinder escapement and is engraved in french to my newest an automatic ladies rado circa 2004. My Ohmegas are automatic 1960's to 1980's men and womens so some quite small.

    I do not want to fix everything but being able to do cleanings and simple stuff is my goal. All advice welcome
    Julie
     
  2. ZIELSZIEK Apr 26, 2020

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    Hi Julie.
    I don't know exactly what you want to learn but if it's collector level things, then you're on the right track with the watch repair lessons site.
    Most of the stuff I know about watches I've learned from there and the youtube channel they have plus various other sources.
    By collector level stuff I mean changing straps, opening casebacks, changing stems and crowns, removing dials and hands, changing crystals, and so on... If by cleanings you mean servicing watches then I cannot help.
    Regardless to that, make sure to join Mr. Lovick's Watch Repair Lessons Group on Facebook. I am a member and I have found the more experienced people there to be very kind and helpful.
    A good start would be to get some tools like a strap tool, a hand extractor, a caseback tool, a screwdriver set, and others.
    Don't skimp out on the tools. Cheap hand extractors can ruin hands easily, cheap caseback tools can ruin casebacks, and so on...
    As for crystal replacements, I'd only get the tools required for replacing acrylic crystals. Don't bother yourself with those cheap crystal presses people use for SKX modding, they aren't worth the time. A quality press will set you back a bit.
    Good luck,
    Paul.
     
  3. sonicosa Apr 26, 2020

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    Hello and welcome! I’m sure others will be responding shortly, but this thread from a couple months ago might be interesting to read through in the meantime:

    https://omegaforums.net/threads/would-you-take-the-risk-starting-self-studying-watchmaking.109388/

    I am similarly trying to learn some watchmaking basics. It’s been quite enjoyable so far. Another member recommended this course as a starting point:

    http://www.clockmaker.com.au/diy_seiko_7s26/

    I learned quite a bit by doing that course, and it includes a handful of drills that were great for beginning to build technical muscle memory.
     
    DaveK likes this.
  4. Canuck Apr 26, 2020

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    The attached picture is of a relatively simple, manual wind watch. A 90 year old Longines. Is this how far you want to get into your collection regarding cleaning of your watches? The on line training course you linked to would be useful if it happens to be that he is working on a watch that you happen to be servicing. But it will be years before you will be up to speed to do some of the watches he does! He makes the repair of watches seem very simple. But for a newbie, repairing watches is not that simple! I think you need a training course that is a whole lot more basic than the one he gives. And I would seriously recommend that you build up to servicing the watches in your collection that you wish to retain. Newbies make all kinds of mistakes, and wreck lots of parts. So if servicing your own stuff is how you plan on saving money, I suggest you start on scrap watches that don’t matter. And plan on spending much moolah on materials and equipment.

    D4A27F71-B7AC-4E61-91EA-95D6C55F4E39.jpeg
     
    wagudc, Als 27, DaveK and 1 other person like this.
  5. Archer Omega Qualified Watchmaker Apr 26, 2020

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    If the guy behind watch repair lessons would cut out all the bad habits he shows in his videos, I might say he’s worth paying for, but at this point I can’t...
     
    Als 27 likes this.
  6. NikoMartinez_SYD Apr 26, 2020

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    Are there any videos available or self help youtube channels anyone can recommend?