Storage for Small Parts

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Arancio601

·Feb 13, 2023

I’ve been through a bunch of threads and seen everything from beautiful OCD tiny drawers labeled and catalogued to a dirty jar full of everything…

My situation is that I have a few needy projects that will be going to someone that actually has the skills and qualifications not to stuff up my watches unlike if I had a ‘dabble’. I am saving my experimentation for my Seiko’s.

Anyway, the plan will be to catalogue what I have so that when I send the watch to the watchmaker and he tells me how much is stuffed on it, I can quickly ascertain if I have the spares he needs that might be NLA from Omega.

Should I break out the dynalabel and itemize the tray compartments? Would I just send the storage containers you reckon or get a bunch of tiny zip lock bags do bits don’t bash around and break teeth etc?

For the watchmaker/tinkers here what would be your ideal scenario for receiving parts for a movement?

 

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sheepdoll

·Feb 13, 2023

A lot of my junk came in gridded plastic trays. Large enough to lay out the whole watch. These also have a lid, which I often use as another layer.

I sorted most of the loose parts into these trays and smaller trays.

Seems though that even when one goes through the stuff there is either not the part one needs. Or a distraction of a watch that says "feed me." like the plant in little shop of horors.

 

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Arancio601

·Feb 14, 2023

I couldn’t imagine trying to keep stock of the amount of parts and watches you have. A catalog system makes sense but you’d spend more time doing it that fixing watches.

 

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Archer

·Feb 14, 2023·Omega Qualified Watchmaker

You want to store them and ship them so that they are protected. So don’t mix delicate parts with more bulky parts. Other than that, whatever works best for you.

I use lots of fishing tackle boxes, but most of the parts I have are still in their original packages.

 

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Arancio601

·Feb 14, 2023

Thanks Al. I jumped on the local watchmaker supplies site last night and added a couple of hundred packets of small ziplock bags to my order to keep a things separated when I post them to my watchmaker. All your threads show me how even small amounts of age on some parts can be problematic hence I am erring on the side of caution.

Tackle boxes make sense. Cheaper pricing for something that does the job well enough.

 

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JimInOz

·Feb 14, 2023·Melbourne Australia

Go to Bunnings and look in the garage storage section.
They have a variety of small plastic boxes with removable dividers that make good parts storage solutions when combined with zip lock bags.

Also check out storage supplies at Labanda.

 

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Arancio601

·Feb 14, 2023

JimInOz

Go to Bunnings and look in the garage storage section.
They have a variety of small plastic boxes with removable dividers that make good parts storage solutions when combined with zip lock bags.

Also check out storage supplies at Labanda.

Thanks Jim. I didn’t find too many small storage options at Bunnings last time I looked. Labanda is where I just placed an order. I’ll pick it up tmrw and see what they have there. It’s only about a km from work so could be my next toy store money pit…

I have a couple of sets of old timber watchmaker drawers full of unidentifiable (to me) 50’s-70’s Seiko watch parts I might empty to store the zip locked stuff in.

 

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noless

·Feb 14, 2023

I have become quite wary of the removable divider type boxes, as i find sometimes small or thin parts will slide under the dividers.

mind you, I was getting these boxes from the dollar store, so thats really on me...

if the dividers have a little trough to sit in so that stuff cant get under them I figure they would be alright, but this is now something I pay attention to when looking for parts boxes.

I currently just keep my various parts in boxes based on movement series.
The stack of parts boxes is getting a little large...

I also suggest investing in the special dial storage boxes if you plan to store any dials, you can order them from cousins UK, though if anyone else knows of any other places that sell them (and ship international) I would love to hear about it.

 

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JimInOz

·Feb 14, 2023·Melbourne Australia

noless

I............
I also suggest investing in the special dial storage boxes if you plan to store any dials, you can order them from cousins UK, though if anyone else knows of any other places that sell them (and ship international) I would love to hear about it.

Heaps on eBay, Tanner Morehouse in Minnesota has them on his eBay site.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/265510813926

 

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Arancio601

·Feb 14, 2023

Dial storage is something I hadn’t thought about and I really should. I’d be filthy if I damaged my Ed White dial. Thanks for the heads up and knowledge on where to buy.

 

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dsio

·Feb 14, 2023·Ash @ ΩF

For a local Australian option, I get these from BCF and have 3 at the moment, each of the plastic trays is a good size, not too deep not too shallow and being fairly transparent easy to see what’s in them. They’re fairly airtight too when sealed which is handy in tropical weather.

https://www.bcf.com.au/p/plano-1364-tackle-box/109306.html?cgid=BCF033005#start=5

 

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STANDY

·Feb 15, 2023·schizophrenic pizza orderer and watch collector

Google any Japanese tackle shop…these guys have the Tackle storage equivalent of a Patek Philippe
Spent a few hours in a Japanese tackle store and was drooling from the minute I stepped in.

I have a tackle room in the house but the Japanese are next level when it comes to fishing gear.

 

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RevZMan123

·Feb 15, 2023

JimInOz

Heaps on eBay, Tanner Morehouse in Minnesota has them on his eBay site.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/265510813926

Ooo I was wondering where to buy these ever since I saw them on an Archer post. SWEET!

 

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Arancio601

·Feb 15, 2023

Thanks Ash, will go for a look in BCF and Anaconda on the weekend. A good point about humidity here in Brisbane.
@STANDY the Japanese have a culture of doing things to the max I reckon. And having a tackle room is pretty next level to me too!

 

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Arancio601

·Apr 3, 2023

OK, so I bought hundreds of small zip lock bags and some dial storage containers. I also sorta bought a whoooole lot of vintage new random parts as I liked the albums and containers they came in! 😜 Anyone need a stem? Ha! Anyway, should be fun looking up the parts although I reckon most are unlabeled... I don't know why I do this to myself.