Vintage Wristwatch DIY Full Service - You Can Do It Too!

I keep thinking I want to go down this road, but then I remember that I probably don't have the patience and attention to detail for it.  I think I'd do 83% of a good job, and I don't think that would be good enough.

My watches mean too much to me to do this to them!

I only have modern watches. $800 buys me around 26 NH35 clones. (Okay, modding would be a lot easier with that setup.)

I might consider it in 10 years. 😉

Nope.

It takes years to become a competent watchmaker.

The best you tube video in the world is no substitute for proper training and experience.

Good luck.

It's not rocket science. It's a fairly standard arrangement that one takes apart, cleans, reassembles, lubricates. 

I am a tinkerer. I doubt I'd have any trouble with clocks, but the fussing with tweezers and teeny fiddly bits that need illumination and magnification... not fun in my book. And I'm talking a time only date, not one crowded with a date wheel. If necessity required it, I would. But I'm not lacking in challenges and entertainment.

If I can learn to perform a splenectomy by watching YouTube, surely I can learn watch repair. 

Me too. I have more than a few watches that I wouldn't touch. Rolex, IWC, Panerai... But I also have more than a few that I like a lot and that cost next to nothing. And the more I work on those myself the more value they have to me and the more attached I get to them. 

Medical procedures are where I draw the line but you make a good point. It's just a handful of metal parts that all fit together in only one way, designed to be taken apart and put back together with fresh lubrication every few years. And no one even knows, let alone dies, if you make a mistake. Just find the part you need and fix your mistake.

26 NH35 clones! 😂😂😂  $800 for tools is just a helpful factoid. You'll also need those same tools to maintain your army of NH35 clones, otherwise each time they come up for service it will cost you around ~8,000 😂

Nah, I probably won't service the NH35 clones unless the supply dries up. Replacing a movement is pretty easy, something I can do with basic tools and the timegrapher in no time.

To justify more than that I would have to become more curious about movements, or become interested in higher grade movements. (But then the question is whether I would trust myself working on such a movement. 😉 )

I would tend to agree. Even though YouTube videos break down the steps, there is a lot of training involved. Something as simple as handling a small screw with tweezers will need to be practiced. Another big aspect is troubleshooting. This is where a YouTube video likely won't help you at all.

Lange & Söhne has a three year apprenticeship for watchmakers, but that is just a mandated minimum. And I suspect there is a reason for that. (They are actively hiring, but their demand for machinists is even higher.)

Would I service an inexpensive movement just for the heck of it? Maybe, but my expectations would not be that high.

Replacing a movement involves removing the movement from the case, removing the hands, removing the dial, switching those parts (which are the most visible and detailed parts in the watch), all without introducing dust or even the tiniest scratch! The hands are press fit, fragile, and sit 0.5mm away from the dial, which is fragile, textured, and forever visible if you slip and scratch it. If you can do that, then doing a full service on a movement that will never be seen and for which parts are readily available if you need them is very, very easy and involves much less risk. Just saying... 

I can do the above easily by now. I modded my last watch in the time between coming home and dinner. It took me a while to get comfortable with the process, though. Regulating the watch is also easier than I thought.

The problem with the movement is truly the troubleshooting. If something is wrong on the dial it is blatantly obvious. If the movement runs, and I somehow have an extra part, the problem resolution may not be as straightforward. Inversely, a problem may exist, and I'm not immediately aware that something went wrong, with the lubrication, for example.

"You can do it too"

Oh really?

So I've got this cheap watch I don't really care about, and I thought to myself "you can do it too!"  I opened it up and started fiddling around.  I located a little pin that needed to be depressed to remove the crown, pushed it, removed the crown, all good.  I didn't want to do too much, so after removing the movement and looking at it, I decided to just put it back, it's getting kind of late.  

This is where it gets good.  While trying to reinsert the crown, I realize the little pin isn't sticking up where I can see it anymore, I must have pushed it too hard.  Fine.  I remove the hands, which I didn't want to do tonight, and remove the dial.  I then remove the date wheel and notice that a little gear thingy has come with it...maybe that's ok, maybe not, we'll see later.  I then locate the little pin, and it's sticking way too far out of this side of the movement.  Cool, I found the problem.  I found that I couldn't push the pin back in, so I figured I'd pull it out and try to push it back in the other side.  I picked it up with tweezers (it's really tiny), and it proceeds to fly across the room landing who knows where.  I don't know exactly how far it went, but I'm positive I'll never find it again.  Now this being a $20 watch (and I overpaid at that), there's no chance I'm going to try to track down what kind of movement this is and see if I can get another part.  I'm 103% certain that nobody cares enough about this thing to have put information on the internet about it.

To summarize, I really shouldn't ever open up watches.

Not everyone is equipped with the human tools do this kind of work. To say anyone can do it is a bit presumptuous.  It requires a steady hand , keen eyesight, a certain amount of mechanical wherewithal and a lot of patience to do even basic watch maintainence. Not everyone has that.

Anyone can learn to play a musical instrument, but to  do it well  you need that certain "je ne sais quois" that not everyone has.

If my abilities lie somewhere other than micro-mechanical fiddling I don't belong anywhere near a caseback opener. The same way some people should never go near a guitar, or under a cars hood.

We are all not you.

PLUS-that blindfold video is foolish.

I wonder how many watches will be screwed up because of your inane videos.

All that you purport that anyone can do brings into question the quality of your work as a photographer, filmmaker, and visual effects technology developer because anyone with a succesful background in any of that stuff would certainly not tell people that "anyone" can do it.

I'm done responding now so just keep being you.

For whatever reason.

Im an avid DIY fanatic, and currently dissassembling and assembling watches as well.  Its hard to find good videos so I appreciate the effort folks like you put into this. I will definitely use it as reference!

Also, to speak for the DIY community and offer and olive branch to @foghorn...its important to note the implications and notions of a DIY mindset. Most people that get into DIY hobbies dont do it to become professionals, or even to claim they can achieve professional results. The point @IShootWatches is making, like any other DIY hobbyist, is that its fun to challenege yourself and try doing something youve never done before. This post doesnt say "how to become a watchmaker via youtube", it just says "heres how you can have some fun servicing a watch". I dont believe anyone should take on a DIY task thinking theyll nail it on the first try, but you should take it on expecting to learn something and have fun trying. As the saying goes, "dance like no one is watching" because its not about being good, its about exploring something new and enjoying it. And this certainly can apply to anyone, if youre willing to try.

My whole schpeel above would be too hard to fit into a title, so its summarized as "you can do it too" because that is just a DIY mantra. Its not meant to encourage foolish decisions, its meant to encourage looking beyond your current percieved boundaries.

Thanks! watchfix is now a paid service, but Mark Lovick is great and watchrepairtalk is still up and has a great community. There's definitely everything needed on YouTube and the forums. And no need for defeatism. 👌