Nice new watch - but how does it actually work?

Recently entered the world of watches (with my collection of exactly one ๐Ÿ™‚) - but I would like to learn more. Starting with: how does it actually work / what is what? I.e.: what do all the springs, coils, cogs etc. DO? There must be a ton of stuff on this, but rather than wading through it all and weeding out the good stuff, perhaps you guys can point me in the right direction. What's a good beginners course (but not too simplistic) in watch mechanics?

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https://youtu.be/d_pV8TGKfMc

I enjoy thise kind of vids๐Ÿ™‚

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Itโ€™s like Philomena Cunk said about airplanes and WiFi: They run on belief.

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TickyBurden

Itโ€™s like Philomena Cunk said about airplanes and WiFi: They run on belief.

Haha, I saw that one. "Can you explain how a plane works without using science?" :-)

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Great watch, first of all.

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Wrist Watch Revival is also great! He doesnโ€™t talk too much about how it all works, but itโ€™s very satisfying seeing him get a busted watch working again.

https://youtube.com/@WristwatchRevival

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Magnets

Voodoo

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Depending on how deep you want to go I strongly suggest in investing in a couple of nice watch oriented books, which will help you both understand how they function but also where your watch in particular exists in watch history (if you care) . . . b/c GO (formerly GUB) and the other Glashutte brands have a very interesting history.

Books (I can also recommend much more if wanted/needed . . . I'm building a college level course on this stuff haha):

Horology by Barry Kaplan

The Nomos Encyclopedia (you might be able to find one on Ebay or something)

Watchmakers The Masters of Horology

More on Glashutte: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Cbt2ssvBUw /

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It also might be worth it (if you want to get hands on) to buy a movement kit from a place like Rotate, which will offer you the chance to deconstruct and reconstruct a watch gear by gear, so you can actually see and hold an escapement wheel, understand what the balance spring is . . .

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The book "Watchmaking" by George Daniels gets mentioned a lot. Still have to pick it up myself, but it will be my next vacation lecture:)

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Magic

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TickyBurden

Itโ€™s like Philomena Cunk said about airplanes and WiFi: They run on belief.

I love her. First time I saw her, I was lulled into thinking I was watching a historical documentary. I was delightfully unprepared.

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SNWatchNerd

Depending on how deep you want to go I strongly suggest in investing in a couple of nice watch oriented books, which will help you both understand how they function but also where your watch in particular exists in watch history (if you care) . . . b/c GO (formerly GUB) and the other Glashutte brands have a very interesting history.

Books (I can also recommend much more if wanted/needed . . . I'm building a college level course on this stuff haha):

Horology by Barry Kaplan

The Nomos Encyclopedia (you might be able to find one on Ebay or something)

Watchmakers The Masters of Horology

More on Glashutte: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Cbt2ssvBUw /

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It also might be worth it (if you want to get hands on) to buy a movement kit from a place like Rotate, which will offer you the chance to deconstruct and reconstruct a watch gear by gear, so you can actually see and hold an escapement wheel, understand what the balance spring is . . .

I own the Kaplan book. Absolutely beautiful.

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Second @animaloneโ€™s link: https://ciechanow.ski/mechanical-watch/

If you want something hands on and low stakes, you can assemble this clock movement: https://www.amazon.com/Yourself-Childrens-Batteries-Educational-Multi-Colored/dp/B0176M3JN4/ref=asc_df_B0176M3JN4/

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We call it a watch but its actually either a wind up toy or an electric abomination.

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You wind the thingy on the case until the whatchamacallits on the inside start to move and the sticks on the face move to tell what time it is.

I tried watching videos but it made my head hurt.

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animalone

This is absolutely brilliant! Just the right amount of text and explanations & great animations for a newbie like me. Exactly what I was looking for.

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SNWatchNerd

Depending on how deep you want to go I strongly suggest in investing in a couple of nice watch oriented books, which will help you both understand how they function but also where your watch in particular exists in watch history (if you care) . . . b/c GO (formerly GUB) and the other Glashutte brands have a very interesting history.

Books (I can also recommend much more if wanted/needed . . . I'm building a college level course on this stuff haha):

Horology by Barry Kaplan

The Nomos Encyclopedia (you might be able to find one on Ebay or something)

Watchmakers The Masters of Horology

More on Glashutte: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Cbt2ssvBUw /

---

It also might be worth it (if you want to get hands on) to buy a movement kit from a place like Rotate, which will offer you the chance to deconstruct and reconstruct a watch gear by gear, so you can actually see and hold an escapement wheel, understand what the balance spring is . . .

Thanks! For all your tips and ofc the nice video. The movement kit is a nice idea as well...may actually go ahead and order one!

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So there's this big spring, right, which powers this other spring that makes this spinny thing go back and forth which is in turn connected to this other thing... Then that gear turns this other gear which turns the seconds hand.

Jokes aside, it's a fun thing to discover by yourself through watching videos and reading books. I've seen some excellent video recommendations by other users in this thread. I only learnt it (most of it still seems like magic to me) after I disassembled my first movement and put it back together. Cheers!

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TickyBurden

Itโ€™s like Philomena Cunk said about airplanes and WiFi: They run on belief.

Sheโ€™s the Confucius of our time.

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It looks like you're starting your collection off with a bang. Glasshute Original is a great brand. Congratulations on a great piece.

The site that @animalone mentioned is probably the best explanation I've seen to explain the basic operation of a watch. (https://ciechanow.ski/mechanical-watch/)

Another site with some great educational videos is ChronoTalk. Unfortunately there hasn't been new content for a couple of years, but the content that is there is absolutely awesome from an educational perspective. https://www.youtube.com/@CHRONOTALK

Mark from Long Island Watch also has a lot of great informational videos in his "Watch & Learn" series on YouTube. He also seems to be one of the most "genuine" people in the watch world.

A great (and inexpensive) book that I found valuable from a learning perspective is The Wristwatch Handbook by Ryan Schmidt. I found it to be invaluable when I was just starting out with the world of watches, and highly recommend it, even for people who have been in the hobby for years. Unless you want to get into technical minutia, I would suggest avoiding George Daniels Watchmaking - it is quite technical not intended as a casual read.

Best of luck, and welcome to WC and the watch hobby in general.

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animalone

I just spend almost an hour reading this page and playing with the graphics. Wow! Thanks for the link!

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animalone

This is my favorite explainer of the whole process.

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Beware ..Collecting watches can be seriously damaging to your wallet.

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And what a beautiful and thoughtful watch to start your collection with. Welcome to the hobby!