Maiming a Movement
After years of watching restoration videos, I'm trying my hand at watchmaking. I got the starter box from sutcliffehansen.com and got to work.
It. Was. Awesome.
I made just about every mistake, from letting springs fly away, to forgetting a screw, to applying way too much force and breaking a cap jewel setting. And you know I didn't wear finger cots!
As someone truly just staring out, I'm resisting the perfectionism urge and just letting myself be bad at something.
It was so fun to take this little machine apart and so gratifying when I got it put back together again and the balance wheel jumped into action!
I can't wait to do it again.
P.S. - The starter box was great overall. My one ding, funnily enough, is that the screwdrivers were actually too small to get enough torque on some of the bigger screws on the barrel bridge to remove them.
P.P.S. - Bonus points if you can find the wheel from the keyless works in this photo, it took me half an hour.
Welcome to my WatchCrunch profile.
Let's see how many times you can disassemble and re-assemble the same movement and still have it working. I was able to do 11 times. On the 12's time I misaligned the escape wheel and broke its pivot.
Let's see how many times you can disassemble and re-assemble the same movement and still have it working. I was able to do 11 times. On the 12's time I misaligned the escape wheel and broke its pivot.
Challenge accepted!
Oh man. You have fallen into a very deep hole. Sooooo many tools. Sooooo many watches need our help. Sooooo much fun...
Thanks for sharing, I'm considering getting this kit too. Nice to see perspective from someone who has used it
Oh man. You have fallen into a very deep hole. Sooooo many tools. Sooooo many watches need our help. Sooooo much fun...
BTW,get yourself one of these magnifiers. Mush easier. About $13 on AliEx. And I think most are rechargeable now.
Congratulations man. Keep at it. You can only go up from here. It takes an abundance of patience!
Let's see how many times you can disassemble and re-assemble the same movement and still have it working. I was able to do 11 times. On the 12's time I misaligned the escape wheel and broke its pivot.
The trick is to maintain the same level of attention to detail each time. When you get a little complacent, or impatient, that's when incidents occur.
BTW,get yourself one of these magnifiers. Mush easier. About $13 on AliEx. And I think most are rechargeable now.
This is what I got for magnification after playing with a few different visors for a about a year. I do not recommend getting it initially, until you are sure you are serious about this hobby. If you are serious, this is a game changer.
Similar story here. Bought a cheap cadaver movement on eBay and managed to disassemble and reassemble it a few times until the click wheel screw flew away from my tweezers. (Lesson: hold things in tweezers with just as much pressure as needed. More than that tends to send things flying.)
But keep at it. I’ve now serviced/restored three inexpensive vintage examples. Pretty satisfying to get something running again.
This is what I got for magnification after playing with a few different visors for a about a year. I do not recommend getting it initially, until you are sure you are serious about this hobby. If you are serious, this is a game changer.
Agreed! My next major purchase for the hobby! I'm thinking a trinocular with a camera, maybe start posting stuff...
Similar story here. Bought a cheap cadaver movement on eBay and managed to disassemble and reassemble it a few times until the click wheel screw flew away from my tweezers. (Lesson: hold things in tweezers with just as much pressure as needed. More than that tends to send things flying.)
But keep at it. I’ve now serviced/restored three inexpensive vintage examples. Pretty satisfying to get something running again.
Recommendation: For really small parts use a stiffer, heavier tweezer. They don't load up with sprung power and shoot the sand grain size parts across the room. (or at least not as far!)
Agreed! My next major purchase for the hobby! I'm thinking a trinocular with a camera, maybe start posting stuff...
I've got what Alex Hamilton from Watch Repair Channel recommends. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAtATqwI5A4