Hello!
Hi, I'm Miles. I'm really happy to have stumbled on this community. I'm originally from London but have been in the US for the past 20 years, 17 in L.A. and the past 3 in the PNW. I'm a relative watch newb having only really gotten into "collecting" in the past few months, although I've loved watches since childhood. My journey so far has been cheaper quartz watches that I bought because I liked the look of them, and they were cheap. The past 5/6 years I've been exclusively smart watches but as I get older and would rather have fewer things of nicer quality that will last longer, I've found myself pulled back into "real" watches and just recently bought my first ever mechanical watch, a Lorier Hyperion which I love. My wish list is mostly microbrands and other $500-$1000 watches right now, but I'm trying to avoid going crazy all at once.
Like a lot of people, I've also caught the watchmaking/repair bug (thanks in no small part to the You Tube algorithm and Wristwatch Revival!). I'm not sure how I'll pursue it, but I've always loved tinkering and taking things apart and putting them back to together (I'm better at the first part). My ideal goal would be trying to find some cool, older watches cheap that I could fix up easily, but seems like a lot of people have the same idea so I've struggled to find those yet.
Looking forward to being part of this community!
Originally from England, lived in the US for the past 20 years. Lifelong lover of watches, very recent lover of watchmaking as a hobby and beginner collector of attainable watches
Welcome! Just joined yesterday as well.
🙋🏻
Welcome, Miles!
Welcome on board 👍
Welcome!
Welcome !!! It’s so awesome hwre
Welcome. I got the same "attempting watch repair bug" about a year and a half ago. I would suggest a couple of online classes for this. One is Mark Lovick's course at watchfix.com. Marshal from Wrist Watch Revival recommends him. The other is Alex Hamilton's watchrepairtutorial.com. Alex goes into a lot of small details and explains the theory behind what he is showing. Both classes are great. These classes won't help you much with disassembly part, which you probably mastered already. But they will help a lot with cleaning, assembly and finding problems. Good Luck.
BTW, if you want to take more classes, there is class by Christian Lass, a Danish independent watchmaker. He used to be a watch restorer at Patek Phillipe museum before he went independent. He also has an online class.
Welcome to you and @WATCHtheLAW.
Welcome!
Welcome! Start with the larger cheap pocket watches and then get a Chinese 2813 from aliexpress for under 20 bucks to tear down and redo. They are Miyota clones and constructed close to every other movement out there.
Welcome!!
You can try DYW mod with NII or Myota mvt if you can't find watch to repair, tha's fun too ;-)
Welcome. I got the same "attempting watch repair bug" about a year and a half ago. I would suggest a couple of online classes for this. One is Mark Lovick's course at watchfix.com. Marshal from Wrist Watch Revival recommends him. The other is Alex Hamilton's watchrepairtutorial.com. Alex goes into a lot of small details and explains the theory behind what he is showing. Both classes are great. These classes won't help you much with disassembly part, which you probably mastered already. But they will help a lot with cleaning, assembly and finding problems. Good Luck.
BTW, if you want to take more classes, there is class by Christian Lass, a Danish independent watchmaker. He used to be a watch restorer at Patek Phillipe museum before he went independent. He also has an online class.
Thanks for all the awesome advice! I've done Mark Lovick's first 3 courses (still waiting on course #4!) and it's been really helpful. I've picked up quite a few tools, but I've really resisted spending a lot of money on that until I know if I'll stick with it. I get the argument that better tools will last longer and make it easier to work with but it's hard to sync hundreds and hundreds of dollars into it at the beginning. I've picked up a couple of cheap movements and practiced taking them apart and back together and that's been really useful, especially in learning to take way more photos along the way then I think I need... and make sure they're in focus!
Welcome! Start with the larger cheap pocket watches and then get a Chinese 2813 from aliexpress for under 20 bucks to tear down and redo. They are Miyota clones and constructed close to every other movement out there.
Thanks for the advice. My first learning experience was to read the description more carefully as the first couple of movements I got were TINY!
Welcome!!
You can try DYW mod with NII or Myota mvt if you can't find watch to repair, tha's fun too ;-)
Yeah, I was just reading about the Seiko mod scene too and that's really fascinating to me!
Best advice I can give for getting into watchmaking is that you will need a few things to start:
Good set of flat blade screwdrivers. If your on AliExpress, Kwon Yun makes some fantastic tools for the money. If you wanna buy Bergeron if recommend 3 individuals rather than a full set to start, .6mm, 1.0mm, and 2mm should get you far, you’ll find what else you need as you go. Ideally you want the blade to be the full width of the head of the scew head, but that’s mainly to avoid marring the fasteners.
Brass tweezers, size NO.5 will serve you well. Titanium is also good but can scratch things.
You’ll need a cannon pinion puller, also, which can be had for under $5
Magnification. Magnifying glasses and loupes are usable but frustrating. I went from a magnifying glass to a trinocular microscope and it is unbelievable how good it is, and how it helps with nearly every aspect of watchmaking. There are visors that have a big lens, usually 3.5x and they will be perfectly usable to start, avoid the ones with dual loupes, they are useless. You want to be able to retain depth perception and field of vision.
Lighting. Ya gotta see what you’re doing.
Do not think that you will be able to start by fixing broken watches. You will just break them further, and that is okay, as long as you are okay with it. I HIGHLY recommend starting with an ST36 movement. Looks great, easy to work on, and CHEAP. You can even build a complete watch from it for under $60, which I have done. Now practice by doing full watch services since I’m comfortable with working on the movement itself.
Practice tear down and assembly before worrying about cleaning and oiling. Be absolutely sure the pivots are seated PROPERLY before tightening anything!! If the bridge is not flush, they are not in the pivot holes.
Have fun!
Welcome!!
Welcome to the Crunch!
Welcome to WC! I look forward to seeing your watches!
Cheers
Welcome Miles 🤝
Welcome from a fellow PNWer @keldoric!
Welcome aboard Miles!
Welcome!
Welcome to WC Miles! 😁
Not sure if anyone above has said this but check our goodwill auctions for watches. Seems less busy than eBay. You can find some cheap watches there that need some love all the time.
Thanks for the tip. I just looked and there's some interesting stuff on there
Welcome! This is quite a fun hobby. :)
Best advice I can give for getting into watchmaking is that you will need a few things to start:
Good set of flat blade screwdrivers. If your on AliExpress, Kwon Yun makes some fantastic tools for the money. If you wanna buy Bergeron if recommend 3 individuals rather than a full set to start, .6mm, 1.0mm, and 2mm should get you far, you’ll find what else you need as you go. Ideally you want the blade to be the full width of the head of the scew head, but that’s mainly to avoid marring the fasteners.
Brass tweezers, size NO.5 will serve you well. Titanium is also good but can scratch things.
You’ll need a cannon pinion puller, also, which can be had for under $5
Magnification. Magnifying glasses and loupes are usable but frustrating. I went from a magnifying glass to a trinocular microscope and it is unbelievable how good it is, and how it helps with nearly every aspect of watchmaking. There are visors that have a big lens, usually 3.5x and they will be perfectly usable to start, avoid the ones with dual loupes, they are useless. You want to be able to retain depth perception and field of vision.
Lighting. Ya gotta see what you’re doing.
Do not think that you will be able to start by fixing broken watches. You will just break them further, and that is okay, as long as you are okay with it. I HIGHLY recommend starting with an ST36 movement. Looks great, easy to work on, and CHEAP. You can even build a complete watch from it for under $60, which I have done. Now practice by doing full watch services since I’m comfortable with working on the movement itself.
Practice tear down and assembly before worrying about cleaning and oiling. Be absolutely sure the pivots are seated PROPERLY before tightening anything!! If the bridge is not flush, they are not in the pivot holes.
Have fun!
Absolutely fantastic response!
Welcome, take your time and forge your own path. Sounds like you are off to a great start.
Welcome to watchcrunch Miles!
Welcome! It’s a lot of fun in the wc community!!
Welcome 😊