this post was submitted on 22 Aug 2023
536 points (98.6% liked)
Asklemmy
44151 readers
1502 users here now
A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions
Search asklemmy ๐
If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!
- Open-ended question
- Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
- Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
- Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
- An actual topic of discussion
Looking for support?
Looking for a community?
- Lemmyverse: community search
- sub.rehab: maps old subreddits to fediverse options, marks official as such
- !lemmy411@lemmy.ca: a community for finding communities
~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Once I settle down I'd love to get into full on servicing vintage watches as well.
Its really relaxing after a couple drinks. My #1 tip is don't cheap out on the basic tools like tweezers, screw drivers, and oils. A lot of things you can find cheap, ie pith wood, finger cots, a little squeeze blower, etc. The tools you use to manipulate the pieces are basically an extension of your hand and makes a worlds difference.
Thanks for the tips! Is it pretty easy to find movement specific service instructions or do you just learn to recognize parts and common build methods?
I watched a lot of youtube before I dove in. There's a LOT more content on watch repair now after covid so it should be easy. Pay specific attention to how the seasoned watchmakers use their tools. You should never have to force anything in a watch. Go as slow as possible and really savor each movement.
If you don't have a camera with good macro abilities, grab some of those cheap clip on macro lenses for your phone.
Take a pictures at every step until you don't need them anymore. I specifically was interested in 2-3 movements but you start to see the commonality between them if you're just working on a simple hour/minute/second/calendar watch without extra complications.
I really suggest buying one of those little plastic trays with a clear dome on top that have dividers. With that, I divide the parts and screws by the aspect of the movement. ie I'll use one compartment for the automatic winder components, a compartment for the stem and winding mechanism, one for the main drive, and another for the date complication. I repair a lot of misc things so I have a decent memory for where parts/screws go. If you dont, take pictures of the screw next to the hole you took it from so you can compare scale. Screws inside watches are usually at most 2-3 sizes, if not all the same but its good practice to ensure you put the right screw in the right hole.
Also check out the forum watchrepairtalk. Its an international group of old men who love to help out. It has a completely different atmosphere to watchuseek and is an endless fountain of knowledge.