Hi, so I'm new to the hobby and trying to figure out where the best place to find a project might be. eBay and Chrono24 seem to be the most accessible. While I feel like I might stand a chance at getting a deal on eBay, Chrono24 seems to just have bloated prices overall. I know there's not going to be a simple solution for where to find a project, but what sorts of places do you have the best odds of finding something worth cleaning up? Garage sales, goodwill/salvation army, second hand stores, etc.? Where have you found your best finds/hidden gems? Where else should I look?

I have designs and everything of a watch I’d like to be made but I need to find a manufacturer that can make it or at least quote my on my design I have.

Hey Guys,

I'm a big fan of Quartz Seikos and have a few non-runners I'd like to diagnose. I've found there's some tools to help check for the pulse and to manually move the hands of a quartz movement from Horotec, called the Pulse and Turbo. These tools are about $150 AUD or so and I'm a hobbyist so I think it's a little overkill. This subs recommendation watchmaking shop for AU, Labanda, has a Quartz Watch Tester (Stock# T-1000) and has the following features:

• Quarts Analogue Tester with audio pulse
• Works as a Gear Freeing Demagnetiser
• Button Cell Tester
• Crystal Tester GS2102B

what I mainly want to know is if the T-1000 here can do the same as the Pulse and the Turbo from Horotec as there's no mention of the turbo being a de magnetizer so I'm just a tad unsure if this is the same stuff. Pic related

https://preview.redd.it/ykioyflyw8td1.png?width=400&format=png&auto=webp&s=00948e1d8b49a53078d1454c8bac77b424e9dd2f

I’m thinking of trying to go into watchmaking as a career. What are my options school wise? I was looking at the Paris Junior College, but would trying to go to a Swiss school be better for doing work in the US (I can afford it) and how hard is it to get into those schools?

Hello everyone,

This is my very first post on Reddit so here’s the that!

I have a fossil Twist watch that I am trying to repair. The screw that holds the automatic works weight/rotor (sorry not sure of the exact name of it) broke and is lost. I’m looking for a replacement, anyone have any ideas? Thank you!!

Hello, I’m looking at buying my first De Carle book after it being recommended to me on here.

My question is which one?? It’s mechanical watches I’m wanting to learn, I’m well versed in quartz. Thanks for any help.

Hello,

I've been making a script for fusion 360 that follows George Daniel's Watchmaking steps for the "Semi Equidistant Club-Toothed escapement" (which I think is a good option for a watch?), and it works great for 15 teeth escapements, but, for a movement Im designing, and to achieve the 28800 vph I need 24 teeth, Im mostly having trouble calculating the position of the left jewel, everything else "maybe" looks ok.

I wanted to ask for help, maybe someone has been through this road and can point me on how to implement and design escapements? Would anyone know some extra resources, books, NIHS rules, etc I can read?

some very specific questions

• the locking face angle for 15 teeth is 24°, when increasing teeth, this angle changes proportionally? (according to chatgpt this angle is kind of arbitrary)

• position O (the dot on the top) can I move it up as I need? or is it always tangent to the points on the left and right

many many thanks!

https://preview.redd.it/i3hvyyqmf1td1.jpg?width=1084&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=12d04fbecff1cfd1fbf57b2da1deb4cf54eec95d

It it the direction the mainspring is wound/spiralled in? And this makes the mainspring barrel turn a certain direction?

And a follow on question. If that's true, if you put a backwards mainspring, would the watch go counter clockwise without any issues? Would it still wind properly? Or would turning the crown upwards cause it to unwind?

I don't know why these questions pop into my head

A client I've made a couple of chess boards/sets to asked earlier this year if I could make him a mechanical chess timer to match one of the sets.

Since then I've been searching high and low for a mechanical timer with this kind of functionality I could steal the clockwork from and put in a custom case.

However, such timers has never been mass produced to my knowledge.

(Some custom/one of a kind timers have probably been made at some point or another)

I've told my client this but he begs me to "make one, find one, I'll pay whatever it costs!"

Before I ask a clock/watch maker for a quote that almost certainly will shelf the whole project I thought I should give it a go myself. I've repaired a few pendulum and mechanical alarm clock movements and replicated/made parts like gears and pinions.

Now, building a mechanism from scratch is out of the question so I was thinking starting with a regular chess timer movements and somehow add (adjustable) delay functionality to them.

The 'best' I've come up with so far is adding a second mechanism, a stopwatch with dial showing, that starts first, and when it has reached the set delay time it starts the main timer clock (and stops itself). One issue here is that the movement on chess clocks works by stopping the balance wheel, and reversely, when started the balance wheel is given a push in order to start properly. This probably needs to be replicated mechanically?

There are 'table top' stopwatches readily available to salvage for big easy to work on movements.

I don't know...

It would be preferable to have only one dial and only one movement. His suggestion was to repurpose the hour hand pinion/wheel to act as the delay countdown indicator, but that seems like a much more complicated build. Perhaps drive it with another or a stopwatch movement?

How to approach such a problem?

Is it even solvable, within reasonable cost and time?

(My client wouldn't say how much he would be willing to pay, but it's not like he is a millionaire or anything like that)

Here is a link to the type of stop watch:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/335561397878

Edit: This is the kind of chess timer I'm talking about:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/166962364044

The past few weeks I've been getting an unusual amount of ATM failures almost always from the stems. I've made sure the crown is screwed in properly and have tried to add stem gaskets which work on rare occasions. Any advice?

Would appreciate recommendation for affordable (~$200) electronic microscope with enough headroom for work. Have seen several on Amazon but I'm not sure what specs/features to look for.

Thank you for the help

I recently purchased this watch from Ebay. I bought it to learn how to disassemble movements (and put them back together), as well as wear it just cause.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/114215879464

I am confused as to which mainspring winder i should get.

Bergeon has both the BERG-2729-ETA-11 for a 6497-1 movement and the BERG-2729-ETA-12 for the 6497-2 movement. I am not sure which movement is in this watch, its listed as a "17 jewels hand winding asia 6497 movement", which I assume is an ST36. Or maybe i am wrong about that.

Can someone explain the differences between a 6497-1 and a 6497-2?

I was just planning on buying the corresponding Bergeon winder for each movement i get, to keep costs for tools down.

Thanks,