Opinion on Working on Several Watches at Once

[maitai11]

Hi Fellas,

I have about half a dozen watches, and am gunning for even more. If I buy some of the lots I’m looking at, I could have 15 – 20 in short order.

Soooooo…I’m just wondering – If I have to wait for parts for any of these, do you think it would be OK to shelf the watch I’m waiting on parts for, while keeping it all in one compartmented place?

Or, is it not such a good idea at my stage? I’ve been moving VERY SLOWLY on this first watch, but I can see myself gaining speed as a natural outcome of knowing and learning all I have thus far, and in the coming weeks.

Thanks for your opinion – it is always appreciated!

Best,

Tim

[randy]

Tim,

If you are going to collect more than you can work on at one time, make sure that you store, catalog, and keep notes on everything you are working on so far.
I do this with all repairs I take in, so that I don’t have to go back and remeasure a mainspring, hands, etc.
Sames you a lot of time…

What I feel is the best investment for someone starting out, is for you to get your hands on good books about the subject, and also the best tools you can afford.
The knowledge will help to teach you good methods which reduces the number of mistakes, and good tools make your your work so much easier.
Over time,..these far outweigh taking in a bunch of movements,…although it never hurts to have a few examples to look at to make yourself familiar with various designs, etc.

Keep the passion,..but slow down a bit and think about how you want to approach this for a lifetime,….

Best regards

Randy

[randy]

Tim,

If you are going to collect more than you can work on at one time, make sure that you store, catalog, and keep notes on everything you are working on so far.
I do this with all repairs I take in, so that I don’t have to go back and remeasure a mainspring, hands, etc.
Sames you a lot of time…

What I feel is the best investment for someone starting out, is for you to get your hands on good books about the subject, and also the best tools you can afford.
The knowledge will help to teach you good methods which reduces the number of mistakes, and good tools make your your work so much easier.
Over time,..these far outweigh taking in a bunch of movements,…although it never hurts to have a few examples to look at to make yourself familiar with various designs, etc.

Keep the passion,..but slow down a bit and think about how you want to approach this for a lifetime,….

Best regards

Randy

[randy]

Tim,

If you are going to collect more than you can work on at one time, make sure that you store, catalog, and keep notes on everything you are working on so far.
I do this with all repairs I take in, so that I don’t have to go back and remeasure a mainspring, hands, etc.
Sames you a lot of time…

What I feel is the best investment for someone starting out, is for you to get your hands on good books about the subject, and also the best tools you can afford.
The knowledge will help to teach you good methods which reduces the number of mistakes, and good tools make your your work so much easier.
Over time,..these far outweigh taking in a bunch of movements,…although it never hurts to have a few examples to look at to make yourself familiar with various designs, etc.

Keep the passion,..but slow down a bit and think about how you want to approach this for a lifetime,….

Best regards

Randy

[tukat44]

Randy, Really GREAT advice. I am taking heed because it makes good sense, especially taking and leaving notes so you are not doing double or triple the work, having good tools on hand, and taking it slow early on, which does in fact help me formulate a game plan to put into action without having a movement dismantled and wondering what should I do next. Thanks for sharing. Regards, Tukat

[tukat44]

Randy, Really GREAT advice. I am taking heed because it makes good sense, especially taking and leaving notes so you are not doing double or triple the work, having good tools on hand, and taking it slow early on, which does in fact help me formulate a game plan to put into action without having a movement dismantled and wondering what should I do next. Thanks for sharing. Regards, Tukat

[tukat44]

Randy, Really GREAT advice. I am taking heed because it makes good sense, especially taking and leaving notes so you are not doing double or triple the work, having good tools on hand, and taking it slow early on, which does in fact help me formulate a game plan to put into action without having a movement dismantled and wondering what should I do next. Thanks for sharing. Regards, Tukat

[chris mabbott]

Watches are addictive, searching, researching and bidding are very addictive. You can get caught in this web and suddenly have 100s of watches sitting in containers in various stages of disrepair, ask me, I know haha

I’ve been collecting watches for about 30 yrs, on and off, because I like the history and looks, not for value or resale, but mostly I think that it’s a shame to scrap historical items that were once treasured by their owners.
It didn’t matter to me if they were broken or functional because my reasons were based on rescue, study and eventual restoration.

If a persons goal is resale or business purposes, then the playing field changes shape.

These are my reasons, others have theirs, so really, a person has to make their own plan based on their personal expectations. Regardless of what others do, you have to have your own plan, whether business or personal.

Getting too many at this stage of the game can only lead to frustration, over expenditure, then quick shoddy workmanship to make some fast money.

If your goal is to become a collector, then you have to have a focus on what you’re going to collect, RR only, by maker, by model, design, period etc etc

So what is your goal?

[chris mabbott]

Watches are addictive, searching, researching and bidding are very addictive. You can get caught in this web and suddenly have 100s of watches sitting in containers in various stages of disrepair, ask me, I know haha

I’ve been collecting watches for about 30 yrs, on and off, because I like the history and looks, not for value or resale, but mostly I think that it’s a shame to scrap historical items that were once treasured by their owners.
It didn’t matter to me if they were broken or functional because my reasons were based on rescue, study and eventual restoration.

If a persons goal is resale or business purposes, then the playing field changes shape.

These are my reasons, others have theirs, so really, a person has to make their own plan based on their personal expectations. Regardless of what others do, you have to have your own plan, whether business or personal.

Getting too many at this stage of the game can only lead to frustration, over expenditure, then quick shoddy workmanship to make some fast money.

If your goal is to become a collector, then you have to have a focus on what you’re going to collect, RR only, by maker, by model, design, period etc etc

So what is your goal?

[chris mabbott]

Watches are addictive, searching, researching and bidding are very addictive. You can get caught in this web and suddenly have 100s of watches sitting in containers in various stages of disrepair, ask me, I know haha

I’ve been collecting watches for about 30 yrs, on and off, because I like the history and looks, not for value or resale, but mostly I think that it’s a shame to scrap historical items that were once treasured by their owners.
It didn’t matter to me if they were broken or functional because my reasons were based on rescue, study and eventual restoration.

If a persons goal is resale or business purposes, then the playing field changes shape.

These are my reasons, others have theirs, so really, a person has to make their own plan based on their personal expectations. Regardless of what others do, you have to have your own plan, whether business or personal.

Getting too many at this stage of the game can only lead to frustration, over expenditure, then quick shoddy workmanship to make some fast money.

If your goal is to become a collector, then you have to have a focus on what you’re going to collect, RR only, by maker, by model, design, period etc etc

So what is your goal?

[bernie weishapl]

Good advice. Right now I agree with Randy and Chris. Even if you are going to be a collector or if you are going to do this for resale I would slow down. I bought books and spent my money on tools rather than watches when I first started out. I found it to easy to make myself poor by buying anything and everything I could get my hands on. Then I didn’t have the money to buy the proper and good tools. I would get a few maybe a half dozen watches and then start there. Get the proper tools and good tools. Have 100 watches and poor or no tools to do the job is just going to frustrate you. I will admit I know. Some 30 yrs ago I did this. Soon after talking with a few watch repairman friends I stopped buying watches and concentrated on books/tools. Doesn’t do you much good as I found out to have all these watches to repair and just have some screwdrivers, no winders, no staking set, etc. to work on them. So at that time I took about 1 1/2 yrs to build my tools and several books. Today I still do some work for the public nut don’t advertise it but mostly for me. I sell a few watches I buy but I do keep those good 992 or bunn special or RR watches. I like Elgin, Waltham, and Illinois which make up 99% of my watches. I can’t stand to see a watch thrown away just because they don’t want it or because it doesn’t work. The Banner Swiss watch I posted is not one I would even look at but for $10 I took it. I will probably sell that one once done.

So Tim if it were me and I know what I know now I would take those 1/2 dozen you have and learn. If you have to wait on parts then pic’s and good notes are a must. As was said it will save you hours of time having to go back thru the piece again to find out where you were. See what tools you need as you go. If need to replace a staff you need a good staking set, tools to remove the hairspring, roller remover, and a good complete mainspring winder. A lathe to me is a must in a shop. Then start adding the nice to have tools that will make whatever job you are doing easier and can do the job right.

Not trying to tell you how to go about it Tim just letting you know some of the mistakes I made way back when that could have saved me at least 2 yrs of my time and lots of my dollars. Yes and as Chris put it, “watches can be addictive.” Slow down, learn, get your tools in order and most of all have fun and enjoy the ride.

[bernie weishapl]

Good advice. Right now I agree with Randy and Chris. Even if you are going to be a collector or if you are going to do this for resale I would slow down. I bought books and spent my money on tools rather than watches when I first started out. I found it to easy to make myself poor by buying anything and everything I could get my hands on. Then I didn’t have the money to buy the proper and good tools. I would get a few maybe a half dozen watches and then start there. Get the proper tools and good tools. Have 100 watches and poor or no tools to do the job is just going to frustrate you. I will admit I know. Some 30 yrs ago I did this. Soon after talking with a few watch repairman friends I stopped buying watches and concentrated on books/tools. Doesn’t do you much good as I found out to have all these watches to repair and just have some screwdrivers, no winders, no staking set, etc. to work on them. So at that time I took about 1 1/2 yrs to build my tools and several books. Today I still do some work for the public nut don’t advertise it but mostly for me. I sell a few watches I buy but I do keep those good 992 or bunn special or RR watches. I like Elgin, Waltham, and Illinois which make up 99% of my watches. I can’t stand to see a watch thrown away just because they don’t want it or because it doesn’t work. The Banner Swiss watch I posted is not one I would even look at but for $10 I took it. I will probably sell that one once done.

So Tim if it were me and I know what I know now I would take those 1/2 dozen you have and learn. If you have to wait on parts then pic’s and good notes are a must. As was said it will save you hours of time having to go back thru the piece again to find out where you were. See what tools you need as you go. If need to replace a staff you need a good staking set, tools to remove the hairspring, roller remover, and a good complete mainspring winder. A lathe to me is a must in a shop. Then start adding the nice to have tools that will make whatever job you are doing easier and can do the job right.

Not trying to tell you how to go about it Tim just letting you know some of the mistakes I made way back when that could have saved me at least 2 yrs of my time and lots of my dollars. Yes and as Chris put it, “watches can be addictive.” Slow down, learn, get your tools in order and most of all have fun and enjoy the ride.

[bernie weishapl]

Good advice. Right now I agree with Randy and Chris. Even if you are going to be a collector or if you are going to do this for resale I would slow down. I bought books and spent my money on tools rather than watches when I first started out. I found it to easy to make myself poor by buying anything and everything I could get my hands on. Then I didn’t have the money to buy the proper and good tools. I would get a few maybe a half dozen watches and then start there. Get the proper tools and good tools. Have 100 watches and poor or no tools to do the job is just going to frustrate you. I will admit I know. Some 30 yrs ago I did this. Soon after talking with a few watch repairman friends I stopped buying watches and concentrated on books/tools. Doesn’t do you much good as I found out to have all these watches to repair and just have some screwdrivers, no winders, no staking set, etc. to work on them. So at that time I took about 1 1/2 yrs to build my tools and several books. Today I still do some work for the public nut don’t advertise it but mostly for me. I sell a few watches I buy but I do keep those good 992 or bunn special or RR watches. I like Elgin, Waltham, and Illinois which make up 99% of my watches. I can’t stand to see a watch thrown away just because they don’t want it or because it doesn’t work. The Banner Swiss watch I posted is not one I would even look at but for $10 I took it. I will probably sell that one once done.

So Tim if it were me and I know what I know now I would take those 1/2 dozen you have and learn. If you have to wait on parts then pic’s and good notes are a must. As was said it will save you hours of time having to go back thru the piece again to find out where you were. See what tools you need as you go. If need to replace a staff you need a good staking set, tools to remove the hairspring, roller remover, and a good complete mainspring winder. A lathe to me is a must in a shop. Then start adding the nice to have tools that will make whatever job you are doing easier and can do the job right.

Not trying to tell you how to go about it Tim just letting you know some of the mistakes I made way back when that could have saved me at least 2 yrs of my time and lots of my dollars. Yes and as Chris put it, “watches can be addictive.” Slow down, learn, get your tools in order and most of all have fun and enjoy the ride.

[arutha]

Great advice already and I am only backing up what the others have said.
It is addictive, you quickly forget about the watches you have as everyday you spot new bargains on e-bay. I fell into that trap when I started out. I now have somewhere in the region of 50 clocks of my own that all need work, 20 wrist watches and around 20 pocket watches. The thing is I am so busy with customers clocks I never get the chance to work on them.
Save your money for tools and books or you will end up with 100 watches, stuffed in draws and no idea on how to repair them or the tools to repair them with. Pick one watch from what you already have that doesn’t need too much work and get it done. The satisfaction you get from those first finished watches is fantastic. There will always be “bargains” on e-bay, don’t worry about that
Paul.

[arutha]

Great advice already and I am only backing up what the others have said.
It is addictive, you quickly forget about the watches you have as everyday you spot new bargains on e-bay. I fell into that trap when I started out. I now have somewhere in the region of 50 clocks of my own that all need work, 20 wrist watches and around 20 pocket watches. The thing is I am so busy with customers clocks I never get the chance to work on them.
Save your money for tools and books or you will end up with 100 watches, stuffed in draws and no idea on how to repair them or the tools to repair them with. Pick one watch from what you already have that doesn’t need too much work and get it done. The satisfaction you get from those first finished watches is fantastic. There will always be “bargains” on e-bay, don’t worry about that
Paul.

[Author]

Posts