Pocket watch suggestions

[arutha]

@tmac1956 wrote:

Ren:

I don’t know if anyone made this suggestion or not – or whether you need it or not, but taking good pictures has kept me out of trouble when it comes time to reassemble a watch, especially when it will be a while before you get back into the job.

Well, that certainly is a nice first watch to begin learning with,

Good luck!
Tom

Great thought by Tom there! I too take lots of pictures and scribble notes, there is nothing worse than almost getting things back together only to realise you have to take it apart again to get a piece in, something that happened to me only today on a wristwatch 😳
Paul.

[willofiam]

Hey Ren, Alot of great suggestions and advice for you from everyone (how awesome is that!) ….nice find on that pocket watch looks like it will a good investment also if you ever decide to sell it, but as others have stated the first one is always a nice one to keep for sentimental reasons …., have fun and keep us updated on the new addition to the family (I feel like a uncle ) and your progress with it. William

[david pierce]

Chris,
I spent most of my working life involved in manufacturing not watches. I think I always had a fascination for them but never had the time or opportunity to learn about them until a few years ago. I have been collecting the lathes since the early 1970x and spent many happy hours restoring them and putting them into reasonable specs. At some point in time I will probably begin selling them but I currently do not need to. I have around 60 so far not 400 and at some point down the road you will get your pictures. My biggest problem at the moment is time but I have been using what little I have to get my watch room in order. My journey into watches came after we aquired a computer with the internet and I stumbeled on the TIME ZONE WATCH SCHOOL. I took all three courses and then found Bob’s school, so here I am. Since my background is in manufacturing my interest is geared more toward making as opposed to repairing. I currently have no plans to set up a repair business but I do have plans to make watch parts and watch tools. I have found through fiddeling around with both wrist watches and larger pocket watches that many of the good time proven repair techniques for pocket watches will quickly destroy a wrist watch. Pocket watches are not only larger, they are also more robust. For example, the balance wheel struts in a modern wrist watch are barely thicker than tin foil and are easily destroyed with pry bars. Since they are dynamically balanced at the factory, once destroyed they cannot be correctly repaired. After tearing one up I quickly realized the importance of the PLATAX TOOL. Since a pocket watch can withstand the older repair techniques this tool is not needed.
Anyway, I am out of time and have to go to work, see ya.
david

[johnno]

Firstly hello to all forum members on this my first post. Secondly, thanks to everyone for the informative ideas and viewpoints expressed in this thread. I have learnt a great deal from this thread (and forum in general) and have now ventured out to find a “dollar” Smiths Empire pocket watch (A Farmer’s watch they call them downunder here in Oz). After all my reading, internet searching, forum thread reading and Bob’s course I am edging towards finally getting on with the practicality of pulling a watch apart. As I say, this will be my first bit of tinkering and I have been building up the courage to open my patient up and perform my first dissassembly and then hopefully re-assembling the patient again. Thank you all for such a great forum and I look forward to reading and learning more and hopefully contributing a small something as time goes on.

Cheers
Johnno

[namonllor1953]

Welcome aboard Johnno,
Take plenty of pictures and let us know how you’re moving ahead.
Ren

[bernie weishapl]

Welcome Johnno. Lots of good people and lots of knowledge here. Look forward to seeing some of your projects.

[arutha]

Hi johnno and welcome
Those Smiths pocket watches are very basic and may not be the easiest thing to start on, I went the same way as you when I started looking at pocket watches thinking one of those would be good because it was cheap but if anything it makes them harder to work on. The escapement is a real pain if it has been messed about with and as it has no jewels you will almost certainly find it will need the pivots polishing and most likely some bushing work needed. if you do go ahead with one of these however and get it serviced and running you will have no problem with a better quality watch.
Good luck and as Ren said, keep us posted
Paul.

[johnno]

Thanks, for the welcome, all. Great point about the Smiths pocket watch, Arutha. I pulled the Smiths apart this morning and I can see what you are saying. I will put it together again without any finessing and then move on. I have a Seiko 7S26A that I have the movement out of and there is a lot of available info on tinkering with these as a first learning piece.

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