Swapping Eye’s

[chris mabbott]

I don’t know about you guys but I normally use my left eye for the loupe, then after many hours, when I finish, my vision is all odd, as in my right eye is now lazy from being closed so long, so it takes a while for it to start to work correctly again, Ah, the age 😆

So recently I had the brain wave of using the right eyeball 😯 and you know what, my vision in the right has improved.
I was blessed with one of each eye conditions, one is near sighted the other is far, so its like there are two auto lenses always trying to out-focus each other.
It was very hard at first to coordinate my right eye with my hand movements on such tiny objects, but they both caught up after a few days.
The other reason that I always used the left eye was because I just couldn’t hold the loupe on my right side, I thought that the muscles were weak because the eyepiece would simply fall out, so it was a struggle and hard work.

I also tried the opti-visor route but I didn’t like that, kept banging the damn thing into everything and had a hard time judging distances..BANG S**t 😆

A while ago I splurged and invested in a set of B&L glass loupes, what a difference, there is no aberration of the objects, granted they’re a bit heavier, but now I use one of those loupe holding straps. I found out after gazing at pivot through the X10 plastic eye piece that they looked bent 😮 Now with the glass ones, they don’t look bent..

Anyway, the funny thing is, that when I went for my eye exam recently, the guy was surprised and said that my vision had actually improved, a lot, from my previous test 2 yrs ago 😯
I’m not sure if working with the loupe, strengthening the eye muscles and utilizing both eyes is the reason, but I feel that it is the only variable that would produce that effect…

[bernie weishapl]

Chris I use a opti-visor. I can’t use a loupe at all. It just bothers me to much. Maybe it is due to the fact that is all I ever used on clocks so a new one for watches just works. The one I got is 4x and inside has another lens that flips down for 8x and a flip down loupe for 10x. Works for me and nice to see clearly again.

[chris mabbott]

Bernie my friend, a little bird tells me that recently, you don’t need any magnification these days Something my sainted mother will be going for in a few days, although for her, glasses are purely for fashion 😆

How is your general vision now after these months. Still happy with the results?

[bernie weishapl]

Yes I am Chris. I thank the Big Man everyday. I use reading glasses for small print and fine things but can read the newspaper and work on the computer without glasses. I wear the reading glasses when working on clocks as that is sufficient unless I need a closer look see at a pivot or something else small. I do wear the opti-visor when doing watches. All in all I am extremely happy with my eyes. Friday I went for my final checkup for this year and my vision from 6 ft out is 20/15 is the right eye and 20/20 in the left eye. So he said I won’t need to go back till this time next year.

[tmac1956]

Chris:

I know that you don’t want me to chime in on this.

Later,
Tom

[david pierce]

I never could get used to working with a loupe. I prefer to use powerful reading glasses and microscopes. I guess that everyone needs to find techniques that work best for them.
david

[chris mabbott]

That’s funny because I had this image in my head that everyone used the classic loupe, with a multitude of clocks gently ticking in the background, a cat/dog curled up by the brick fireplace, ya know 😆

That is very good Bernie, I may have to go myself one of these fine young days….

Tom, please chime away buddy

David, I had this other image when you mention really strong reading reading glasses, of those things they sell on ebay, they’re glasses frames with two loupes attached… Now they are REALLY strong reading glasses 😆
I wonder if they work?

[gerene]

I use a loupe that mounts on my multifocal glasses. It has a 4x and 10x loupe which I can use seperately or combined. I could not learn how to hold a classical loupe in my eye .

Jan

[arutha]

I use a loupe, well several, I have them everywhere as just owning one or two in each size was a nightmare as I was constantly losing them. I hated them at first because I just couldn’t seem to keep them in my eye but over time it got better and now I quite often forget I am using one.
Changing eye is something I tried once but my right eye didn’t want to know so I didn’t bother. I will now try again and stick with it for a bit to see if I get any improvement in my lazy right eye.
Paul.

[chris mabbott]

I use those bergeon loupe holders, one type is a headband which allows you to flip up the loupe and the other is a SS wire type. Both work great once you get used to them. They prevent you having Popeye, the condition where you walk around squinting your eye like you’re holding the loupe, even though you aren’t wearing it 😆 ARGH Jim lad.

I find I’m using the wire type much more as it’s lite and you don’t notice it, even in the shower 😆

DO NOT try to save a couple of $$ by buying the cheap kind as they’re just steel and tend to rust.

[arutha]

@Chris Mabbott wrote:

I find I’m using the wire type much more as it’s lite and you don’t notice it, even in the shower 😆

DO NOT try to save a couple of $$ by buying the cheap kind as they’re just steel and tend to rust.

Chris, just give it a good coat of enamel paint and you can then wear it in the shower, at the pool and even in the sea as long as you rinse it with freshwater afterwards

[chris mabbott]

😆 I hear ya…

Problem is the sweat from my head, not only from super hard work but it has been 37-42c here for the past three months 😳
Enameling my noggin is not an option 😆
I’m beginning to look like a classic WW1 German officer resplendent with monocle, one for close inspection of ze troops 😆

[david pierce]

Chris,
I bought a set of the glass loupes and did not like them either. What I use the most are off the shelf drug store reading glasses. I don’t like having my face up close to the watch movement, and the reading glasses put me at a working distance I feel comfortable with. Everybody is different but it looks like most of the people who repair watches professionally use loupes. One famous watchmaker on Youtube works with his chin resting on the bench. To each their own.
david

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