I am writing this online guide to hand down the 20+ years of experience, fixing watches, to others who would like to find out the art of watch fixing. It is totally free for anybody to utilize although it is focused on the battery fitter, jeweller or amateur watch repairer who has a small quantity previous experience and want to start mending watches. I am limiting my guide to Quartz enjoys only as this is a topic that is not covered well in other places and yet they are most of watches you will be asked to fix. Healing mechanical and automated watches are covered in many locations and books (i gained from this book 'Practical Watch Repairing' by Donald de Carle which is an old book however really great) but to fix and fix these takes a lot more experience. This is why when fixing mechanical watches you can charge more cash for repairing among these than you can charge for fixing most of quartz watches.
Despite this, there is good money to be made fixing quartz watches and it is simpler to learn too as there is less variation. The basic reason fixing a quartz watch is much easier is they have actually not changed much in the last thirty years while mechanical watches have actually been around for hundreds of years while the very first Quartz Watch was produced in 1969.
To be a Great Watch Repairer you need experience so it is a life times discovering to become proficient mechanical watch maker (horologist), while you can rapidly broaden your service into mending quartz watches with this online guide.
In this guide I presume you can open a watch back, adjust a bracelet and use standard tools correctly. If not, then this guide might not be for you (if I get time in the future I will make a newbies guide too).
OBVIOUSLY you can't simply begin turning screws ... there are a number of things you will require to do (and get) in preparation. You will have far better outcomes, and a a lot more enjoyable experience if you put in the time, effort, and cost to get most of the products listed below BEFORE beginning. Bear in mind that these are simply the bare fundamentals ... a serious repair work person has numerous other specialized tools ... but we'll save that for another conversation. The bottom line is that preparation and having the right devices is important to success of any repair work task!.
Workspacerkspace with a clean, flat surface area. For a beginner a cooking area table will do just great, but as you end up being more major you may wish to consider a watchbench made specifically for repairing watches and an excellent fluorescent lamp which is much easier on the eyes. A watchbench has actually small constructed in drawers for all of the tools and parts you are sure to collect in time.
The style is tall, with a surface area that (when sitting) is close to the face so the repair person does not have to downturn over when working. Some repairmen will put cork Go here or linoleum on the surface area. These soft products stop parts from bouncing away, and aren't hard enough to harm anything dropped on them. Some benches even have a slide out "parts catcher" that presses against the belly when sitting. Mine is a wood frame with a loose piece of canvas added to the bottom. When a part is dropped and goes "over the edge", this brilliant gizmo catches it!
The majority of novices will (as pointed out above) begin at a cooking area table. A great pointer for working at a table is to set a fine piece of white material (like a plain white pillowcase or cheesecloth) to do your work on. The primary advantage for doing this is if you drop among the parts, it won't bounce away and end up being lost. I suggest white due to the fact that tiny screws (and so on) are easy to find. This practice will also conserve your table from scratches, and protect your watch from the tables difficult surface area. To keep it from shifting, you may wish to think about taping it down with masking tape as well.
Screw-driver set
You WILL require a good set of watchmakers screwdrivers. This is a MUST. The sets discovered at the department store for dealing with eyeglasses and so on will cause more difficulty than they deserve. They are not precision made and you will quickly damage or remove the highly refined screws found in many watches. The eager eye of a major watch collector will pick this up immediately; it interferes with the appearance of the watch thus lowering value of your watch. Find and buy a set of watchmakers screwdrivers. Even a novices set will be better than anything you can find at the dollar-store.
The correct method to hold it (Right Listed Below) is to grip the screwdriver shaft between the thumb and middle finger, with the forefinger on the cupped end (which rotates). Press down on the top of the screwdriver and rotate it between your thumb and middle finger; turning the screw.