First, I don’t like to bring my work home because I have 3 little boys and a wife who need my time, so I don’t. I need a house suited to the lifestyle of young children. White carpet is not a good idea! White walls are not a good idea. I need a house I can spray down to wash it off.

Now, to leave my cynicism behind and address the needs of a watchmaker in his shop: Watchmaker’s spend much of their time focusing on the 9 square inches directly in front of them. During the repair of a watch I wear a loupe which, as we discussed before requires your face to about 2 inches from your work. Since this is where you spend most of your time a good bench is essential to a good shop. It should be high enough that you don’t have to strain your neck to get that close to your work. It should also have arm supports which allow you to keep your elbows below your shoulders and your hands at the workpiece. It also needs good lighting. Natural light is the best, but may provide security concerns. Most of my hand tools are stored in the drawers of my bench on my right hand side, since I am right handed.

In addition to my work bench I have storage for spare parts and additional work areas. Ideally this area has a microscope at a lower counter where one can actually work with the watch, if need be, and all kinds of tools for the casing work of the watch. A computer with Internet access is also a must in today’s modern world. I need a master clock to compare the watches to. I use a radio controlled quartz clock which receives the time signal from the atomic clock at the Bureau of Standards in Fort Collins, Colorado.

A watchmaker’s shop needs to be very clean. Dust and lint are a watchmaker’s enemy so acoustic tile is horrid! Smooth surfaces are the best. I sometimes, look for stuff on the ground so a floor that is soft, smooth, and a solid light color is ideal. That tiny gap between the floor and the baseboards, is a great place for things to get lost so a smooth transition between floor and wall would be absolutely ideal. And as long as we are talking about ideals, a positive air flow to keep dust from entering would also be the things dreams are made of.

Cleaning equipment should be kept in a separate area from the work area and should be well ventilated. In addition polishing equipment should be in another separate area and heavily exhausted. Another shop with a bench and a lathe for micro-mechanical work would just be super nice to keep the metal shavings generated from filing and turning from contaminating the clean area.

As for security: a watchmaker needs a safe to put away his work at night. If he works directly with customers he/she needs an area to receive customers and their work, which should be comfortable, safe and away from the work area.

In addtion, the American Watchmaker’s Clockmaker’s Institute makes available sample floor plans for workshops.

Concerned that the problem lie in the keyless works, I wasn’t going to let the watch ship out without eliminating the cause. I wasn’t looking forward, though, to removing the hands and the dial - that I had just finished so meticulously polishing and ridding of dust - in order to find the problem. Fortunately, one of the more experienced watchmakers in the shop caught me with the watch held up close to my ear, in a last ditch effort to pinpoint the problem, and asked me what the trouble was. Once informed, he had the grinding noise remedied in about 15 seconds.

Turns out, the internal components of the new screwdown crown I had installed were binding. To fix the problem, he added a drop of lubrication to the shaft of the crown that rides in a spring loaded tube. Following that, he pumped the crown a few times, coaxing the light grease down into the base of the crown where the internal spring slides when the crown is being screwed onto the case. And just like that, the grinding was gone. Leaving behind nothing but silky, smooth, perfection.

More Wisdom from the Experienced

• Whittling Peg Wood
• Stud shift
• Impossible Screwbars

In addition to this new app I recently toured their web page and found it to be among the best of all the brands. If you’re interested in the profession of watchmaking you might find their tour of professions to be of interest. My favorite part was when the show the cutter for the escape wheel along side the finished product. It sheds some light on how a machine can cut such an intricate tooth profile.

Jaeger-Lecoutre Professions

Essential
Assembly / Disassembly
Tweezers
	Brass S5
	Nickel #12
	F
	Steel #2
	Steel #3
	Steel #4
	Plastic	Quartz
Screwdriver Set
Rectangular Dust Cover
Bell Jar & Tray
Parts Trays -- To store parts during disassembly / assembly
Mainspring Winder Set
Oil Cups 30108A
Dip Oilers
	Black
Oil Cups red
Oil Cups blue
Oil Cup green
Oil Cup yellow
Slick Movement holders
Presto Hand puller
Presto Wheel Puller
Loupe 25X
Loupe 10X
Loupe 2 1/2
Automatic Oiler
Aperture Plate
Hand Pushers
Riveting Block
Set of brass pin vises
Set of steel pin vises
Hand Levers	
Pin Vises (Slick) / Barrel Arbor Holders
Horia Jeweling Tool
Staking Set
Brass Hammer
Incabloc pushers
Balance tack
Barrel Closing Tool
Plexi Stick
Pegwood		

Cleaning
Small Parts Baskets		For cleaning small parts
lg glass cleaning jar
sm glass cleaqning jar
Microfiber cloth
Brass Brush 2272
Leather Buffs
Blower / Bulb
Pith Wood Button
Rub-off		

Case Tools
Case Knives
Case Cushion
Spring Bar Tool
Ball Peen Hammer		

Measuring Tools
Tesa Calipers
Isometer Micrometer		

Caliber Specific Tools
Movement Holders
7750 Eccentric Tool		

Micromechanical Tools
Smoothing Broaches 30543-AP
Cutting Broaches 30544-AP
degussit stone
Small India Stone
Small Arkansas Stone
Lg India Stone
Lg Arkansas Stone
Emery Sticks
Files
	8" #4
	8" #6
Vallorbe Escapement Files #4
Oval Burnisher

Intermediate	

Tweezers	Steel #5
Oilers	Blue
	Yellow
	Green
	Red
Mirror
Hairspring Holder
Truing Calipers
Lyre style truing caliper
Collet Removers
Balance Screw Holders
Poising Tool
Collet Holder
Carbide Drill
Pallet Warmer	

burnisher / file
Tungsten burnisher
Slot cutter
gravers
flat burnisher
Eurotool Escapement Files #2
Jewelers Saw
Drill Bits
Centering Punch
Spring Tweezers
Chamfer Tools
File Card
Files
	10" #2
	Half circle #3 / 8"
	6" #5
	4" domed #4

Advanced		

Tweezers	#7 --	Hairspring Manipulation
Tweezers	Cutters 15A -- Hairspring Forming
Screwhead polisher
Dividers

I’m sure it will take some discussion to explain everything here so feel free to add anything you think I missed in the comments or ask questions and I will try my best to keep up.

And, though I haven’t mentioned it in a while. If you enjoy this blog please feel free to donate.

With that out of the way, let’s start the real post:

If you have been following my adventures on learning the art of watchmaking you should know that last time I tried it was not really all that great. Springs being lost, and frustration all around. Well, thanks to MikeTheWatchGuy I’ve started using a piece of pegwood to hold the spring in place while removing it from the movement and lo and behold, I’ve not lost one spring at all this weekend! Thank you very much for the tip!

What my mentor had me doing this weekend was taking apart a few pocket watches that he wanted to clean and service, and he thought that it would be a good opportunity for me to learn about Railroad Grade pocket watches. And learn I did. I took apart 4 pocket watches, without losing or scratching any part of the movement! I worked on a Hamilton, an Illinois Watch Co. and two others that I can’t remember the name, but where the old type, with what looked like two decks. I find it hard to explain, but they had two levels, like if the bridges were raised by very tall screws. After doing that I started cleaning the movements with the cleaning machine, and we ordered two mainsprings, one for the Hamilton and one for the Illinois Watch Co. but the other two are too old, my mentor said, and he will have to do some research to see if he can find suitable mainsprings for them. By then it was really close to 3 so we were about to wrap up for the day, but my mentor decided that I had time to take apart two Hamilton wrist watches, the smaller ones so he could start cleaning them for another time.

Taking all those watches apart was really fun and I barely noticed the time flying by, and the only time I even wanted to stop was to listen to my mentor’s lessons about the history of the safety pin on the railroad grade pocket watches.

On our next session my mentor will start teaching me about oiling and I keep asking the names of all the parts but it is hard to remember, so we might touch on that again too. One thing that I am sure of is that I am getting much more comfortable dealing with the tweezers and all the small parts on a watch.

I will definitely try to get pictures of the movements I am working with and the brands and models too.

We’ve covered most of the basics, tool-wise, here on the blog already. If you weren’t aware of it, take a look at our Tuesday Tools page, which offers a fairly good overview of the tools used in the day-to-day operations of a typical watchmaker or watch technician. If you would like to dive right into the very basics, some form of magnification, good tweezers, a good set of screwdrivers, a movement holder, and oilers are indispensable.

Today, I’ve chosen to get a little more specific and review a tool that I would recommend you not waste your money on - the same way I would recommend that you not throw your money away on an $8 set of screwdrivers or a $2 pair of tweezers. Typically, investing in a decent set of precision screwdrivers will set you back upwards of $80 (reaching as much as $350 for a top of the line set) and a good pair of tweezers upwards of $20.

Up for scrutiny today, is A★F Switzerland’s bezel remover, which is intended to safely remove a bezel from a watch case without scratching or damaging either of them. The product costs around $16 and appears to me to be a simplified take on Omega’s very effective bezel wrench.

To get right down to it, A★F’s product simply doesn’t do the job well at all. The Omega version utilizes a hard plastic with a small lip protruding from the lower circumference of the tool that serves to lift the bezel when the wrench handles are squeezed together. A★F’s version, on the other hand, is made of a soft, rubbery plastic that quickly got chewed up by the bezels it was used on. Of the dozens of bezels I did try it on, I was only ever successful in removing two or three at most, and I quickly retired the tool from my arsenal. Opting, instead, to use the plethora of other options at my disposal.

My two cents on this tool, is that it’s not worth two cents. To quote one of our blog readers, Greg, “the most exspensive tool in the box is the one you don’t use.” A★F’s bezel remover simply isn’t worth the money I paid for it.

I was doing some research, and somebody suggested that for actual work, as opposed to an inspection, a 4x magnification should be the most I need. That sounds very reasonable. I am really struggling trying to decide if I should buy an Optvisor or a Loupe. I can find both with about 3 1/2X to 4X magnification and focal point of about 2″ but I am really torn on which one to get. Both have advantages and disadvantages that are worth considering. I bought a cheap loupe that gives me 15x, and I just could not work with it, then when I read about the focal distance I realized that this loupe was mainly for inspections. I still don’t like it and I’m planning on buying a better quality one. I am assuming that glass or crystal loupes would be better than the clear plastic ones.

What do you guys use for your daily work? Loupes or Optvisors? What brand do you guys recommend? Is it worth it even bothering with the subject?

Sometimes, however the defects are invisible (or imperceivable). This happened to me recently. I received a dive watch with a bezel that would not rotate. Usually this is because there is so much junk under the bezel that it is stuck in its current position. As usual, I removed the bezel and spring and thoroughly cleaned everything. It all appeared to be in good condition so I lubricated the parts and reassembled the watch. The bezel still wouldn’t turn! I repeated this several times (like banging your head against the wall) and got the same results.

Since the bezel is a simple apparatus I assembled it without the spring and found that it turned free and smoothly so I pulled a new spring out of the drawer and replaced what appeared to be a perfectly good spring with a new one. This cured the problem. On further examination I still could not see the defect in the old spring - but there was something definitely wrong with it, I just don’t know what.

What is the lesson here? Watches are simple machines and sometimes there is only 1 or 2 things that can possibly cause the problems you are seeing. When you can’t “see” the problem, a little trial and error can produce the results you need.

But it is also frightening because my whole career so far has been on IT, and I thought IT was what I would do for the rest of my life, not because I liked it but just because that was what I knew and was good at. Also, having a family to provide for, changing careers like that is a very big leap of faith and not knowing what the future holds for me is a scary thought. I can’t just leave everything behind and start working on a new trade that I am not even trained for. And while my wife is going through college I can’t stop working to go to watchmaking school. Even though I plan on going to the Litiz Watch Technicum, I won’t be able to do that. I was fortunate enough to find a mentor who will teach me the basics and get me started, but from what I’ve heard, this is not true for everybody.

I know that there are other people out there in the same situation as I am, and it dawned on me that a good way to get started on learning watchmaking is to pursue the online education path. Upon doing some research I’ve found some good resources for online courses or long distance learning. It may not be the same as going to a nice, renowned watchmaking school, but it is a good first step, either in preparation for watchmaking school or in preparation for the AWCI exams. Note that practical experience with watches will be crucial in your learning and I do suggest buying a few working and non working watches off of ebay and your local flea market so you can get some practice. If you can find a watchmaker that would be so kind as to at least check your work for you, that would be invaluable as well.

Please have in mind that I am not affiliated, nor endorse any of the following institutions and I am listing them here for our information as a community. If anybody has had any experience with them, please write back and let us know.

Distance Learning Courses/Online courses

The British Horological Institute

The BHI offers a variety of courses on clockmaking a watchmaking, as well as technical drawing and much more. You can follow their distance learning program all the way through and get a certificate from them, or you can take just the technician level which will give you a good understanding of how clocks and watches work. They have two different prices, one without tuition where they will only send the material to you and it’s up to you to study and learn the material, and the other with tuition where they will make tutors available to you and grade your work as well. The downside is that they are located, you guessed, in the UK. From all the options that I am listing here today, the BHI was the only institution that I’ve had any contact with and they’ve been really helpful and gave me good advice as far as career path, training and certifications.

The address for the distance learning courses is: http://www.bhi.co.uk/education.html#DLC

Timezone Watch School

They have a clean website, verging simplicity but very easy to navigate which I think of as a plus rather than a minus. They offer a free lesson and I thought it was very interesting and clear, although it looked like something we would post here on ethics and work environment. Their price sounds reasonable for what they offer and the tuition fee covers the material as well. There is not much that I can say about them, but I am planning on trying them out, then I will post here my experiences with them.

Jewelry & Watch Repair School of New England

Their site was a little bit confusing at first. They have a few issues with the site structure and probably should look that up, but on their contact information they offer good solid contact info, so I honestly think that they are legit, and the problem they have is only with their website. What I really liked about them was their commitment to provide full support to the student, including providing material. From their website on tuition: “The cost of tuition includes everything you need to successfully complete the course in which you enroll: an instructional VHS or DVD, a brief but detailed text supplement, a complete tool kit, and all materials needed to complete the repairs assigned to you. We also make ourselves available to our students for project assistance 24 hours a day, 7 days a week”

They are more pricey than all the others around and I am not sure that I will have the opportunity to try them out, but if I ever do, I will let you guys know as well.

Videos/DVDs/Online reference

Harvey’s Watch Repair Video

Harvey is offering one thing and one thing only: 4 Hours of DVD Instructional Video. And at a price that is not too expensive either. For the more visual learner (like myself) this could be a valuable tool. I would have really appreciated if he had uploaded a sample video so that we can at least have an idea of the quality of his material. I find it hard to shell out $35 bucks on something that I don’t even know if it will be good or not and just take his word for it that it’s worth it. I will try to contact him to see if we can get that sample and then I will let everybody know what I think of it.

Watchmaker.net

These guys are a hairspring suppliers/watchmaking video producers/watchmakers and although their website is very plain and simple, they have some very interesting information there, including pictures of the restoration of a D. Quare Repeater from the 1700’s. And of course they have a good wealth of videos on CD for sale. The titles were very promising but then again, without being able to sample the material would be hard for me to make the decision of buying their cds. I am hoping that somebody will chime in and let us know if this would be worth it or not, and if I manage to get a hold of them and get a sample I might be tempted, in a near future, to get at least the one about pocket watches repair. The link to purchase the videos is http://24.153.124.124/watchmaker/cd/cdsales.html

http://www.tascione.com

I thoroughly disliked their website. I did like their offer though. 8 DVDs, plus access to the online videos plus material for practice. Sounds like a pretty good deal, but I could not find any reference to them, so it made me kind of skeptical about it. I am willing to give them a try, but it won’t be now, and whenever I’m ready to do it, I will definitely be using the secure credit card service from paypal.

that’s it folks. I hope this helps people in the same situation as me.

Editor’s note (J. Peter): The BHI course is the only one of these I could really recommend if you are planning on making a career out of watchmaking. The rest of these courses are designed for people who want to work on watches as a hobby. The tools they supply are low quality and their goal is mainly to get you to be able to disassemble, oil & reassemble a watch. What it really takes to be a watchmaker is to understand how watches work and be able to use that knowledge to diagnosis problems in a watch and resolve them. The best way to accomplish this is thousands of hours of at the bench training with an instructor or mentor introducing problems into a watch for you to discover. As an example, in watchmaking school we spent six weeks manipulating hairsprings - Full time. That’s over 200 hours working with a single (yet extremely critical) part of the watch.

If you just want to experiment and see if you might like watchmaking as a career, one of these courses would certainly give you the tools to experiment and see if you think it is fun - but of course it is fun when there are no customers to satisfy.

Author’s Note (Aimeri): I should have pointed that out more clearly at the beginning of my post, but I am glad I did not, that way we get to have the opinion of a much more experienced watchmaker on the subject. The whole point of those websites is to whet your appetite on watchmaking and perhaps making you more interested in pursuing the career of watchmaker. Also, they can give you a very BASIC understanding of watch movements. Please, don’t take those videos as the final word on how to be a watchmaker.