I am composing this online guide to hand down the 20+ years of experience, repairing watches, to others who wish to learn the art of watch fixing. It is entirely totally free for anyone to utilize although it is intended at 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 somewhere else and yet they are the majority of watches you will be asked to fix. Healing mechanical and automatic 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 great) however to fix and fix these takes a lot more experience. This is why when fixing mechanical watches you can charge more cash for fixing one of these than you can charge for mending the bulk of quartz watches.
In spite of this, there is decent cash to be made fixing quartz watches and it is easier to find out too as there is less variation. The easy reason that repairing a quartz watch is simpler is they have not altered much in the last 30 years while mechanical watches have been around for centuries while the first Quartz Watch was produced in 1969.
To be an Excellent Watch Repairer you require experience so it is a lifetimes finding out to end up being qualified mechanical watch maker (horologist), while you can rapidly expand your organization into repairing quartz watches with this online guide.
In this guide I assume you can open a watch back, change a bracelet and use standard tools correctly. If not, then this guide may 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 much better outcomes, and a a lot more enjoyable experience if you put in the time, effort, and cost to get the majority 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 conserve that for another conversation. The bottom line is that preparation and having the right devices is essential to success of any repair task!.
Workspacerkspace with a clean, flat surface. For a newbie a kitchen table will do simply fine, but as you end up being more serious you might want to think about a watchbench made specially for fixing watches and a great fluorescent light which is simpler on the eyes. A watchbench has little integrated in drawers for all of the tools and parts you make certain to accumulate over time.
The style is tall, with a surface area that (when sitting) is close to the face so the repair individual doesn't need to slump over when working. Some service technicians will put cork or linoleum on the surface. These soft products stop parts from bouncing away, and aren't hard sufficient to harm anything dropped on them. Some benches even have a slide out "parts catcher" that presses against the stubborn 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 device catches it!
A lot of beginners will (as discussed above) begin at a kitchen area table. A good idea for working at a table is to put down 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 will not bounce away and become lost. I recommend white because small screws (and so on) are easy to find. This practice will also save your table from scratches, and protect your watch from the tables difficult surface area. To keep it from shifting, you might desire to consider taping it down with masking tape too.
Screw-driver set
You WILL need an excellent set of watchmakers screwdrivers. This is a MUST. The sets found at the outlet store for working on glasses and so on will cause more difficulty than they are worth. They are not accuracy made and you will easily damage or remove the extremely polished screws found in a lot of watches. The eager eye of a major watch collector will select this up instantly; it diminishes the look of the watch thus minimizing value of your watch. Find and purchase a set of watchmakers screwdrivers. Even a newbies set will be far better than anything you can find at the dollar-store.
The correct way to hold it (Right Listed Below) is to grip the screwdriver shaft between the thumb and middle finger, with the index finger on the cupped end (which turns). Press down Click here for info on the top of the screwdriver and swivel it in between your thumb and middle finger; turning the screw.