I am composing this online guide to pass on the 20+ years of experience, repairing watches, to others who wish to discover the art of watch repairing. 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 percentage previous experience and want to begin repairing watches. I am limiting my guide to Quartz enjoys only as this is a subject that is not covered well in other places and yet they are the bulk of watches you will be asked to fix. Healing mechanical and automated watches are covered in many places and books (i gained from this book 'Practical Watch Repairing' by Donald de Carle which is an old book but excellent) but to fix and fix these takes a lot more experience. This is why when repairing mechanical watches you can charge more cash for repairing one of these than you can charge for fixing the majority of quartz watches.
Despite this, there is good money to be made repairing quartz watches and it is much easier to discover too as there is less variation. The simple reason that 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 repairing quartz watches with this online guide.
In this guide I presume you can open a watch back, change 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 novices guide too).
OBVIOUSLY you can't simply start 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 many of the products listed below BEFORE beginning. Keep 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 important to success of any repair work job!.
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 developed 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 individual doesn't have to downturn over when working. Some repairmen will put cork or linoleum on the surface area. These soft materials stop parts from bouncing away, and aren't hard adequate to damage anything dropped on them. Some benches even have a slide out "parts Check out here catcher" that presses versus the tummy 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 since tiny screws (and so on) are easy to locate. This practice will likewise save your table from scratches, and secure your watch from the tables difficult surface area. To keep it from shifting, you may want 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 outlet store for dealing with spectacles etc. will trigger more difficulty than they deserve. They are not precision made and you will quickly damage or remove the highly refined screws discovered in many watches. The eager eye of a serious watch collector will select this up immediately; it interferes with the look of the watch therefore reducing value of your watch. Locate and buy a set of watchmakers screwdrivers. Even a newbies set will be much better than anything you can discover at the dollar-store.
The proper way 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 in between your thumb and middle finger; turning the screw.