Some value purchase history, some value relationships
Set up appointments and multiple ADs and assess which store is
best
Work your way up
Only buy what you love, don’t fall for dealer tricks
Grow the relationship, be the person they want to call
Rules
To set the date correctly: move the hands to 6
o’clock, change the date to the day before today, and then move
the time forward to get the correct half of the day. Never fiddle with
the date between 9pm and 4am; but, if it has a phantom date
then good luck!
Brands to watch in 2023
70th birthday Rolex Submariner
Rolex Milgauss discontinuation? Again?
Omega Seamaster Professional Diver 300M 007 Edition – 42mm
titanium
Christopher Ward C1 Bel Canto
Limited Edition – will be interesting to see what this does for the
brand, maybe too many colour options in the second batch? But good to
see they haven’t rerun the original two dials, for those who got in
first.
There are myriad tools that can streamline your workflow; I’ve listed
them in order so you can add more as you progress. And tools can be
resold quite easily if you’ve gone far enough to scratch the itch.
[tldr: expect to fork out £500 to service a basic watch.]
You don’t need much to get started, you’re basically just having a
closer look.
Eyeglass/loupe 2.8x (Bergeon 4422-3.5) – note the Bergeon name is
the focal length not the magnification
Large cleaning cloth (Selvyt Medium White Size: Size A 25x25cm)
Maintain
Next you might want to replace straps and maybe do a little cleaning
and light buffing.
Spring Bar Tool (Bergeon 6767-F Watch)
Polywatch – acrylic crystal polish
Polishing Buff (Bergeon 2290)
Explore
Now we’re cooking: get the back off and inspect the insides for any
issues.
Rubber Case Ball (Bergeon 8008) – squishy ball case back remover
that works far better than you might think
Case knife – pen knife style
Case knife – oyster shucker style; I generally prefer these to the
pen knife style but it’s good to have a choice
Rodico Premium (Bergeon 7033-1) – for picking up dust and small
components; particularly useful for manipulating hands
Eyeglass/loupe 4x (Bergeon 4422-2.5) – slightly more
magnification
Eyeglass Holder (AF 176.530.24) – the ones that clip on your glasses
look nice but are much more expensive
Case Cushion (Bergeon Gel Ø75mm) – treat yourself to a decent, large
gel cushion
Strip down
This is getting serious… and you’ll need quite a few more tools. But
you will have enough to completely dismantle a basic movement.
Note we are replacing broken parts at this level, rather than making new
ones (which is a whole other level).
Always use the correct size screwdriver: you just risk chewing up the
blades, screw head or both.
Movement Holder, Gents Size, Carbon Fibre (Bergeon 4040-P) –
essential and even the Bergeon ones are reasonably-priced
Tweezers (Idealtek Anti-Magnetic No. 7 Very Fine, Curved Tips) – I
actually got a job lot of tweezers on eBay but these curved tipped ones
are my favourite
Materials box / cloche – you can never have enough
Screwdriver with blades white 0.6mm (Bergeon 30080)
Screwdriver with Blades yellow 0.8mm
Screwdriver with Blades red 1.2mm
Screwdriver with Blades pink 1.6mm
Dial protector (Bergeon 6938) – very cheap, or use the traditional
“ripped baggy” (or both)
Hand Levers, 3.0mm Tips (Bergeon 5431) – £40… buying these hurt! I
also got some cheap ones from eBay for a 10th of the price
Hand Pusher, Red Ø0.80 - Grey Ø1.50mm (Bergeon 7404-2) – haven’t
needed any other size so far but fitting hands is still a little
hit-and-miss for me
Cannon pinion remover – can be very expensive for such a niche tool;
alternatively do it carefully in a bag with tweezers (I found some blunt
end brass ones that work, pull upwards to avoid bending anything)
Plastic pointy stick/peg wood – Starbucks call them “coffee
stirrers” but they look like peg wood to me
Barrel press – eBay £5, if it’s good enough for Marshall…
Crystal press – eBay £15.99, screw down seems a bit more controlled;
I also padded the lower dies out with sticky felt furniture pads into a
domed shaped
Clean
At this point it can start to become quite expensive; not only for
the machines but also the consumables that you probably can’t sell on
quite so easily.
Be careful putting your pallet forks and balance wheel in solvent as
it can dissolve the shellac that holds the
pallet and roller jewels in place.
Lighter fluid – readily available from a newsagent for £2.99
Basket 25mm Mini Watch Part Cleaning Basket Economy – get a few of
these, you can spend quite a lot but I went economy and I don’t know any
better; but I prefer the little brass threaded ones
Screw top jam jar – recycled and small, the shallower the better to
get your bits out and not use loads of cleaner
You can do a job with the above, however, ultrasonic cleaners like this
one are a great way in. Not as efficient as a proper four-stage
cleaning machine but very reasonably-priced and entertaining to use. You
can also impressive your relatives cleaning jewellry and spectacles.
Rebuild and lubricate
A very complicated business, but to get started you need:
Light oil for the quickest moving parts (Moebius
Syntalube 9010) – outrageously expensive!
Grease for the high-friction metal-on-metal components (Moebius
8300)
Oiler, fine (Bergeon red) – for the jewels
Oiler, medium (Bergeon green) – for the grease; go for the cheap
oilers to start with
I realise that suggesting using only two viscosities will cause some
people to spit out their tea/beer, but you have to start
somewhere. Also, Donald de Carlo only talks about “watch oil” and
“clock oil” in the above watchmaking bible, so there you go.
Full disclosure: I also dip my oilers straight into
the jars, which is probably illegal in Switzerland.
Various received wisdoms
“If you need to do it cheaply you can just use 8000 and DX, as it’s a
non synthetic it’ll just mean the service intervals will be shorter.
It’s not ideal because Moebius 8000 is a natural oil so that’s means
velocity is not as high as synthetic oil.”
Moebius 8217: for inside barrel wall (getting serious!)
The next level
Timegraphers
A Timegrapher is the go-to tool for the job and at the low end they
are surprisingly inexpensive. But you can get some useful results from a
phone app; use with an earbud mic if you’re not in a completely quiet
environment.
Mainspring winders
You can fix a lot by replacing parts rather than making new ones. But
I think mainspring winders are the first step into it becoming serious.
This can be done by hand – I have done a couple of times – but
people will get very cross about it.
