The Breitling Watch Source Forums

After playing around for a while I have finally taken the plunge and ordered a bunch of stuff to start learning watchmaking seriously.

I have started building a library over the last couple of months and am on the lookout for a couple more books (thanks to Criag for a recommendation). After spending most of the last couple of weeks looking through catalogues and websites I have ordered a bunch of stuff to get me started - some new, some used, and I am hoping that in the next week or so things will start turning up and I can really start seriously learning how to bring these amazing mechanical marvels back to life.

I'm obviously going to start on some junk watches, but I'm really looking forward to it, and you know that I'm going to bore you all to death with my discoveries, failures, and (hopeffuly) occasional success as I learn.

In the meantime, if anyone doesn't want to pay the money for Breitling service I'd be happy to give you a quote

Will I get my watch in ONE piece?

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"I don't got the bright watch I got the right watch" -Jay Z

One BAG OF PIECES is probably more accurate!

Good luck with the venture Roff. Could be a nice sideline/pastime in early retirement becomes an option.

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Driver8

Site Moderator

Will you get the watch in one piece - sure - I'll keep the spare bits for the next one

I would like it to be something that I can do as a little money making venture down the road. I'm not sure that I have the talen to do cosmetic restoration, we'll see, but I'm sure I can find someone to help there. If I can just buy some non runners and bring them back to life to sell on for a bit of profit then I'll be happy. It is something that I'm thinking of to keep me busy when I do decide not to work full time, but I would never want it to become a 'job' - I think that takes the fun away.

Congratulations! We need more watchmakers. Good luck with it.

One of the most difficult things to master is never take in more work than you want to do in the time you allocate for the hobby. Once you take in too much work, the pressure is on and it becomes a job.

As far as the skills you need to develop, get an assortment of good tweezers and practice picking up small screws, etc. and placing them in a container. You will be amazed at the velocity one of these tiny parts can acquire when you put too much pressure on the tweezer and it snaps out. You won't find it until you are looking for some other lost part, and of course you won't need it by then (I'm still looking for some). It will take a while, but once you are comfortable using the tweezers you will be able to concentrate more on all the little things that go into the process. It's frustrating when you spend more time on the floor than you do at the bench.

Also, don't try to save money on screwdrivers. Get a good set and take care of them. Most buggered screw heads and associated bridge scratches come from ill fitting screwdrivers.

I know some people in the USA who deal in used tools who are trustworthy. You can shop the bay for lathes, collets, staking and jeweling tools, etc. You can buy all of those things new, but the prices are staggering!

Join the NAWCC if you are not a member. They have regional meetings in the northern parts of the US two or three times a year. You can pick up a lot of used stuff at reasonable prices. Of course, you still have to be aware of sharks.

When I went to watchmaker's school 50 years ago, we had to make a lot of our tools before we could work on anything. It was good training.

Ok, enough.

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1809 Cosmonaute
1903 Navi
Navi Olympus
Super Avenger

I must be doing something right already......

Dumont #2 and #5 on the way - the rest can follow when I've figured those out!

Bergeon ergonomic set of 10 screwdrivers also incoming - that was one area where only the best would do!

The lathe can wait until I'm a little more proficient, and yes - Frei and Borel won't be getting the $30K + order for a lathe

I have been looking at NAWCC - there is a chapter here in Canada that isn't a million miles from me, so that's definitely worth investigating.

I'm also thrilled that I managed to pick up a CD copy of the Chicago School of Watchmaking course for $15 off the Bay and the seller also let me have the full Esemb-o-Graf chronograph course for another $10 - $25 for those two is amazing, even if it will cost me a fortune in paper and ink to print out that lot!

The staking tools, jewel setters and everything else are a mine field that I'm avoiding for now - I'll figure out what I can't do easily with the tools that I have and buy accordingly rather than buy everything now and let half of them gather dust.

I hope that you are prepared for some dumb noob questions

Excellent. I would like to get my reservation in for the Roffensian made BreitlingSource Minute Repeater, Tourbillon, Perpetual Calender. Thanks!

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Chronomat, Steel/Gold, MOP Dial, 2-tone band (2008)
Super Avenger Black Baton Dial (2009)
Bentley B04 GMT Silver Dial (2013)
Avenger Blacksteel Baton Dial (2014)

Crap, I did that this morning, but put in an equation of time as well - now I've got to figure out how to take out the equation of time just for you Boney!!!



Seriously, I would absolutely love to design my own watch. Realistically it would be a recased movement - probably a vintage Venus 175, 188, etc, but if I could find a company that I could partner with to produce a limited prodcution run of cases, dials, pushers, crowns, etc to my design then I would do it in a heart beat.

That's a little way doewn the road though - let's figure out how to take a movement apart, clean it, oil it and put it back together in the same way before we get too carried away.

Good luck with your "new" hobby, Roff.

Very cool, Roff. Enjoy the new area, and I look forward to hearing about the exploits.

I'll also keep an ear open for a custom-make release.

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Chris
Club Member #0070
2009 TT Chrono Evo w/Rose gold, blue face
2009 Airwolf w/black face, Co-Pilot module
2009 TT Lady Cockpit w/Mother-of-Pearl, Diamond face for the wife

Very cool Roff, stick with it! You are bound to hit a few obstacles on the way and feel a little frustration, but I am sure this can be a very rewarding hobby.

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Certified watch nut.

That's awesome Roff, really glad you've taken the plunge. No doubt you'll find it very rewarding (and challenging no doubt ) but that's part of the fun.

I look forward to hearing all about it, the more information the better.

Really good luck with it all!!

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Happines is Good Health and a Bad Memory.
"Ingrid Bergman"

Well everything has now turned up - typical, today is the only day this week that I'm not at home and most of the stuff only arrived last evening!

I invested a whole $15 into a CD of the Chicago School of Watchmaking's correspondence course from the 50s and I am trying to follow the lesson guides for the first few lessons to at least get the fundamentals down. So last evening was simply a case of taking a few pocket watch movements out of their cases and putting them back in. Starting with pocket watches as the size is better.

I managed not to scratch any movements or destroy any screws and managed to get 3 different watches in and out of their cases safely. Maybe most impressively I didn't send any screws flying across the room while using the tweezers.

OK it's not much, but I'm happy! This weekend I'll start taking the movements apart and the real fun will start!

By the way, I bought the new Bergeon ergonomic screwdrivers - the 6899 set and they are amazing!

So they don't start you off with re-lubricating a minute repeater then Roff?

Jeez, I guess it's going to be a long but rewarding process.

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Driver8

Site Moderator

Oddly not.

You have no idea how tempting it was to 'just' remove the balance when I had the movement in my hand. The guy that wrote the Chicago school course did so in a very distinct style and I could just imagine him standing there telling me how important it was to do things correctly if I had any hope of becoming a master watchmaker. It's like being told off by your Dad