Goals in watchmaking as a hobby?

[bojan1990]

Hello everyone,

this is probably not a question, but more of a call for a discussion.

Watches and clocks were always interesting to me and once I discovered people who do watchmaking as a hobby, I decided to give it a try. Mostly fascinated because of the precision of mechanical parts and skill required not only to put parts correctly in order to make a watch tick - but to understand how the things actually work. Great thing is that you don't need much space for the equipment (as least basic tools) and there are also plenty of books available to learn. Not to mention great forum such as this one where I personally got a ton of help from more experienced people. After two years, I am able to take apart almost any standard wristwatch (with not too much complications), clean it, lubricate and put it back. However, I want to do more and looking for a mainspring winder to be able to clean and put mainsprings back in barrels. It seems it will be little bit more difficult as a expected, but I have time.

After two years, I have a lot of old used and non-functioning wristwatches that I used to learn. It is a little bit annoying because:

1. There are too many different watch models, so if I need some part which is broken, it is almost impossible to take that part from another "donor"
2. Spare parts are hard or impossible to find on the internet

It seems to me that hobby watchmaker just doesn't have resources to actually fix watches. He doesn't have spare parts or he can't buy them. Basically, I would like to know what are your goals in this hobby? To do restauration of watches, make them work again or something else?

I understand the hobby is something where money flows away from you, but has anybody succeeded in repairing and reselling watches in order to finance buying of more watches to work on?

Edited February 16, 2021 by bojan1990

[watchweasol]

As a life long fixer of machinery , typewriters adding machines, calculators accounting machines and mainframe computers plus peripherals, I became interested age 16 and been at it since then both clocks and watches, for me it was fixing it getting it operational, making them tick but thats the same with anything thats broken. power tools frigdes washing machines cars motor bikes I will have a go at them all when younger.   Age takes it toll.

[spectre6000]

Agreed. Taking something dead and bringing it back to life is a very rewarding thing for me. Watches, cars, woodworking tools, guitars (and other stringed instruments), and so on. I also appreciate the craftsmanship and attention to detail that goes into a mechanical watch. I actively dislike the blingy marque chauvinism in a large part of the watch-o-sphere, but that is not a thing here.

It is my personal goal to be able to buy cheap watches (currently 404 club), fix them up, and sell them at a profit that goes back into the hobby. I've managed to bring a handful of movements back from the dead so far, but I'm currently waiting to hit critical mass for a parts order (crystals, bands, etc.) to get a bunch of individual successes sellable to keep shipping costs low. I think it'll be difficult to take a $5 broken watch, make it work and look nice (with little to no financial input) and not make enough money to cover expenses for at least that watch. After several minor flips (I'm hoping to net $20/watch or so), I hope to have my startup tool set paid off. Eventually I'll move up market to $20, or even ::gasp:: $50 project watches.

I don't wear these watches at all; I have my DD ("daily driver") and my "shop watch". Eventually I may hold one back as a dress watch, but I don't do a lot of dressy things that my DD won't handle. If I get really good, I may buy a really nice watch with the proceeds.

It's also just a relaxing, quiet thing to do in the evening while my daughter plays in the living room. It's clean and quiet (unlike cars and woodworking), doesn't take up a ton of space, it can be done indoors where there's heat, and there's not a ton of time required for setup/takedown to be able to do something productive, or put things away if I need to get back to normal desk operations. 

Downsides are that it has an expensive entry price to be able to be even marginally effective, I don't know anyone else IRL that seems to be able to even conceptualize what it is I'm doing (no one to share successes or failures with), and some third thing for adherence to the rule of threes.

[bojan1990]

Exactly, my goal would be to be able to finance my hobby by selling repaired and cleaned working watches. I guess I need to stick to some model in order to have enough spare parts and proficiency to actually fix them properly.

The model that comes to my mind is Seiko 5, since this is the watch I worked with many times and it is widely available on Ebay here in Germany.

Any other option on cheap watches worth working on?

[watchweasol]

I am a squirrel, I collect clocks and watches repair them then into the cabinet I also repair some for other people at a fair price which goes back in to the hobby  but I will never make a living from it.

[LittleWatchShop]

1 hour ago, watchweasol said:

I am a squirrel

Same here.  I have fixed up four or five from my box-o-watches.  Can't let go of the expensive ones...can't let go of the cheap ones.  What to do???

[watchweasol]

Enjoy the hobby make a buck or two as and when dont book any Holidays on the proceeds.