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ChrisRobinson
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ChrisRobinson Member

ChrisRobinson

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Hi, I just joined and am looking forward to learning from everyone.

I'm 58 years old, and just getting into watch repair.  I probably should have become a watchmaker, but when I left school in 1982 the world was right in the middle of the quartz crisis, and it really did look like watches were going disposable.  Mostly, they have I guess.  The vast majority of people just buy a cheap watch and replace it when it stops working, which I always found a bit sad even though I did the same thing myself.

My first watch was a child sized Smiths however, handed down from  my brother when I was about six or seven.  I put that thing through hell and remember it had a broken mainspring at one point.  It did teach me about mechanical movements and started an appreciation for them, I just never saw watchmaking as a viable career.  I tend to jump around, always learning something new.  First was a career in photography, but I moved into IT which was probably for the best since constant exposure to photochemicals was starting to give me problems with contact dermatitis.  IT lasted for a while but I got bored with it and retrained as a welder and gained certification in the 90's. As I moved into my late 40's the demands of the trade started to take their own toll on my health (knees, back, the usual stuff) so I had to find other things to do.

A good friend showed me a clock he had inherited from his father.  It was a rare Harrison clock with a grasshopper escapement which I looked up on line so I could understand it better.  Well, that was it.  After that every other video YouTube recommended was suddenly a watch repair video, and I became hooked.  As you can see, I always seem to gravitate to highly technical things that can challenge me (my hobbies are music and electronics as well)

I've learned a heck of a lot watching videos.  I'm taking Mark's course and have lots of stuff on the way, but I've been waiting about a month for my Seagull ST3600 to arrive from China.  It seems like the longest wait of my life but the good thing is, most of the tools and other bits and pieces have mostly turned up in the meantime.  In fact I have one 1917 pocket watch here and 11 wristwatches already on the way, but I'm going to complete the course and rebuild the ST36  several times before I even think about starting on any of them, and even then will probably start on some of the junkier wristwatches.

See you round!

 

Chris

 

 

 

  • 4 weeks later...

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