Getting started in amateur restoration

[danderson]

Mellow greetings from British Columbia! I'm Dave. I work with computers by trade, but have always found timekeeping in general interesting, from sundials to atomic clocks. Mechanical watches are a newer interest, I'm just starting to learn how they're put together and how to restore them. What finally got me going was browsing ebay and discovering that Marathon sold pocketwatches in Canada, in the 1970s, with "Made in USSR" on the dial. That took me down the rabbit hole of Molnija movements, and how on earth they made their way halfway around the world under a different brand during the cold war. The 3602 movement turns out to also be fairly accessible to a beginner, and someone was selling one in reasonably good condition for quite cheap...

So, here I am a few weeks later, with a lighter wallet, a bunch of tools, and a disassembled pocketwatch on my bench. I seem to have gotten lucky, the movement seems to be in good health and just needs 45 years of dirt and dry oil cleaned off. So now I'm planning the two next steps, my first cleaning with a basic ultrasonic cleaner and non-specialized liquids; and deciding what to do about the mainspring, since I don't have a winder big enough for the large pocketwatch barrel, and new springs for this movement aren't really available. So I'm having to pick between risking a hand-wind, or committing further to the hobby and getting a set of good winders. Decisions, decisions...

I look forward to learning from you all, and sharing in the joy of these wonderful devices!

[watchweasol]

Hello and welcome to the forum, already found the empty pocket bit

[Nucejoe]

Welcome to the WRT forum.

[RichardHarris123]

Hello and welcome from Leeds, England.