Hello from Sussex UK

[carlos123]

Hello all,

After a bad experience with Rolex servicing several months ago, I decided to take a look myself and have a play. I have an engineering background so thought this would be ideal.

I'm currently just playing with odds and sods bought from eBay in my voyage discovery and hoping to have this as a hobby and possibly make some beer money - if I can master it....

Thanks for letting me join, I shall be looking through the forum and probably post some questions soon.

Cheers

Carl

[Rattlerviper]

Welcome to the madness that is the watch hobby. Always something to learn. Great hobby.
No offense intended. Your Rolex is not the watch to learn on. I'm new to the group, but have done enough to know that you WILL damage things when your learning, it's far better to damage a $10 Timex than a Rolex. You can get to the Rolex later.
Was your Rolex serviced by Rolex? What was the bad experience?

Hello all,
After a bad experience with Rolex servicing several months ago, I decided to take a look myself and have a play. I have an engineering background so thought this would be ideal.
I'm currently just playing with odds and sods bought from eBay in my voyage discovery and hoping to have this as a hobby and possibly make some beer money - if I can master it....
Thanks for letting me join, I shall be looking through the forum and probably post some questions soon.
Cheers
Carl

[carlos123]

Hi,

I'd rather not give full details at the moment as it might yet have to go to court, but it involves them damaging the case, then a "refurbishment" to remedy the damage which went wrong.....

Carl

[Rattlerviper]

Best of luck resolving this out of court.

Hi,
I'd rather not give full details at the moment as it might yet have to go to court, but it involves them damaging the case, then a "refurbishment" to remedy the damage which went wrong.....
Carl

[JerseyMo]

1 hour ago, Rattlerviper said:

Welcome to the madness that is the watch hobby. Always something to learn. Great hobby.
No offense intended. Your Rolex is not the watch to learn on. I'm new to the group, but have done enough to know that you WILL damage things when your learning, it's far better to damage a $10 Timex than a Rolex. You can get to the Rolex later.
Was your Rolex serviced by Rolex? What was the bad experience?

No do not learn on Timex as their movements are very different and very difficult to put back together.  Instead get a few 17 jewel movements to learn on.  You will find the engineering of the parts to be much better and once apart they go together much easier.

Pocket watches are another good learning movement because the parts are big.

[Rattlerviper]

No do not learn on Timex as their movements are very different and very difficult to put back together.  Instead get a few 17 jewel movements to learn on.  You will find the engineering of the parts to be much better and once apart they go together much easier.

Pocket watches are another good learning movement because the parts are big.

Good to know not to use Timex. I'm at the stage where I would like to learn to service my own watches. I'll skip buying Timex to learn on. Would a 6497 movement to a good choice?

 

[ecodec]

Hi Carlos, Welcome and good wishes for your success. Regards, Mike.

[yankeedog]

I concur on the timexes !you can buy buckets of old russian vostok and raketa movements for nil.Parts interchangeability is fair and they work the same way as their western counterparts. Out of a dozen you might get 3 or 4 to actually work,if not, not much lost.

[yankeedog]

Just now, yankeedog said:

I concur on the timexes !you can buy buckets of old russian vostok and raketa movements for nil.Parts interchangeability is fair and they work the same way as their western counterparts. Out of a dozen you might get 3 or 4 to actually work,if not, not much lost.clean them with mineral spirits and lubricate them with motor oil. they don't mind.

 

[JerseyMo]

21 hours ago, yankeedog said:

I concur on the timexes !you can buy buckets of old russian vostok and raketa movements for nil.Parts interchangeability is fair and they work the same way as their western counterparts. Out of a dozen you might get 3 or 4 to actually work,if not, not much lost.

odd that you mention Russian watches, as it was a raketa that I first had to correct an overbanked balance wheel.  I had dropped the watch after giving the case a polish and noticed it stopped working.  When I looked inside I saw the balance would not swing and I thought there is now way I can correct.  But, was amazed and how easy it was and only because the parts just slipped right back into place.

As I Timex restorer I can say without hesitation that is not the case with a vintage Timex.  Typically the issue there would be the pallet fork has been bent out of position.  To change one is like trying to keep Mercury from slipping through your fingers!

Hmmm I like that line, maybe put it on a t-shirt!

[yankeedog]

The Timex is it's own kind of animal.