February 6, 2008 – 9:36 pm
By request, today I will go into more depth on my micromechanics training. To review, I attended the Lititz Watch Technicum. It is a WOSTEP Partner school in Lititz, PA fully funded by Rolex. The first major segment of the training covers micromechanical skills needed for watch repair. Before we ever started working on actual [...]
February 5, 2008 – 10:39 pm
I know it’s not the weekend, but I can’t resist this opportunity to comment mid-week on a non-watch related topic. Here in New Mexico voter turnout for the democratic caucus was high today. It was the first ever caucus in New Mexico and polls were open from noon to 7pm. In Rio-Rancho some voters waited [...]
February 5, 2008 – 10:26 pm
On this Super Tuesday edition of Tuesday Tools I focus on mainspring winders. Why does a watchmaker need mainspring winders, if we always replace the mainspring when we service it? Occasionally when you receive a new mainspring from a supply house it is wound too large to simply “shoot” it into the barrel. When this [...]
February 4, 2008 – 7:56 pm
I don’t spend tons of time in watch forums like Timezone, but I have spent a fair amount of time over the past few years. One of the things people are always discussing is a “break-in period” for a mechanical watch. Here is my official opinion on the matter. I say opinion but it is [...]
February 3, 2008 – 8:55 pm
I lost a good friend last Sunday, that I had never met. Gordon B. Hinkley, president & prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints passed away last Sunday. Although I never met GBH in person I have heard him speak countless times and read so many of his writings, speeches, sermons, & [...]
February 3, 2008 – 8:17 pm
The University of Oklahoma has revamped it’s watchmaking program. It is unclear to me if they remain a WOSTEP partner school or not, it looks like they are focusing on AWCI-CW21 recognition instead. That would be a bold move, but I believe it would be a smart one. A press release on the school’s web [...]
February 3, 2008 – 3:24 pm
Since I speak spanish and recently stumbled upon some great blogs in spanish dedicated to watches I have decided to launch a spanish language version of this blog. You will find it at ElRelojMeHabla.wordpress.com I invite all you spanish speakers to visit me there. Debido a que hablo el español y a cabo de descubrir [...]
February 1, 2008 – 9:12 pm
I have seen this question on the internet countless times and I’ve heard it in person plenty of times. For example: I tell customers that their modern watch should be serviced about every 5 years. Does it need to be serviced that often? Yes! I’m not going to go on about the analogy with the [...]
January 31, 2008 – 8:49 pm
In the world of watch repair obtaining spare parts is extremely important & often problematic. The american watchmaking industry invented the production of interchangeable parts in the late 1800s but parts weren’t really interchangeable until the 1940s. By the end of WWII watches could easily be repaired by identifying faulty parts and ordering replacements. For [...]
January 30, 2008 – 8:52 pm
When I graduated from the Lititz Watch Technicum, I left with an LWT Diploma, a WOSTEP certificate, and the title of AWCI Certified Watchmaker for the 21st Century. So what do they mean? My WOSTEP Certificate means that I successfully completed 3000 hours of coursework approved by the Watchmakers of Switzerland Training and Education Program [...]
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