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Lessons from a day of watchmaking

About a week ago somebody called asking whether I could change a battery in a Baume & Mercier. I told him I could. We have the necessary case opening tool. He was ecstatic, apparently we were the 18th store he had called looking for somebody with the appropriate tool to change his battery. [...]

Environmental concerns in the watchmaking industry

This is a topic I have wanted to expound on in detail for quite a while but I have a hard time finding the information I need. Here are some thoughts, nothing here can be taken as the gospel truth, it is all educated hypothesizing.
Common thought would lead you to believe that a mechanical watch [...]

What you get from a counterfeit

Disclaimer: I would never purchase a counterfeit watch, nor do I usually work on them which is why I am making this post. I will not be making a habit of discussing counterfeits here. I strongly believe that counterfeiting, like pirating, plagarism, and stealing to be unethical and wrong. I choose not to participate [...]

Baume & Mercier Linea

Every once in a while a watch comes across my bench that surprises me. This week it was a ladies Baume & Mercier Linea. Let’s just say, that B&M isn’t a brand that brings quality and luxury to my mind, but I could be wrong. The case was made of a fine steel [...]

World’s most accurate clock

Do you need to be on time? I mean really on time. The Journal of Science reports this week that scientists have developped a new atomic clock wich will not deviated by a single second in 200 million years. It is based on a lattice of strontium atoms suspended with lasers and honestly, I don’t [...]

Watch Maker? or Watch Repairer?

Some days I feel like a watch repairer or a watch technician. Other days I feel like a real watchmaker. Today was a watchmaker day!
Today I worked on a Rolex Caliber 1400. It is a small movement. As you can see from the picture it is smaller than a dime, but [...]

Floorology

Floorology - the art of finding things you’ve dropped on the floor. I’ve been thinking about this post for a while and something I read over on timezone today made be decide to go ahead with it.
It is better to drop a part on the table because one didn’t use enough pressure holding it [...]

ETA 6497 / 6498

It has been a while since I worked on an ETA 6497, but I did so today and it reminded me how much I like this movement.
The 6497 and 6498 began as UNITAS calibers, but when UNITAS became a part of swatch group (through a series of acquisitions) it became an ETA caliber, like the [...]

Case Openers

Today for Tuesday’s Tools I’ll focus on case tools. These are the tools we use to open and close watch cases. There are many different kinds of case tools. They range from a simple knife to complex steering wheel devices.
First, these are the big guns. In the middle is the Rolex 1019, [...]

What makes a good watchmaker?

Watchmaking demands perfection. Unfortunately that is something which cannot truly be attained. Yet, we strive for it, and we (hopefully) come very close.
Watches are not very forgiving. It only takes one piece of lint, or one speck of dust in the wrong place to bring a watch to a grinding halt. You [...]