We often read about people who find new treasures on Ebay or get some $2000 item for $300 and the seller is happy about it all. Sometimes we think to ourselves "why can't that be me" and then when we try it goes wrong. This thread is about all the mistakes we have made in the hope that others will learn from what we have done wrong and some good will come from the experience. Read on and be comforted that you are not the only one who has come unstuck. We all do it sooner or later. Are you game to share your own little mistakes????

I will start this off by telling you about a watch I bought when I first started collecting. It looked like a very tidy watch with an Elgin movement in a silver case. The picture was a bit small but I studied all the pictures in the guide and worked out what I thought it was. An 18 size with 15 jewels but I wasn't sure exactly which model. Could have been one of 3. The bidding went on and I won for $55. What a bargin I thought and could not wait for it to arrive. The day arrived and I had the package in hand. I carefully unwrapped it and out came a 6 size watch. What a letdown. To be fair it is a nice watch and I still have it but it was not what I was expecting. I thought I had been got at. Since then I have discovered the Elgin database but I have been caught out since with an Illinoise. Tis easy to do if you arn't sure what you are looking at.
Steve

This is about the worst sound a person can hear when he is fixing a watch. It is "Ping". It happens when you are trying to put a tapered pin back into a dial leg. "Ping" It happens when you are picking up a second hand. "Ping" It happens when you are searching through a box of 1000 srews and have just picked up the only one in there that might fit the job you are working on. "Ping" It never happens when you are prepared for it. "Ping" It indicates that the part you were holding with your tweezers has just exited, stage left, at high velosity. Perhaps it is just me but I am sure others know this sound as well. Practice is the only answer I can come up with.
Steve

I heard someone on this board say that when you zing something out of your tweezers it goes into outerspace and burns up on re entery,

Actually it's The "Brownian Motion" of the "pinger" part interacting with the atmosphere, it wants to be re-assimilated into nothingness with all the other floating pieces of debris we trail behind us in our life lines.

Seriosly, at one very special Mid-western Govt. assembly plant in the 60's, they had rooms with a grated floor and a concave "sub-floor" designed to "collect essential droppings" at the center sorta like a big funnel.

We all joked that the funnal should be hooked up to Beethoven's 5th or some other appropriate shaker music to help the droppings roll down and into the center catch basin.

Unfortinately most of the droppings were quite radioactive.

Ahhh . . . the lunacy of Physics. Was Dr Strangelove a true story?

That is why getting on your hands and knees looking for a part is called doing the "watchmaker's prayer".

Tom

I had just recieved a wonderful box of really tiny screws with a watch I had purchased and when I opened it, yep, it went everywhere.

The real problem was, that the picture showed them as being the size of about a pea, in real life they were so small the looked like those black seeds on a bun, and they fell on a dark piece of carpet I had under my desk at the time.

Needless to say I couldn't find one of them. UNTIL I got a messaget to use a magnet.

I did use a magnet and I did get a lot of them back, but put them in a tin that they are still in today!

Now for my first fake.

When I was new to watches I picked up one of those famous Railroad specials that has the train on the movement. However, I can't really say that today I'm that upset about it, because I paid so little, but a long time later, after getting my first book on watches, I learned the watch was a fake. I was upset back then, I thought I had a cool watch, and it was only a fake.

Today I like the watch, and am glad I have it, it kept me from ever buying a fake again, unless I want one.

I learned the first lesson in collecting, If you don't know what it is, ASK!

Early lessons are the good ones.

I once heard an elderly watchmaker say that looking for parts on one's hands and knees on the floor was "working on the big bench!"
Cheers!
Joel

One good suggestion for finding parts that have "pinged". Look for one of those magnetic bars that are designed to hold kitchen knives up on the wall and fashion a string yoke so you can drag it over the floor. You will be amazed at how quick you can cover a good sized area and find things you didn't even know you lost......
Keith

A friend of mine used to attend a full time college watchmaking course, and the main workshop had those polystyrene tiles glued to the ceiling.

He told me they used to get up there on a step ladder periodically and pick out all the click springs and other bits that would stick in them like darts.

These days I keep a big 'U' shaped magnet and sweep the floor with it to pick up stray 'spare bits'

My wife took pity on me one day though, and commented I spent more time repairing watches on the floor under my bench than on it, so she made me an apron like a carpenter's bib. I just put it on and tuck the end of it into the drawer on my bench!
It makes a handy 'keep net' for stuff which would otherwise roll on the floor, trouble is, if i get up quick and forget to unhook it, it usually yanks the drawer out and all my small watch tools crash to the floor
First time I did that, I swear I heard someone say 'Men! I give in'

John.

Thanks to all who have contributed so far. The fact is we all make these little mistakes from time to time and I am sure as others read these posts they will have a smile on their face as they remember some similar event that befell them. If we can persuade them to "FESS UP" this could become a very informative thread for newcommers to the craft. I also get the impression that the "Ping" syndrome is a very common complaint. All this time I thought it was just me being clumsy.
Steve