So after three months of teaching myself watchmaking, and with lots of patience and help from all the people on this forum, I actually breathed new life into the little Frankenstein watch today!
It's an old beat up Elgin grade 290, put together with parts from about 4 other 290's. Along the way I had to fix dozen of things that other people had done to the it, along with cleaning and oiling it, but there we are. It ticks!
Now, whether or not it would tell accurate time to the hour is still questionable, but the very fact that it works seemed cause to celebrate with all of you guys.
So there's still lots of work to be done. But what a great moment. To see its little heart beating for the first time...
Posts: 152 | Location: Miami, Florida in the USA | Registered: August 11, 2009
Whether as a kid we repair a lamp, get an old car to run as it should in our teens, do a plumbing repair, make something worthwhile out of wooden boards or as you so aptly put it "breathe new life" into a previously non-running watch movement as an adult hobbyist it is indeed a great feeling my friend.
We do have a helpful crew at IHC185... "I get by with a little help from my friends" ...comes to mind.
Lindell
Posts: 10553 | Location: Northeastern Ohio in the USA | Registered: November 19, 2002
It's a great feeling. Congratulations and you probably now have the "bug". You will be buying more and more tools and watches and pretty soon this few hundred dollar hobby will be a thousands of dollars hobby.
Posts: 1078 | Location: Ticonderoga, New York USA | Registered: March 01, 2008
Yes... thousands of dollars! By the way, do you have a spare bedroom or spare 200 square feet you can devote to your soon to be workbench and endless cabinets and drawers? I hope you don't have any 4 year olds running around loose.
Posts: 803 | Location: Knoxville, Tennessee in the USA | Registered: September 02, 2009
Yeah, this little 10 dollar eBay watch is now worth at least 500 dollars. Books, tools, parts.. I'd say this is a passion, not just a hobby. And now that I know I can do it, well, let's just say I've been trolling eBay again for movements, and went to the Container Store yesterday for storage stuff.
My second bedroom is my watch room. No kids, just cats. But they don't share my interest so I'm pretty safe in there.
Posts: 152 | Location: Miami, Florida in the USA | Registered: August 11, 2009
Congratulations Dale! I have only been doing this a short while as well, and everything everyone said is true! THe passion grows with every little 'heart beat" you bring back to life- after they have been asleep for so many years.
Posts: 46 | Location: Decatur, Michigan in the USA | Registered: August 01, 2009
Dale, Congratulations, it is always a rewarding sense of accomplishment when you are finally successful in any endeavor. Watch repair can be so satisfying and so frustrating, but it keeps your brain working, also, doesn't time fly past quickly when you're at your bench.
Posts: 1012 | Location: Western Pennsylvania in the USA | Registered: February 17, 2007
It's the fact that there is so much to learn that I like so much. Yes, it really does keep your brain going. And I love solving problems.
It's probably one of the most intellectually stimulating activities I have ever done. You can read, and read, and fix and read and never be done. I love that!
Posts: 152 | Location: Miami, Florida in the USA | Registered: August 11, 2009
