Can anyone give me advice from their personal experience on buying a decent quality timing machine.

Available budget about $350.

I would prefer a new one unless anyone has a good quality item for sale, bearing in mind that it will have to be shipped to the UK.

Any advice or offers would be gratefully accepted.

Thanks a lot, Mike

Last year I purchased a new Ace 1000, Chinese, timing machine. It has been trouble free and works good and has a small footprint on the bench. It gives the results in a horizontal position on the screen only. You have to remember paper machines give the printout in a vertical position. You must convert this in your head.
I have a generic book on what each mark means. Testing the unit before you COA it can tell you if you have a loose pallet stone and lots of other problems, even a loose pinion in a jewel. I paid + or - $100.00 for it. You can get them on E Bay.

Thanks for that Patrick. I've looked at them on Ebay and they seem to be around my price range.

I'm always a little concerned about buying from China due to the problems involved with returning it should there be any issues but glad you say you had good results with it.

As a rookie how do I actually get to grips with using it to identify all the aspects of watch timing. In the past chinese electronic equipment have been awful in the document area and very difficult to understand.

What was the book you said you had and do you know if it's still available.

Thanks for your help, Mike

The machine comes with NO documentation at all. The print outs on the screen are the same as any vertical tape machine. If you stood the Ace 1000 on end you would see the same reading. Just to keep the footprint small they built it horizontally. The book I have that describes the generic tape readings is "Science of Watch Repairing, Simplified" by Thisell. The only place I could get a copy was the Harvard book store. Copyright 1944. Harvard University acted like it was the last copy on the planet.
At one point I called the manufactures phone number, but I don't speak Chinglish, so I hung up.
As the old machines keep or give you a tape record this is a display only. No printed materials.
Billy Kuhn (The Clown) has a paper machine for sale but finding the tape may be a problem.
I looked at paper machines and wondered where would a person fine parts for it, especially vacuum tubes, let alone paper. Where would you find Ink? If it quits who can fix it?
There are digital machines that do print but you need to have your money up front. I just take a picture of the read out and use that to show what's happening.

Thanks again Patrick your advice is very useful.

I have found quite a good explanation in theDonald de Carle book so I think I can go ahead and get one.

I have found a site in the US which is by far the cheapest and even with the postage it still looks good.

It is the Ace which you have and I think that I would have more luck should anything go wrong dealing with them than trying to deal with a company in China.

They all come from China anyway but I would be happier deal with a US based company.

Thanks for your reply.

I got my Chinese machine, I believe it was in San Francisco. You don't need the same book I have. Any of the readouts will be the same if you hold them in a landscape position.
I would be willing to email you results. deCarle has printings too plus you can find them in a lot of books.

Thanks for the advice Patrick.

Hi Patrick, your advice about the Thissel book was spot on.
I got a copy through Abe Books which came from the Netherlands and looks as though it has never been opened. It inly cost me $10
The general writing is very old fashioned as it is 72 years old but the explanations are very good and aimed at the novice with no formal horological background.
Simple explanations for every aspect of the timing machine output.
Fantastic and thanks again.
All the best, Mike