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  1. RockBurner

    RockBurner May 15, 2020

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    Does anyone on here do their own 'DIY' for minor servicing?

    I'm not talking about fully stripping an entire movement, I'm more than happy to leave that to the trained experts! But the more simple (albeit still delicate) tasks like battery swapping, time-keeping adjustments and possibly seal / crown replacing, which would hopefully mean I don't lose my watch(es) for months at a time just for a simple adjustment!

    If so - are there any decent tools or toolkits that a keen amateur should look for when wishing to do things like that? Obviously there's a slew of cheaply-mass-produced-in-China stuff on ebay, but I tend to like to work with 'proper' tools that are well made (for obvious reasons!)

    For reference, I'm a fair mechanic (motorcycles mainly), and have an engineering degree mounted on the wall, so I'm reasonably competent at understanding mechanisms and working on them (albeit at larger scales!)

    Sorry if this topic has been discussed before - I'll do more looking, but I haven't found much yet, I hope I'm not breaking some unspoken rule by suggesting this and insulting everyone!
     
  2. scooby-wrx

    scooby-wrx May 15, 2020

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    During the lockdown I bought a few Seiko's along with tools to mod them as I'm fascinated with the mechanical mechanisms etc and like the fact that Seiko parts are readily available so easy to customise.

    I started with a cheap set of tools off eBay (below) and they're exactly that.. Have not and would never use these tools on my Tag's etc. If you're serious, its well worth spending extra on a quality set of tools. I'm slowly building a new collection of Bergeon tools which are excellent quality Swiss made and I'd highly recommend this brand.

    We have a similar skill set. I'm a Mechanical Design Engineer and have rebuilt car's / bikes over the years which helps a lot. These parts a just a LOT smaller :eek:

    If you're going to start pulling your expensive watches apart I'd recommend using masking tap to prevent scratches and you should certainly invest in a good magnifier loupe (glasses are easiest). Look into buying an automatic Chinese watch off eBay for practice. I'm in the process of stripping one of these mechanisms down then I'll attempt to put it back together :eek:

    DSC02942.jpg
     
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  3. RockBurner

    RockBurner May 16, 2020

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    I'm tempted to buy one of the "job lots" of vintage movements that you see for sale cheaply on eBay to learn how they go together before doing anything to a Heuer!
    I've heard of the Bergeon products, apparently there's a lot of fakes around from China so I guess there's more research to be done there!
     
  4. Aquagraph

    Aquagraph May 16, 2020

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    I've changed a few batteries now, but that's as far as it goes for me. Only really because I have so many watches that it wasn't financially practical to pay someone £90 a go to change them. I think I've done 4 or 5 in the last 4 or 5 months, so I've saved myself about £400 already.
     
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  5. dtf

    dtf May 17, 2020

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  6. MarkMoss

    MarkMoss May 17, 2020

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    Definitely go with Bergeon, it’s what a lot of the pros use. I wouldn’t work on a movement though - on a tour of the TAG Heuer factory, we had a session on disassembling and reassembling a movement. Mine didn’t work properly once reassembled! To be fair though, they rushed us through that to be ready for the next group...
     
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