What kind of watches do you have?

[bcrdukes]

nuooooooooooooooooo

[68style]

So, I do not like Tag Heuer watches at all... just a personal preference, I feel a great sense of MEH whenever I see one.

But I do like this purple release... photos always gussy them up so much, perfect lighting and make colours look way deeper or more interesting than they really are, but if it's even remotely like that in real life it looks pretty sweet.

I have no idea who or what situation you would wear this colour in, but geez it's nice to look at.



https://www.tagheuer.com/ca/en/timep...19.FC6607.html

[immorality]

I missed out, but I probably would have bought this limited Mr.Jones watch.. "Feline fine"

[68style]

Mr Jones makes some pretty funny watches.

That said, I bought one for my gf and it's totally unusable as a watch hahaha

[SkinnyPupp]

Originally Posted by Badhobz

But being a gewilo in HK would help his credibility. Chinese people LOVES to see gewilo make/service stuff. They think its inherently better quality than if ching chong ling long makes it.

Youre right dukes, he might have a leg up on the competition.

GO FOR IT SKINNYY!!!!!

Just put on some of those round bottle cap glasses to make you look more german, grow a beard, and wear a leather apron and boom. you're a now a watch maker!

I was talking to my wife about this yesterday, and I might just do it. Her sister just moved out, so I can turn that room into a workshop.

[SkinnyPupp]

I've looked into the first steps of education, and there are a couple different levels one can take

-Learn from Youtubers. Free. This would be for hobby purposes only

-Learn from a tutorial site like watchfix or watchrepairtutorials.. These are be about $200-300 and by the end you'd be able to do basic maintenance on 3 handers and then you can go from there

-Distance education from a school like the British Horology Institute. Technician grade 1 year course is about $700, and you can then go there to take an exam to become accredited. They recommend in person lessons to prepare for this. This is the school in the video I posted above, and the technician grade covers the basics and more (for instance you make your own tools)

-In person education like WOSTEP in Switzerland. Tuition is about $20K for the first year service course, or $36K for 2 years watchmaking. I'd need to relocate to Switzerland, find room and board, etc. Unfortunately I failed at having rich parents, so this is kind of out of the question

-Brands have schools with free tuition (Rolex even pays an $1800 per month stipend). Richemont has a school in Hong Kong, I am looking into it (brb deleting all my Panerai shitposts). Obviously this gets you a job immediately as a technician. Rolex says the beginning salary is $70K.

They say no experience is necessary, but you would definitely want to be pretty adept at it before applying. In that case, one of the non accredited methods and a lot of practice may be the way to go. That is if you want to work for a brand rather than do it on your own. Either way, nobody is going to give you the ability to buy parts for yourself.

[sonick]

Got a local guy recommended to me who is gonna do a OEM 7S26 swap, new gaskets, and pressure tested for $200.

$280 if I wanted the nh36 but I would have to get an aftermarket crown. It's a screw down crown anyway so I probably wouldn't manually hand wind it much anyway.

[Badhobz]

Skinny if you become a real whoreologist (lawl) I’ll come to Hong Kong and get some custom pieces from ya

[SkinnyPupp]

Citizen did the 'retro plastic watch' thing like Swatch is doing, with the Bulova Snorkel



MSRP $350 though

Cheaper than the Blancpain I guess

[sonick]

lol Bulova isn't even expensive why would they even bother doing a cheapo release that costs as much as their normal watches

[SkinnyPupp]

Yeah part of the draw of the Swatch watches is being able to get a $10K watch that is "real" from the actual same manufacturer for $300 or whatever

Citizen is doing it the other way around, selling a $250 brand for $350

[rb]

One of my favorite watches that I've owned was the Bulova Lunar Pilot and even that was only $380. I've always liked the Devil Diver but you can pick up an original vintage one in decent condition for $400-$500

[SkinnyPupp]

How much would a plastic version of the Lunar Pilot be? $600?

I like it too, but not with a 60 minute timer

[SkinnyPupp]

After a lot of consideration, I have ordered a tall desk and good lamp from AliBaba. I ordered some cheaper stuff like air blower, parts case, oil caps, etc from AliExpress.

I wanted to go to a watchmaker shop to buy the necessary quality tools and oils today, aaaaaand... It's Chinese New Years. They'll be closed for like a week

Been watching a LOT of videos from the watch repair tutorials channel, and I have learned a lot, but when I am ready to get started I think I will go with watchfix's lessons. He tends to get to the point more quickly and clearly.

Once the tools arrive I'll start ripping apart this ST36 (Unitas 6497 clone) and put it together. Also going to order an ETA 2824 clone and a Seiko NH35 to get some more varied experience. Watchfix also has a class on chronographs once I am confident I can handle that.

From there I'll see where I want to go.. I am thinking of going straight to the BHI course, and in that case I will need to buy a lathe. After a year of study and training, I guess it'll be time to head to the UK to get certified, and go from there. Before that, I may look into subsidized training from a brand like Swatch, LVMH, Richemont or Rolex (Richemont has a school in Hong Kong). But I am worried they would only be interested in taking in young students to get the most years from them. That's just my assumption though; I don't know how it works IRL.

[Badhobz]

Sweet !!! If my Patrick watch ever goes star up, you can take a crack at it…. Or RB.

I’ve been wearing my Patrick watch everywhere and I’ve gotten 5 guys asking to buy it from me straight up and double what I paid for it.

[SkinnyPupp]

This is the first time in a long time that I've felt like I have a direction I actually want to go, and can see a path to get there

[rb]

Wishing you the best with that Skinny, I really do. Not gonna lie, I'm pretty damn lost in life at the moment but the one thing that calms my head is when i'm distracted working on a watch or searching for my next watch project.

I once sold a watch to a hipster Korean kid who told me he wanted to leave his life behind to change the world being a watchmaker. Thought he was downright insane as he was telling me this as he got in my car to inspect the watch The SOB actually went to Switzerland for a few yrs to train as a watchmaker

[rb]

If you were in Vancouver (or near Coquitlam), i'd let you either borrow some of my tools to get started or just give you some of my unused tools. Oh and some of those tools you ordered will totally get the job done and if they happen to break on you, dont throw them out. They can often be modified for other purposes.

[SkinnyPupp]

Originally Posted by rb

If you were in Vancouver (or near Coquitlam), i'd let you either borrow some of my tools to get started or just give you some of my unused tools. Oh and some of those tools you ordered will totally get the job done and if they happen to break on you, dont throw them out. They can often be modified for other purposes.

Appreciate it! I think right away I'll have what I need to service new movements, since no repairs will be needed. I will make sure the important tools are good quality - screwdrivers, tweezers, holder, loupe, etc. The prices here for genuine Bergeon and Horotec are insanely lower compared to online shops I've compared to, depending on the item.

But yeah, once I start messing around with old watches is when I guess I'd need specialized tools for jewel repair, staking, etc.

For the first bit I plan on servicing these movements over and over, and see how long it takes to feel competent with it.. The advice from both tutorial sites is different from the youtubers, and that is to do this instead of buying vintage movements, because you don't yet know how to make something work if something is wrong. If the schools in Switzerland have you working on a 6497 over and over at first, I think that's probably a good way to learn!

An idea for a first vintage project is to find an old pocketwatch with an actual Unitas 6497 in it, service that and stick it in my Panerai. (although I checked it with the timegrapher app yesterday, and it seems to be still doing well, within 2-5 spd in 3 positions, though the amplitude says 190)

I've found that if you search for 70's Swiss pocket watches you'll find a lot of them for $50-100, but if you search for the movement itself they will be pretty expensive

[SkinnyPupp]

I have been doing research in replica and clone movements, to see if they would give practical experience in genuine movements. I already posted about the Seagull ST3600 which is a legitimate clone of the expired patent ETA 6497. Same with the ST2130 which is an ETA 2824. Swiss companies make clones of this movement too, like the Sellita SW200. (don't forget that there are actual shitty clones of these though! Have to avoid those)

There's basically 2 or 3 rough categories of replica movements - repurposed off the shelf movements (usually an ST2130 clone) decorated to look like the brand it is in, or 'true clones' which are as close to 1:1 as possible and in some cases genuine parts can be swapped in. These are like the ones I mentioned above, but not legal since the patents are still active.

There are some Rolex movements that fall into this category, so that's another thing I can pick up for practice. Obviously the balance won't be 'free sprung' but if it's like 90% close, it should be practical

Then it occurred to me that there might be something in just being the 'replica service guy' for the more expensive reps. Most of these will come in the most shitty condition, poorly oiled and possibly with metal shavings in them if the movement is lazily decorated. The rep fans seem to be interested in finding someone who is 'rep friendly' to make their replicas work more like originals, but are too shy to bring them into a proper watchmaker.

There's a list of dudes doing this on reddit and their wait lists tend to be months long, with 3-4 services per week.. That would be a bout $50-70K a year of income if the work is steady. A good way to earn some money on the side while studying and practicing at the same time

Anyway there's my latest brainspill as I spent about 3 or 4 hours going down that rabbit hole

[rb]

A lot of the guys on reptime send their watches to get serviced right after recieving it. The DD3125 and 3235 being some of the most common movements for rolex reps. Some gen movement parts are a direct fit. About $150 for the movement on alix.

[SkinnyPupp]

Originally Posted by rb

A lot of the guys on reptime send their watches to get serviced right after recieving it. The DD3125 and 3235 being some of the most common movements for rolex reps. Some gen movement parts are a direct fit. About $150 for the movement on alix.

Yup and DD4130 for Daytona reps, for about $300

I still find it hard to believe that a clone chronograph could actually be somewhat reliable

I checked and there doesn't seem to be anyone serving Hong Kong or really anywhere in Asia, at least on the big English language forums.

There's probably a million people here doing it for like $50 a service

[rb]

Asian 7750s are straight trash though. It might help give you experience with real vj7750s though as they arent exactly reliable either.

[SkinnyPupp]

Originally Posted by rb

Asian 7750s are straight trash though. It might help give you experience with real vj7750s though as they arent exactly reliable either.

Most of the people I came across won't even touch those!