A warning though, if you consider to get into that hobby. I tried, it's really hard, expensive (I spend close to €1k and that is with b-quality stuff. Good stuff is 5-10x more expensive.) and can be rather frustrating. Finding parts to buy can be complicated depending on your locale, loosing parts is very easy and destroying parts, even when gentle and careful is par for the course.
I hat to put my repair hobby on halt after running out of practice pieces. All now have broken or missing parts. your milage may vary ofcourse :)
> A warning though, if you consider to get into that hobby. I tried, it's really hard, expensive
Wrist watches are pretty hard and expensive. Pocket watches are less so. When I was interested in getting more intimate with watch repair, I went to eBay and bought up a whole bunch of old pocket watch movements. I've got about 150 of them in various condition, most of them Waltham (easy to get, inexpensive, and I happen to have spent the first 25 years of my life spending a lot of time in the old Waltham Watch Co factory building because my father's company leased out space in it).
Basic tools aren't too bad, just a nice set of tweezers, screwdrivers, and a good magnifier is enough to do a lot of repairs. But you can fall down the rabbit hole pretty quickly with the desire for increased quality tools and things like a staking set so you can replace balance wheel arbors.
I tried to move from the pocket watches into wrist watches, and while the technology is largely the same, the reduced size and increased complexity made it less enjoyable for me. Instead I ended up moving the other direction and now have a nice collection of 18th and 19th century 30-hour and 8-day clocks (more commonly known as "grandfather clocks").
Huh, I recently got into it and, as is my way, I did things on the cheap. All told, including tools and practice movements (and a couple inexpensive whole watches I restored) I'm in for maybe $100.
Here's a tip on buying watches to repair or restore - avoid the big brands at first. Many watches use the same or similar movements (ETA is a big one, but you'll find Seiko movements hiding in watches from the 60s and 70s, too).
eBay is your friend (don't fall for too-good-to-be-true items from India or Pakistan)
Hang out on watchrepairtalk.com and/or watchcrunch.com and ask lots of questions. It's a very friendly community.
When I saw this, the first thing I did was Ctrl + F to see if anyone else dropped Marshall's link. I have no desire to do it myself, but it's so satisfying to watch him repair them. His videos are great.
If you wouldn’t mind answering a question, how difficult is it to swap a dial/handset/movement set into a different case?
I saw a custom mod watch that paired the face/movement of a Marathon navigator with an O&W diver case*. Is a combination I find desirable (as the Marathon bezel is too chunky for my use), but the maker won’t respond to emails.
Is it possible that the combination could be “ drop in” or is it likely to require significant modification?
That really depends on the sizes, if the face and movement are the same size I expect it should be easy enough. You will need some tools and fine motor skill, but no where near as much as you need when taking apart a movement.
Looking at the two watches you mention, the navigator has a Quartz Harley Ronda 373 movement and the diver has a ETA 2824-2 movement. The 373 I can't find the specs for, but from an ebay auction it seems to be a 11½’’’ diameter. The 2824-2 is the same diameter. However, all 11½’’’ ronda quartz movements I can find are 3mm thick where the 2824 is 4.6mm. So what I'd expect is that it will fit, but you might not be able to secure it properly. It really depends on how the movement is held in place. Perhaps you can fabricate/3d-print a spacer for that.
Another consideration is the lug stem, that might not be the right size. To long is solveable, to short means buying a replacement. I am also not sure wether the stems can have a different thickness, to thin and it wont be waterproof, to thick just won't fit.
You could probably try without destroying anything (no guarantees ;)), you are not really touching any of the fragile & tiny parts. But you will atleast need tool(s) to open the cases, they might be different, and a tiny screwdriver to release the lug. And I wouldn't count on it remaining waterproof, not sure.
Thank you for the detailed response! It’s the sort of project I find intriguing, so I’ll have to do a little more digging. May end up being beyond me though.
Edit: I see that Marathon does make several watches with the 2824 (which would presumably simplify the process).
Depends. The ETA-2824 is a fairly common movement with inexpensive Chinese clones, so dials and hands are reasonably cheap and common. If the target case also uses the same ETA movement then it’s simple: Unscrew the back, remove the crown stem, drop the movement. Assembly is the reverse of removal.
Where it gets tricky is if the target doesn’t use the same movement. In that case, I’d just buy an AliExpress watch with the same dial size and an ETA clone movement. Otherwise you have to ensure your target is the correct size and you’ll probably need to 3D print a movement holder.
I was able to get into this with a $60 set of screwdrivers, a $20 crappy movement from eBay, and another $20 toolkit of random watch repair stuff that wasn't really necessary. And maybe like $20 of lube. I would never attempt to service something I wear/use, but for the $20 crap movement off eBay there's no harm no foul.
I probably already went overboard a bit when staring out. My cost where mostly in a stereo microscope and the consumables (mobius oils, cleaning liquids). Oh and maybe I didn't need a timegrapher before having a functional movement haha
Also, almost everything I had to import in to the EU. Importing chemicals is expensive for some reason I discovered. UPS charged me like 3 times the usual amount.
There is a lot of advice that says 'don't cheap out, just buy good stuff'; which is great if you are going to make this really your hobby for years to come. But I feel starting with some cheap tools on a junk movement is a fine start.
To those interested in becomming a Watchmaker I can offer this:
1. The school route is great, but after the two year program you still won't get a parts account from anyone. You will have no problem finding a job though.
2. Self-taught. It will take awhile, but it's a rewarding hobby/career.
Every budding Watchmaker should have books. Books by DeCarle, Fried, and Daniels are great.
There are old correspondence courses that are good to. Try to get Chicago School of Watch Repair, and Bulova School of Watch Repair. Hunt around for the best price.
The quality of internet videos on the internet are spectacular. You are lucky to have them. When I started their was only one guy who taught Watch Repair.
Tools:
#2, #5 Dumont tweezers. (any tweezers will do, even the cheap ones.)
Watch back removal tools. You will need various types, including Rolex, and universal tools.
small ultrasonic bath to clean parts. A mason jar filled with cleaning fluid, and rinse will suffice to hobbiests though.
oils. Moebius are recommended, but expensive. Personally I think they are overpriced.
Presto #1,#2 hand removers.
some Radico.
A mainspring tool. These can get pricy. Look for a old set of Marshall mainspring removal tools.
Decide if you want to work with a loupe, or a 10-40x stereoscope.
a band remover.
A staking set. (Look around. No need to spend more than $250.00
A jewelers lathe, mill, etc. come way later. The biggest mistake newbies make is buying every tool they thing they might need. Then again you wealthy boys can go crazy.
Too tired to go on, but I'm in the Bay Area under "I buy Watchmaker, jeweler, amd some Machinist's estates. I'm gearing up to do repairs. I hope to have a website soon. I'm thinking about teaching, but not sure if there's a market for it.
If mechanical watches tickle your fancy, there is a ton of watch repair video on YT. I particularly enjoy wristwatch revival (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCD80T1s2Za4K682CQDGwEKQ).
A warning though, if you consider to get into that hobby. I tried, it's really hard, expensive (I spend close to €1k and that is with b-quality stuff. Good stuff is 5-10x more expensive.) and can be rather frustrating. Finding parts to buy can be complicated depending on your locale, loosing parts is very easy and destroying parts, even when gentle and careful is par for the course.
I hat to put my repair hobby on halt after running out of practice pieces. All now have broken or missing parts. your milage may vary ofcourse :)