Watch repair Victoria
I’ve always appreciated a good leather strap. It’s that extra part of wearing a watch where we can take some creative licence and express ourselves. So I decided to flex my creative muscles and start making leather straps myself. Leather craft! What a world!!
What’s not to love about a good ole vintage alarm watch? In my opinion, this type of complication in a mechanical watch is one of the coolest there is. It’s also one of the most useful. I know how much I use the alarm on my cellphone but this alarm is a lot more fun. I enjoy interacting with my watches and this is why I like chronograph watches too. It not just a thing that we sit back and watch work, but it’s something we can program and engage with.
When it comes to servicing quartz movements, the most likely and cheapest route taken is to replace the movement. However, sometimes the parts for watches and movements are so rare and tough to find, that servicing is the only option. As was the case for this gorgeous Seiko Grand Quartz from the mid-seventies, the Seiko 4843A movement was not readily available and the need was there to take it apart and service.
I love to fix watches, especially for the people I love. This watch came to me for a restoration from my brother in law looking to gift it to his wife (my sister in law). He found this beauty while looking for a “Victoria” labeled vintage watch.
These watches always make me a little giddy. Gosh, I could never afford one, but being a watchmaker allows me the opportunity to play with these watches in a more intimate way then most of their owners do.
Maybe I’m biased, but I just love these watches. So well-made and the design is killer! This beauty came in for service and it was an absolute pleasure to work on.
Now this is a unique story in the world of watch repair. However, I feel that over the next few years, this type of anecdote may not be such a rare occurrence. The world of counterfeit and fake watches is a billion dollar a year industry, and it is positioning itself as a very real competitor for those established and historic watch brands. In some cases, such as this, the established brand shoots itself in the foot by producing a sub-quality product under an assumed standard and the counterfeiters have no choice but to out-perform.
This guy came across my bench with a mangled hairspring. I also found the impulse jewel to be broken off and missing. So I replaced the spring and fit a new jewel. Fitting the jewel was fun as I needed to shellac the jewel on the impulse plate. Always fun to use my staking set as well. Watching these old guys come back to life is very rewarding. The stories they could tell.
For the last 5 years, I have been honing my skills and absorbing all that is watchmaking, and over the past several months, I have taken on the task of building my own Watchmaking business. I know that the time is right for the birth of “The Dialed In Watchmaker”. This is an account of my experience thus far, starting my own workshop and watch repair business in an age of viruses and systemic societal disorders.
I often get asked by people, as a watchmaker, what watches do I collect and why. We all love to talk about our watches, so I thought I’d take this as an opportunity to go in depth and talk about the watches in my very own collection. I wanted to talk about these 10 watches, how I chose them and why they’re important to me. So sit back, grab a coffee and have a go. Click on the watch you’d like to read and about, and please, let me know what you think. Happy reading!
The Dialed In Watchmaker 