TOOLS TO START WATCH MAKING + MODIFYING - Beginner Watch Tools

[Music] hey guys so today I thought we'd take a look at my watch making / modifying tools this has been one of the most requested videos that I've been getting recently there is a lot of stuff I know when I first started off modifying watches I wanted to know what most people had and there's something entertaining for me to watch so hopefully you find this video entertaining as well so I keep everything in the small drawers here it's just something I had around the house and it makes it really convenient to have everything put in specific location so I know where they are at an instant now there is some reasoning behind what seems like random tools and random compartments as long as I know where it is I think that's what matters so in no particular order let's start off with some of the miscellaneous stuff first off it's really important to get some good lighting and to get a clean workbench for you to work on these movements you don't want any dust or fragments particles getting into your movement and potentially causing damage to them so I use my desk lamp it's pretty wide it's pretty bright so it gets into every little nook and cranny of the movements as from our workbench I don't have a dedicated work mat per se I know version does make those and I do recommend you get one they aren't that expensive and I think they're a worthy investment however what I use I had it again around in the house which is a very common theme in this video I'm trying to use the resources that I had around before investing in anything I use these soft mattes and these are lint-free so that means there won't be any dust in the pieces that I'm working with when they're light down here other important things especially would be those finger condoms or what I like to use is these gloves now use these gloves for lab work anyways so I had them around and they were just fine so gloves are important because they keep fingerprints off movement without and your parts you don't want your handles to get on those parts because first off they will leave some fingerprints on the dial and the inside components which isn't pleasant to look at and they can potentially cause we're over time if left there these are just some powder free examination gloves okay so let's start off with this bottom corner here these are where I keep most of my case back Nouveau tools I first started off with this thing it is a two point case back remover it worked well but I felt like I need this upgraded because moving the case back is really the most important things of watch modifying you don't want to scratch the case back when moving it so I invested in a different case of remover not that much expensive it is a three point case bag remover which it was much more secure when you're moving the case backs since you have three points of contact that means you have less room for slippage and scratching the case back that this tool does have moves with blitz these parts come out and it came with an assortment of different sized bits that will fit many types of case bags this one isn't that expensive you can get it for a few bucks on eBay next to something that many people have this cheap little case back remover it's basically a dull knife like a butter knife I guess just a little bit grinded now work but not sharp at all it will not cut anything these your common sets when you buy those cheap watch repair kits off of ebay but I do recommend you invest in a good one as well lastly this one is a scraper sash pry tool what I use this primarily for is to remove bezels rotating bezels on divers it is sturdy enough yet thin enough to get in between the bezel and the case we need to pry it off thus it has a big handle which is always a good plus because you get a bigger leverage when try and pry off those bezels again not sharp but sturdy enough also from eBay move on to the next compartment right here so these are really old tools that I had around the house again these are some of those cheap cheap screwdrivers that come in those clear plastic cases I'm pretty sure everybody knows what these are these are not good at all I wouldn't recommend them but I bet have them so I try to find some use out of them they do have the rotating top which is pretty good for when you are trying to unscrew things because you get a firm steady grip here while you rotate the tool so you don't slip and I wanted it for these screwdrivers is I filed it down really for me so at the top is a really paper thing so I can use these for more delicate paths where I'm not necessarily unscrewing for more prying I guess to get into small holes or small openings next to all just a brass tweezer it won't scratch anything or stainless steel for that case which is very important when you're lifting up and moving around screws toothpicks toothpicks are very important to me these are just like poking tools or lifting tools or stuff to move around like adjusting the hands when I'm inserting them these are wood obviously they won't scratch anything better touches in this is a receiver I keep my spring bar tools two of them I like the orange one little sharper a little bit more stronger and there's cheap what I have so those I do recommend you get the version ones though those are really good investments not too expensive but you are getting the highest quality spring board tool I just happen to be fine using these and lastly I keep some rod going here just some easy access vertical ro/di see Oh radical is cleaning pretty for picking on little particles off of diodes to pick up ball chances have a lot of functions whatever you can think of also from eBay very cheap let's move on to you so these are a little bit more of the toys that I like so they're all packaged I don't want them to get damaged these are an ellipse I have a tutorial on how to move hands and these are what I used again cheap from eBay but they work great something to go along with this tool here or a little plastic sheets here and with these substitute or the dial protectors that version make you just put this on top will be hands on the doll while you use this tool here so that you don't scratch the doll when you're pushing on it to lift up the hands so these are see okay so these are again those cheap screwdrivers but these are grounded really thinly by me I got a grinding stone and I filed them down pretty pretty thin and what these are for is kind of like levers but not necessary for hands or for those little seat clips that go around the can opinion I'm sure some of you know what I'm talking about it holds the date wheel in place and that you need something really thin to get underneath that without damaging it because it's pretty thin so you cease to get underneath it and just lift it up lastly bees or non-users which are also used to move hands so you can have either these or this doesn't matter which one both work great you really get underneath the hands lift it up very easy very intuitive again I use these plastic sheets to protect the dowel and using these I also did follow these down a little bit smoother so that they are perfectly smooth I don't want any bumps on these especially when they're sliding across that dial because I don't want scratches to happen and he's also got foul to be super super thin which helps they only need all the hands easier then got it off of ebay as well and that's a lot of thing about these tools is I really modify the tools to make them a little bit better than what they would be stuck you trust me after you get into this stuff for a while you'll be making your own tours like they serve different purposes that you find necessary okay so the next compartment will be my nicer screwdrivers so these are precision screwdrivers I'm gonna like about these is that they have replaceable blades they run from I believe in 1.6 to 0.8 I don't remember offhand but these are great you can move the blades here with the screw right there so in case they kept all we can place them but you should really know how to sharpen your screwdrivers you have color-coded markers so you know which size they are again rotating tops for that purpose when you hold the screwdriver goes on your palm rabbit your fingers get a nice nice accuracy there and then I got this off of ebay as well so something that's really expensive in watchmaking or screwdrivers and I was the best thing in what I was looking to invest in some nice screwdrivers I was looking at reversion ones they are quite expensive and considering what I'm doing I'm not really servicing movements so I didn't find it necessary right now at this time to invest in some hundred dollar set of screwdrivers but in the future definitely something I'll have to look into but these require something I forgot to mention is the reason why these screwdrivers are better than those other ones again you can place the bait shop on both these are hardened steel so they will last a lot longer and they won't ship your screws as easily and if you look at the tips here you want those to be as straight as possible also these tops here they're not really coming to a point like that they're kind of squared off at the tip and what that does is allows you to really fill up all the space in that screw in your unscrewing it because if you have a little bit of wiggle room that can damage the screw so these are usually boxed tops a police or a screw drivers which are more poignant like that and then the more you pay the better quality of tools you get but these work just fine for me right now let's move up here so this whole compartment here is dedicated to one set of tools comes in this nice box here these are my tweezers which are very important watchmaking when you're getting tweezers you want anti-magnetic precision tweezers I'm timing that it because you don't want your screws to be sticking on to your tweezers when you're trying to put them on to place before screwing them in they'll just stick onto the tool and you won't ever be able to get them all I like these because you have different sizes they have different size tips or different shaped tips rather if you look at one of these here you can see how superfine they are [Music] now these are great I really like these something that you really want to be looking out for is when your tweezers close you want to make sure that both ends are closing up on each other perfectly and these little rubber to share protect the tips is always good these for all I need I don't really need that many okay so let's move on here these are where I keep my holders and I just like to keep my hand press here so I feature this in many videos so hand for us that's how you install the hands comes with this little bit here with different types of diet tips to accommodate different sized hands just push down together then not the best quality but if you are very careful with this and you don't take your time it will serve its purpose well I put this little padding here because there's nothing protecting the movement in the metal base and I don't want to scratch the movement so I keep this as a set like that I tape the tops here because these things go flying everywhere so there's this rule this one is from eBay also bring up this relatively cheaply something I do want to get all those Persian hand tools as I got more into hand setting I don't feel like I use this entire tool as much I feel like though I know that I use this tool the most I don't use this anymore I trust my hands to be steady enough and flat enough to get those hands pressed in perfectly aligned so something I'm looking to get in the future yeah this is great for when you're starting so here are my folders this is my case order and this is very cheap it's one of the most common tools I can get but the reason why I like this one is more expensive ones is because these holders or this whole thing in general where the case touches this tool is plastic plastic will not scratch your metal cases which is something I like some works well these just come off you can put them in different locations to accommodate different size cases and screw in out to tighten it to be smaller or loosen it to make it bigger now this works in conjunction with the case left mover I usually rotate the case holder or points to the tool just easier to grip the more grip you can get on that case when you're moving the case back the better especially for those sacral cases where it's nearly impossible to get those screw on case backs off trust me two dollars unlike five dollars here seven dollars will save your life and lastly I have my movement holders this one is again very cheap from ebay but they work well this one is for wristwatches usually fits all the movements that I work on here and then this one is a small one usually for ladies watches or vintage pieces actually citizen also comes in very handy so you want movement holders when you're working on the movement because you don't want it like moving around and such and I don't really like these too much again because they are metal and you can scratch the movements they're not put on tightly and if you do screw them on too tightly you can scratch them so maybe I'll invest in some plastic ones or high-quality nylon ones in the future but for now these work fine so in this compartment here I usually keep my cutting tools and my head loop here this one is something very cheap again off of even this one is like a 15 X I believe I usually have this on whenever I'm working on anything it usually works for most cases hasn't found a situation where these weren't useful at all I don't uses led here I can take it off just been too lazy to get out but this one raps on your head which is very nice because it allows your hands to work on the movement so definitely a good investment here like two three dollars the best to do dollars you could spend trust me especially when you're putting on hands these are so useful and some other cutting tools this one is my Spyderco ambitious I was really into knives and this is the one that stayed in the collection this there we go listen what state maybe I'll talk about my knives in the future video I had stuff from Frank Fisher Lee Williams had wreck spirits and you know that's just old stuff a lot of salami stuff these really come useful especially when I need to crack open a bottle when I'm stressed out from watchmaking always fun times here just kidding so in this top drawer we have some more tools okay so these are mostly crystal tools and bracelet tools I do keep this little jewels appear very useful this tool here I think is one of the coolest stores personally I don't you so much is usually for vintage pieces this one is a crystal lift what this does is you unscrew it you can see how it widens up at the base you grab these from inside the crystal tighten it easier for like plastic acrylic crystals and by tightening it you ever so slightly decreases comfort Smith for it to pop off of the case and this through here is to put back the crystals you would put the crystal on here have you nuts and that a little bit of space between the plastic and that little easier that's enough space for that crystal to fit into the case little crystals here you use tool tighten it lift it up cutter then unscrew it that's all to it this one is also from ebay I think a few bucks usually for vintage pieces is what it uses for photos I'm old old watches were it had a solid case and the only way to get the moving out is through the front the next rule is my bracelet sizing can I guess this one is to put your bracelets and I'm sure a lot of people see this becomes it the watchmakers hammer and these little bits here it gets into those pins and then you just hammer it comes out very self intuitive and these things here or different dies for the crystal purse this is the crystal press comes with different sized dies for you to pop in and out emphasize crystals obviously these go into the base here and also screws on the top then accommodates different sized crystals then just pop it out and squeeze it back in this one works fine if I was changing Christmas more often I would invest in those a screw type of press because it would guarantee a even push throughout the whole time always do this thing where I have to like manually push it down but it works fine cause for me be pretty cheap does a job as long as you're careful this tool will serve its purpose great and the final drawer here I keep some my Dremel stuff so my polishing wheels my sanding drums the dremel tool I was a key polishing compounds in your extra compound I use all of this I keep a toothbrush to brush my teeth while modifying the watches you know these are for cleaning off the watch case back for any debris if it has gotten dirty while modifying it it's soft enough so that it won't scratch anything in post work so I also keep in touch with duct tape it's to protect the case back when I'm unscrewing it in case the sip some blades in here exacto blades and a whole bunch of these little cases here and you may be wondering what these are for these are for watch parts so these are like aftermarket dolls these are all from the gasps these are where I get my Seiko part the gasps watch parts please good you will find it this is one of the most asked questions I get from the gasps the AAA azy on Google and I like these increases because I get to put my pieces in there whoo when I'm working on them or if I need somewhere to store them I do have a movement in here somewhere and a bunch of hands and thous in here also keep little empty case here again for storing a highly movement in here an inch thirty-six and my extra crowns and stems okay so I keep a few more things on a top portion here the case here is my movement case water I just got a ap so from here and I attached a leather pad here you can get the movement cushions but I again found a way to make my own and it's a bit bigger so I have much more room to work with and I use this little plastic thing here too of a movement so dust doesn't get on it next microfiber cloth always useful to get those dust and fingerprints off a foam padding or useful for many purposes whether it's to put on my workbench so I can put my tools here so didn't get scratched on the desk or anything that or just give extra parts here this thing is so useful dust blower best investment ever last year's the Dremel for this one just a little simple one very cheap I do want to get a better one this one was just more affordable at the time but I've come to realize that I need something with a little bit more power something that doesn't run on batteries because this thing kills batteries I have to replace four batteries every single time I use it basically in this little sack here I keep a lot of like goo and chemicals chemical face stuff I guess I have some more radical you can never have enough radical so here it is in case you want to know the exact because of it it comes in a big chunk here this will last you forever plastic sheets I have some rubber gaskets always used for spring bars and never have enough spring bars my shorting low oh this thing is a lifesaver every single watching busiest should have this high watch which is basically a very fine abrasive we to dispatches out from relic crystals eBay Amazon highly recommend this stuff this thing is a lifesaver I have this gel hypo cement or like what this is sometimes crystals are glued on sometimes you just need some contact cement and this stuff looks great I really like this one because it has a super fine tip here sorry about that that's a very very nice fine tip so you can really get in there and make sure you use a accurate amount lastly crazy way you know how to when you use this but you know have it just in case and the real last thing here some batteries for Chris watches these are some of the most common ones so I just have a bunch of extra ones just the case so yeah that's pretty much all the tools that I use for watch making such modifying a very big team and this is to keep things as an expensive as possible right now because I got into watch making or modifying and I would say only a few months ago and I really learned a lot by using these more affordable tools the thing with affordable tools versus more expensive tools is that yes in the long run it is more valuable to have the expensive tools they are more precisely made they'll be easier to use and they'll have less of a risk of damaging or being broken and whatnot but I feel like when you're getting into watch making you really want to develop a sense of like hand carnation and skills and using these cheaper more affordable tools here it kind of forces you to be more careful and to really know what you're doing you get those skills that you got from the cheaper tools and if you then later upgrade into more expensive tools you'll just be a much more skilled watchmaker sash modifier in my opinion watchmaking tools are very expensive there's so many out there this is just a few that I found necessary for what I need of course there are many that I want I want to upgrade almost everything here I want to give version tools I want to get Swiss tech tools I want to get a bunch of things and a more expensive high-quality filming my life much easier and enjoyable but the thing about this is I just wanted to get into it and that's something that a lot of people I've known as struggle with is they want to get into it but they don't know where to start they don't want to drop a couple of hundred dollars even a thousand dollars on watch tours just get what you can afford get accustomed to the tools make your own tools if you need them develop the hand skills and slowly upgrade your tools like start off with cheaper tools these screwdrivers not that expensive so I hope you enjoyed this video if you did please make sure to like this video and I invite you to subscribe to the channel if you haven't already I'll be posting a lot more content where there involves watchmaking watchmaking tips reviews unboxings tutorials rants etc etc so we are almost like 2000 subscribers which are entirely grateful to you guys thank you so much once you reach 2,000 subscribers I'll be doing a giveaway for you guys so make sure you stay tuned for that also make sure to follow me on instagram i'll post some cool shots updates about the channel and just random watch point that everybody loves looking at it is at room on the score shot and that's about it thank you so much for watching hope you enjoy this and have a nice a

Channel: Lume Shot

Views: 62,430

Keywords: watch making, watch tools, watch making tools, my watch making tools, my watch tools, watch modifying, watch mod, parts, seiko parts, seiko mod, seiko, rolex, omega, skx mod, snk mod, lumeshot

Id: Ha-Kd1oTnsc

Length: 28min 43sec (1723 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 23 2018