Watch and Watchmaking Tools: The Basics

I'm Brian this is watch complications thanks for joining me this is an entry in my making custom watches series so I hope you enjoy it that was asked a few weeks ago if I would go over some of the tools that I use in my making of custom watches so I'm gonna do that and in fact since now we're gonna talk about all these different tools I'll put a few links I'm not gonna link to everything individually that I talk about in terms of the tools that i generally use to do my work but i'll put some sort of maybe top-level domain information for some of the sites that i use more commonly so you'll find some links and things in the description below so be sure to check that out if you haven't subscribed why not what's keeping you from it do it it's the right thing to do and you can also follow me on instagram at washington sewer complications but importantly just check out the blog watch complications comment okay I am NOT gonna take forever to go through all these tools but I'm gonna give you the main ones you would need to work with when making custom watches let's talk about some aesthetics first so you've seen that the best clamps I have so you need some sort of good LED lamps again I'll put links to those in the description a buy a lot of this sort of other stuff off Amazon what I have underneath of this whole setup is I have a large cork board actually that I bought this is something you'd usually hang on the wall but you know I like the feel of cork you can poke things into it and then I have this pad on top of it and this is you know you can get you know inexpensive version pad usually these are green because they help with your eyes and stuff this is a sort of semi cushion pad meant for like the bottom of a shelf but I found these really nice to have underneath of my you know work that I'm doing so that's one thing another thing is you're gonna work on watches you need patience music and time and what I mean by time is large chunks of time with which to tinker and play and experiment and those sort of things but again patience and music who doesn't love working with some nice relaxing music in the background come on peg for me usually that's jazz anyway if you're going to open or close a watch case you need a case tool lots of these different out there this is just a sort of a lowering one it does matter quality of tools you can buy you know a cheap set of screwdrivers for example because a craftsman know low-cost setup is like seven bucks of some small screwdrivers but that's a whole different ballgame when you want to talk about quality it's one thing I've noticed as I got into this as a hobby initially but now is much more is that you really don't want to skimp on tools buy the right tools for the job and yeah many times it is worth going for that higher and higher costs you know swiss-made tool for this work if you're gonna be doing it a lot if you're just if you're just playing around and it truly is a hobby then fine go with the cheap stuff but if you want to do the work well the right tools and the right brands will help you okay so first need a case tool these tips unscrew from here and you can put different tips some around sum of squares some are you know different shapes depending on the case that you're trying to open distances being different depending on the case so case tool screwdriver set I just showed you that this is the one this is the version 59 70 and this has all the different sizes you know color coded it's wonderful again you can go with low end screwdriver set but you know what this has been one of the best many investments I've ever made in making custom watches you've got the sizes these are durable these things are gonna last they come with other tips it's a nice rotating carousel yeah you need something like that if you want to get into custom watches the saving grace of the watch world Radek oh so they say green that makes you think of like silly putty almost but a little bit more robust than that obviously but this is for anything from picking up lint - absorbing oil to helping you clean out the inside or the outside of cases I mean this is holding stuff like a hand while it's drying after looming it this is for everything you need to have this in your box dial holder these things are awesome this is sort of just a cheap holder but that's all you really need here's what it is this is because dial feet on the back of dials depending on what you're working with are in all sorts of locations you can see the two dial feet they're so different dials they're all over the place depending on movement they're meant for and this kind of gives you all sorts of combinations obviously hold about any dial some dials now like on these are a little bit too big to go into the holes on this particular one so you might need you know something else to hold certain dials still but these are great for working on most watches so a dial holder and sort of also along that line I've got stuff on this right now these are some of those cushions spacer rings this is a dial slash watch cushion this sort of has a nonstick pad on the bottom and you can you can expensive ones of these you can buy cheaper ones this is a cheaper one it's kind of got a faux leather on it but it's a slightly cushioned surface for which you can put you know dials or movements or other parts and things on temporarily or while you're working on them a little bit so a pad like that is nice to have around movement holders these come in sort of all sorts of you know shapes and sizes things are made for specific movements like this is meant to hold something that's in the ETA 2800 or the solidity to hundred series and then you've got sort of other again sort of higher and higher cost versions this is this is a Bergeron forty forty P either side will hold different types of movements because these are cut certain ways certain angles to hold different types of movements these course get larger and smaller as you turn that so there's movement holders like that I've got another sort of lower-cost ones in terms for different ways to hold different types of movements and then you might see some really cheaper ones like this a little bit bigger but you can move you know these tips around these are you know with a softer not too harsh on dials and you know parts and stuff like that so these sort of clamp style or round ones like this are nice to have and then you might see their holders like this too that are just sort of concave circles of different sizes so that the movement will kind of sit down in there and you can put pressure on it and work on it and stuff like that and different sizes for different movements so it's like a set of twelve so yeah there's all kinds of dial and movement holders out there again it's sort of useful to have an array of those if you can be working on watches you need a nice tweezer set different shapes these are the two most used I have these two particular designs you know when it comes to twist it you can buy all kinds of tweezers and stuff but you know what there's lots of tweezers for the fashion industry that work just as well just want to buy a good set you don't have to be you know magnetized or anything but just get yourself a nice tweezer said don't get by with just one pair of tweezers you need you need some variety it's all about having a variety so you can you know respond to various situations you can buy sets that are less likely to get magnetized or so many electronic fills around like right now I've got my phone sitting above this workbench if you set your mechanical watch on a mobile phone it's gonna get magnetized in which case you need a demagnetizer so if for example tweezers sometimes get magnetized you plug this thing in you hold down the button it's got magnets and stuff in there basically you push this against the surface and then you kind of slowly remove it it will of course mix up the magnetic field and demagnetize this you sometimes have to demagnetize watches so if you're gonna have tweezers and if you're gonna be working mechanical watches having a demagnetizer is another essential tool to kind of have a round sometimes people's watches are way off all it is is it's got magnetized it's got set on a computer or it's been around a phone a little bit too closely for too long and all you had to do is demagnetize it and it'll work again just fine those hair Springs are easy to magnetize all right hand pusher you see me use this in some different videos maybe if you watch some of my other you know videos different tips these things pop in and now this has been a really useful tool this is not one of the more expensive one but there's locations in here to hold on to these I put them inside of an old movement case but this pushes down basically you'll have your movement on a movement holder underneath of this you get the hands on there the pens with Radha Coe or tweezers and then once you have it down you push the hands on so having a hand pusher like that is sort of essential I also like using these on these bigger watch movements like this just a hand pusher that's using your hand not just a stand is also useful of course these come in different sizes depending on what the hands are this is meant for the 64 97 98 series so its size 1.5 on one end and two on the other so two different sizes and there's a whole you can get the whole set of this another company that makes this sort of lower cost but still reasonable quality horotec the other hand pusher was also there tech version not the Bergeron version so different types of hand pushers out there need those also sort of in that hand tool category our removers so these are tools that you would use to remove the hands from a watch obviously you want to protect the dial so you might have a dial protector like this you slide between the hands and the dial at rest and then you can use these little levers you can see how they're kind of curved up so as not to you know distress the dial in any particular sharp way but these will go underneath the hands and then you leverage up and a hands pop right off here's another type of hand removal tool so this little post moves so you push that down and then as you pull on the hands it pulls them up I don't like these that much they're kind of almost gimmicky to a certain extent and these have the potential for damaging a little bit more than some of the other methods you can see there's the gaps there and pulls them up so that's another style but not a particularly huge fan of that one so hand removers and pushers dial protector other types of tools you need pegwood is useful you see me use toothpicks sometimes and videos as well but this is just non abrasive so if you're you know helping slide things around move things around this won't scratch unless you push really hard I guess you can also put things on it use ratico in combination with this to hold things but peg wood is a common tool you'll find on a watchmakers bench exacto knife for when you need to cut things very finely I use this to do things like cutting the adhesive paper around my logos and again sort of sliding underneath of something if I need to very carefully I use it to help with fine trimming on my 3d printed parts like these cushions spacer rings if I need to clean up things on them so having an exacto knife around it it's fun finger cuts sometimes people complain to me because what I'm taking with prototypes I don't wear finger cuts all the time particularly for what I'm showing you but when I'm working on you know really important stuff or things that I really care about high-end stuff for clients I will put finger cuts on I also use just full-on gloves sometimes also so having some sort of hand protection human oils on watch parts is a bad thing things will start to corrode quicker over time if if you have a human oil from those nasty sweaty hands of yours on watch parts anything metal really so some sort of finger slash hand protection is essential there I said it it's essential for working on watches having a time Grapher you want to know what the amplitude is be there you know what the beat rate is of your watch you want to see if you're gaining losing how many seconds a day you need a time graphic you can see I bought mine from Otto Frye that's one of the main places I buy watch parts for different projects that and Esslinger are the sorta two men in the US the two main sort of distributors for some random watch parts use other things like eBay all these the tools you can also find on Amazon that sort of stuff you need an air blower I'm gonna call it that there's a formal name for it but I just call it a air blower so this is really when you want to clean things you've seen me use it basically to blow lint and debris away from a movement or off a dial basically to clean and keep your workspace clean so you need one of these calipers you gotta have calipers you want to measure things you can buy a nice digital set for not that much money and these things are necessary of course you gonna have things in millimeters in terms of working on watches but you want to do things like measuring to cut a stem you want to see what the lug width is on something so many things you need to measure and do if you are making custom stuff which of course I do on a regular basis and a nice set of digital calipers isn't necessary of course it's got the depth on this side this is what you use all the time god I gotta have a set god I got it and again I am sitting we turn it off and walk it down so calipers those things are necessary for measuring all these small little things you also need a stem cutter if you're gonna be making watches nice hardened steel no most other types of metal cutters aren't going to be that great for it these are specifically designed for cutting watch stems so some sort of stem cutter because when you buy random movements you know off-the-shelf depending on the case a lot of times the stems are longer than what you need for a watch and you're gonna need to cut it that's just the reality i magnification i'll put the links to some of this stuff like I said in anything but you've not seen me wear this but this is my favorite sort of magnification headband there are different lenses that pop in and off at the end of this this has an LED light on the front as well I don't really use that because the batteries would make this a lot heavier they go in behind here on this little surface here but it's padded on the front it's got an elastic band for the back there's also just regular ear pieces like the elastic band the nosepiece you can have I have classes if you haven't noticed in my videos I wear glasses and these sit out far enough from your face that you can wear your regular glasses and then you have this on top so it doesn't interfere with your glasses and this nose piece slides in nicely behind the nose piece on your glasses these are really great for those who wear glasses then you've got sort of your more traditional you know eye loops and you need a four and a ten those are your most common magnifications or watchmaking but there's all kinds of sets out there but this is a plum this is the four I also have a ten for different you know if I want to really look up close at something this is for my general work if I want to get really detailed look at things up close then I'm going to use a sort of more traditional eye loop I mentioned cleaning cloths you need lots of cleaning cloths so a strap or brick bracelet tool there's no question there's one tool to give for that and that is the version version of this this is a 67 67 it comes with both an S and an F tip I get one of each I typically used the the F tip for almost everything including straps it's because it's a little bit smaller but this is the tool you need it's got a solid end on one side for pushing links and things like that out but this is what you need for removing a strap you see me do that in some other videos or if you haven't seen it go watch some of my other videos and you'll see me using this tool all the time there are cheaper versions of this stuff you get with like when you buy watches and stuff sometimes and they just aren't near the quality they think they might get you buy but they they're not great in terms of the machining the quality that just just not as good they're there believe it or not as simple as this tool is there is a massive difference between working with this tool and working with the cheap stuff trust me trust me on that I wouldn't steer you wrong something else to have around are things like link removal tools this is to help remove links on bracelets you set the bracelet across this and then you you put this where the pin goes and you screw that in unscrew it and pop the pin out that sort of thing yeah this will help with straps and stuff but if you're gonna remove links on bracelets and resize them then you need a proper link removal tool slash kit you know the desk lamps you've seen these do to Jew obviously they have some storage from in different parts different hands different tools oils etc etc so some sort of storage for all the parts for keeping track of little parts this is a paint tray this is this is a great little solution to having like little wells you use this for oil use this for all kinds of different parts and stuff keeping things separate this is a paint tray I bought for like 50 Cent's you know like a dollar store or something like that is having stuff like this around awesome so let me show you a little bit more about my setup here in terms of the aesthetics you need a comfortable spot this is what's called a pub table so this thing sits really high and so whenever I'm in a chair whether it's adjustable or not this thing is gonna sit up higher where I can have my elbows on the table and be looking at the work I'm doing on the table sort of at at head level that's what's important you don't want to be bending over for hours on end working on a bench you want to be sitting where this table is like yet your chin is and arms can rest on this thing comfortably where you're looking more ahead and forward more so than been done hunched over down your back will kill you after a couple of days or so if you are hunched over all the time it's sitting up high on a regular high table you need a high table or chair that goes really low so you can sit comfortably at a desk one of the other useful tools that I've put across this is a crystal tester because I do have my low-cost series and you know there's a lot of ads out there that say sapphire and the watches aren't sapphire but having this the diamond selector too will help you determine for of certainty if a crystal whether it's the crystal on the front or on a exhibition case back is actually sapphire or not you've seen me maybe use that one of my other videos so having a crystal tester is another good tool of course some pliers arounds a good idea eye pliers with you know grips on them once in a while to help hold on particularly I'm cutting stems and stuff but having a set that's also flat that doesn't have any teeth is a good idea so you can pinch and hold on to things without damaging them once in a while you might need one that has teeth but these are good to have around something with sort of flat pliers you know those are handy alright and you know other things that are sort of depending on just you know complexity of the things you're building there's a loom kit again don't skip on things like loom this is a the burr Jian loom kit that I used for my dual time watch want the videos where I hand applied all this stuff having a loom kit around is good there's all kinds of oils and applicators you can you can get for when you're doing maintenance so having you know oil wells this is adhesive for you know holding crystals in place you've got different types of oil for different locations on the watch movement so if you're going to do maintenance on watches you need that kind of stuff so for this next thing this is a case this is the same case that I used on the dual time watch you can see that the bezel here is polished and so is the case back if you want to take something as polished whether it's something on a case a crown a bracelet and you want to give it a brush look all you need is some inexpensive scotch brite pad that's when I've cut down a little bit then I used to scrape smaller parts but having just regular little green scotch-brite will help you change polished surfaces to brush surfaces quickly and easily I think the last thing I want to show you in this video anyway is a set of really small files these have different angles and different shapes depending on what you're wanting to file you know having a small set of files for doing different things to different metal parts is very helpful to have round this is this is more if you're getting into like custom watch making doing custom stuff on dials that sort of thing something else that's helpful to have around is a gram scale this goes up to a hundred grams so it's pretty fine in terms of the detail and that's handy to have around oh and I should mention that you some stationery okay well that's the main stuff I want to show you but those are the main things I have on my workbench to help me get my work done ah again as always thank you to all my subscribers I'm really glad that people are finding this entertaining informational and I love sharing and tinkering with watches so thanks again so much for everyone being around I'm Brian this is watch complications

Channel: Watch Complications

Views: 82,073

Keywords: watch, watches, watch project, watch complications, horology, watchesofyoutube, watch nerd, watchfam, watch making, watchmaking, watch maker, watch tools, tools, watch bench

Id: TfWDiloD0cU

Length: 22min 21sec (1341 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 27 2019