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1168 points fellerts | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.207s | source
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thom ◴[] No.44348344[source]
Part of me wants to believe this is sacrilege: these are incredible machines, and the magic is in not just seeing _how_ they work, but that they continue to work reliably for decades, and when they don't it's magic seeing them fixed somewhere like https://www.youtube.com/@WristwatchRevival. But also... this is incredibly cool! As kids, my brother used to do these little resin sculptures, putting in sand shells and little plans to it'd look like the bottom of the sea. I tried repeatedly to get into the same hobby but I was always too impatient so my designs would end up with fingerprints all over them before they'd properly set.
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aDyslecticCrow ◴[] No.44349148[source]
Pocket watches are sold in antique shops by the price of their weight in brass. Finding one that is complete but needs a cleaning and new oil to spring to life is relatively easy.

There are 10x more pocket watches than owners interested. Theyre incredible machines... but their greatest use is practice materials for aspiring watch repair technicians.

They're expensive to repair because few people have the skills and tools. The demand is so low. (I have two)

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polishdude20 ◴[] No.44349394[source]
How does one get started in this? I'd love to have this as a hobby!
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1. fellerts ◴[] No.44349602[source]
Watch a few hours of watch repair on YouTube. If you're still intrigued, I highly recommend Mark Lovick's course over at https://www.watchfix.com/. You'll learn all you need to know about tools, lubricants and techniques to service most watch movements.