Watchmakers/jewelers, Help Me Remember...

Guess I could design a dedicated wheel/gear machine and move out some of the bigger machines. If this leg doesn't give me some relief soon so I can get back to work, I'll have to. I can't use them all at the same time anyway. Not using any of them at the moment.

That entire endeavor will take a lot of education and research. I've no doubt about making the parts, that's the easy part. Learning which parts to build, how things work on a very basic level is my weak point. A Horology course is out of the question, unfortunately. Too distant, too long, probably too late in life, and too expensive. So I'd be on my own, pretty much. But hey, I love a challenge.
 
Fortunately, you can learn at home. There are two courses an dvds. One by tope and one by tascione. Tope sells on ebay. Then NAWCC has a dvd library with hundreds of tapes. Then there is clockclass.com. And AL Takash on Ebay. He's a good guy and disabled. Lives in NC now, moved from NYC.

You can do this.
 
Thanks Nelson....I will be looking into this, seriously. My old back isn't likely to ever let me do the work I used to do in the shop, the way it looks. I'll have to find some other work instead. I could consult, but I am pretty sure that would get old fast, and be very frustrating.
 
Horological machining is something you can do, and it is needed.

Repair/replacement of mainspring barrel gears for example. The mainspring pops from age, and the power causes teeth from the mainspring to break and break off some teeth.
Sure, you can drill holes and make new teeth out of brass, but it sure would be nice to be able to get a new gear at a reasonable price.
 
The first question that comes to mind, without even looking into that particular piece, and would seemingly apply to many parts is....

Who makes any engineering drawings for these parts? I wouldn't expect to have any such thing for a very old timepiece, but does the sort of work you are talking about (majority) revolve around duplicating existing parts that are broken or worn out? I have been under the perhaps mistaken impression that no two timepieces were ever identical, or even close enough for making anything like a drawing, save for a basic sketch to bring to functional performance by hand work.
 
Yes, you are making broken and worn parts.

Sping clocks were mass produced. The parts were identical clock to clock. Same with most weight clocks.

Often you will get the parts to reproduce.
 
Then in some cases the thing to do would be to carefully document and draw up accurate manufacturing drawings so these could be made at least partially ahead of time. Maybe only some critical features would need to wait and be matched. And I suppose the majority of the market would be clock makers to begin with, so they would have the capability and knowledge to finish as needed. Just that some features aren't critical and would be a tremendous time saver for that person. It doesn't seem like Joe Citizen would venture to repair his own antique clock.
 
As normal for me, I do overcomplicate things. Then, are you saying that to get started in this, one way may be just to offer a "restoration" of sorts that involves more simply replacing the existing movements with these replicas? At those prices, it seems reasonable, as long as the customer signed off on it. Plus unless they wanted the old movement, it could be rebuilt as a learning device.
 
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