I was listening to the radio this morning on my drive to work, and there was an optimistic fellow talking about his website that shows you how to repair things.
He mentioned that there was an increased interest in repairing things as opposed to throwing them away, and that if a quick fix was available, it should be made accessible to the customer.
They mentioned the various things that were being repaired in Fixit or Repair 'Cafes' and these included lamps, and alarm clocks.
I respectfully disagree on both of these subjects, and I'll tell you why.
With lamps, especially old lamps, or any old electrical appliance, you do need to have an electrician do the repair. 
Why?
Because if anything at all goes wrong and your house burns down, guess what your insurance company will say?
That is why we don't repair any electric or electronic clocks. The old Hammond clocks are very interesting, but the motor is encapsulated in paraffin, and when it overheats, the capsule may leak or burst, and voila,it is an incendiary device. If your house has up to date breakers and wiring, they may trip in time to prevent any problem, but they may not, and then you may be talking to the Insurance guys, and they have no reputation for letting things slide.
Which brings me to alarm clocks.
Sure you can attempt to disassemble an alarm clock, but bear in mind that a fully wound mainspring can and will turn a gear into a buzz saw and take your finger off. Pieces can be launched at your face and eyes, and in general, it is likewise a safety issue. In addition, if you bring me a bag of parts or a clock damaged by tinkering, chances are there is going to be a bigger repair bill. Not always, but chances are.
But alarm clocks are invariably disposable items. There are exceptions to this, but the vast majority of these are tin cans, with sheet metal 'plates', and when the pivots oval their holes, the clock jams. Short of disassembly and bushing these thin plates, and a dozen other procedures, the clock is done. 
This is not to say you can't do it, as long as there are a minimum number of riveted components. You can grind off the rivets, drill holes and tap them in some cases, but this is a lot of work.
Clock overhaul, as I have mentioned elsewhere in this blog, involves quite a few repair techniques to be done properly. There are a lot of ways to do it improperly as well, and Michael Gainey has a 'Wall of Shame' on his Columbus clock repair site, if you want to see how bad it can get. 
One of the methods we see often is the 'dipping' of clock movements, which is a viable technique to help identify a problem, but this must always be followed up with a proper overhaul or at the very least, complete disassembly and cleaning. Dipping washes away some of the dirt, but also allows some to collect exactly where you don't want it. Dirt will accelerate wear or congeal with lubricants and stop the clock at any rate. Soaking the movement down with WD40 (NEVER do this) will do much the same thing, and you absolutely do not want any lube (Of which WD40 is not a good example) on the gear teeth. It will also contaminate your friendly neighbourhood clock repairman's Industry Standard cleaning baths, and this stuff ain't cheap.
Alarm clocks are really not designed to be re-built, but in certain cases it can be done. It will cost far more than the clock is worth in most cases, but we are sentimental beings, and this is why we want our heirlooms looked after. 
I encourage anyone who is interested in clock repair to take some courses like those offered by the NAWCC or the AWCI here in North America.
So while it is a good idea to affect repairs to many things around the home yourself, I wouldn't say alarm clocks are the best example of one of these, much less lamps and appliances. 
Here's that Hall of Shame I mentioned:

Just a quick quartz watch primer.
​For those who may not have given it much thought, yes your battery driven watch is most likely a quartz watch. They utilize a quartz crystal as an oscillator, and can keep very good time. The cheap ones will drift up to 140 seconds per month, the really good ones will be within 5 seconds per month, and the Precisionist Quartz by Bulova is good for 8 seconds per year.
The heart of the watch is the quartz movement, and depending on the watch, they can be repaired or replaced, but most often they are replaced.
If your watch is a good quality one, it may be possible to simply replace the movement, and this is what happens at a repair depot usually. The older quartz watches have robust movements that are obsolete, so sometimes these can be repaired, but with parts being restricted by companies like Swatch, (Swatch owns Longines, Rado, Omega, Tissot, Breguet, Certina, Mido, Hamilton, Calvin Klein, BlancPain and ETA, the movt maker) this may no longer be possible in most cases. This also applies to almost all modern replacements of Swiss quartz movements.
Japanese movements, depending on the maker, are still widely available and there is no move to restrict them in the near future. Chinese movements can be quite inexpensive to replace and are almost never repaired.
Life span for a good quartz watch is about 35 years, for a mediocre one it can be less than 5. 
If your quartz watch is kaput, it may be because of a variety of factors. Leaking battery, magnetic fields, rough handling (extremely common) dirt, wear and tear, and water damage. Sometimes they also just wear out.
As a repair shop, we either repair the movt, or replace it, the latter being most common. Quartz movts can range in price from a few dollars to hundreds or even thousands. 
The long and the short of this story is Quartz watches do not last as long as mechanical watches, and they are easily destroyed by contamination and magnetic fields. We see a lot of watches with fingerprints burned into the batteries or on the movts themselves. It is important to not touch the battery or the movt with your fingers. If you see someone touching your battery or your watch movt with bare fingers, this is wrong and will cause damage. 
Those ten and twenty dollar watches are basically throw away items and we generally do not recommend repairing them.

Clock moving. 
Like Piano moving, can be a task better left to professionals. Now I'm referring to the large Hall and Floor Clocks we all call 'Grandfather', but there are some clocks that hang on the wall that are particularly sensitive, and some table clocks too.
If your clock requires a service, and you feel it should not be moved, definitely tell your friendly neighbourhood horologist and they will likely arrange a house call.
If you wish to bring a clock in for service, there are several things you should keep in mind.
Firstly, remove the pendulum if it has one, as they tend to knock around quite a bit during travel and will damage the clock quite easily.
Secondly, remove the weights if they have any, and the same logic applies.
400 day clocks, otherwise known as Anniversary clocks, need to have their torsion pendulums locked down before you move them any distance at all. The thin suspension spring is very easily damaged, as are the teeth on the tiny escape wheel. Most of the Anniversary clocks have a lock feature, and if they don't, that means they were produced in the frantic last years of the 400 day clock boom, and likely don't have levelling feet either. These clocks, I am sorry to say, (with rare exceptions) really aren't worth repairing.
Atmos clocks also fall into this category, they are extremely sensitive and need to have their disc pendulums locked before transport. If you are unsure of how to do this, do not move the clock without getting some advice or professional help. These clocks are very expensive, and require delicate handling. (In addition, the overhaul of an Atmos clock is likewise expensive)
Clocks with long and heavy suspensions, like Vienna Regulators, need to have weights removed, pendulums removed, and the suspension carefully taped down in the centre to avoid damage during transport. Green masking tape works well for this.
Clocks with mercury pendulums are a special breed- they require not only careful handling, but their hazardous contents dictate they need careful inspection for leaks and should be kept upright at all times. If you spill or break the mercury free from such a pendulum, there are hazardous spill procedures listed online, and depending on the amount spilled (Some clocks contain 4- 8 lbs of mercury) you may be required by law to contact the local Fire Department.
Keep in mind the danger here is from evaporation of the mercury, which is then inhaled. Mercury will evaporate even at room temperature, so follow the procedures and ventilate the area for large spills.
So definitely remove your weights and pendulum, or call and see if a house call is in order for your cherished timepiece. 
Ticking right along as usual……..

​R

There seems to be a small yet persistent impression amongst both young and older, that mechanical watches are kaput, no longer being made, etc. Here's the straight dope:

• Mechanical watches are a multi-billion dollar industry and it is expanding
• Mechanical watches are reliable in hot and humid climates (India) whereas quartz watches are not
• Mechanical watches can and do last for 100+ years, quartz watches maybe 20-35 years for the best
• Mechanical watches do not keep quartz accuracy, COSC spec is within 4.5 sec/day
• Some quartz watches in the lower end don't meet COSC spec
• Mechanical watches are green technology, no batteries required ever and their footprint of manufacture is spread out over a long period of time
• Mechanical watches are in some cases more robust than quartz, they are not rendered dead by magnetic fields whereas a good jolt will kill a quartz watch. Mechanical watches are more susceptible to shock
• No charging, no cells to buy, no capacitors to replace, no re-programming, the movement is made of metal, not plastic
• See where I'm going here?

$49 bought you a quality watch in 1950, and that translates into $800 today. You can get an excellent Swiss mechanical watch for around $400-$500, so the prices are actually lower now.
Don't want to spend that much? Look into a quality used Swiss mechanical, serviced and guaranteed by your friendly neighbourhood watchmaker.

Cheers to a new year

​R

For those of us that have never known anything but the silent accuracy of a quartz watch, and for those that may have forgotten the joys of a mechanical watch, a word on timekeeping....
I often say that a mechanical watch is green technology, no batteries to discard and recycle, and will last a lifetime if properly cared for, spreading it's footprint over many years. However, compared to a quartz watch, there are a few concessions that must be made and these mainly involve timekeeping.
The best COSC chronometer will vary as much as 4.5 seconds per day, so that means a possible variation of 139 seconds in a month, maybe more. Run of the mill quartz movts we tested in watchmaking school also showed about the same drift. However, a mechanical watch is also affected by shocks, sometimes as slight as shaking your watch on it's metal bracelet to adjust the way it lies on your wrist- a common practice.
The oscillator, that is, the balance assembly runs at 4 Hz in a modern wristwatch compared to 32,768 Hz in a quartz. The faster the oscillator, the better the timekeeping. Bulova's Precisionist series is the only significant improvement made to quartz watches, vibrating at 262,144 Hz. The second hands on these watches sweep, reminiscent of the Old Accutron Tuning Fork watches of the 60's and 70's. 
​Mechanical watches that run at 4 Hz oscillate 28,800 vibrations per hour, and this tops out at 36,000 vph in a so-called Hi-Beat watch. The extra wear and tear of a mechanical mechanism running at this rate negates any benefit gained, so it has largely been abandoned. 
Still, this means the quartz watch is more accurate, but we all knew that, unless of course the battery goes dead, or gets too cold or the movt is not thermo-compensated. Batteries leak, too. Generally speaking though, the difference is glaring.
So why would anyone spend hundreds, or maybe thousands of dollars on a mechanical watch?
Longevity is the principle advantage, meaning the possibility of passing the watch down as a working heirloom is fairly certain, if the watch is well cared for. 
No batteries to buy, but you do need to service it periodically, and the interval is 4 to 6 years. Back in the early days of the quartz revolution, quartz watches were also serviced, and it is still possible to service some of the more expensive quartz watches, but generally the movement is a throwaway item. A lot of times the cheaper quartz watches are throwaway also, and may be made of very questionable base metals. 
Status may be another reason, or perhaps the knowledge that your watch was designed and built with varying amounts of hand work. Patek Philippe famously says you never really own a Patek, you just take care of it for the next generation. Entry level for a new Patek is about $15,000, Rolex is about $8000.
Even if you buy a new throwaway watch every six months, you'd have to buy a lot of them to spend that kind of money, but it needn't be so.
Excellent quality Swiss Mechanical watches like the Hamilton Jazzmaster can be had for under $500, which is about the same as a 50 dollar watch in 1950. 
Which brings me back to timekeeping.
Vintage mechanical watches can and do require manual adjustment every few days or once a week. The variation in timekeeping depends on many factors, not the least is how old the watch is and how it was made. 1930's Railroad watches can still run to very exacting standards, for example, but an old watch or clock that needs to get adjusted for a few minutes per week is quite normal, even when they were new. In the case of old clocks especially, the escapement may more often be the culprit here, as certain types keep better time than others, and weight clocks are more accurate than spring clocks.
Adjusting your watch or winding it daily brings you in conscious, mindful contact with your timepiece, a practice that may seem anachronistic to anyone born after the quartz crisis of the 70's. 
The main reason people bring an old watch to us for overhaul is invariably because of sentimental reasons, or sometimes because a collector wants to keep his watch in good condition to protect its value. 
I still have the watch my Grandfather gave to me when I was a teenager, and I have kept it serviced properly for 40 years. It was already 25 years old when he gave it to me, and drifts a few minutes per week. Every time I adjust the time to the radio signal at 1 pm, I think of him, and the grandchildren who will inherit it from me.

R

We see a lot of old wristwatches, and in the course of a CTR we will often recondition bracelets and polish the case, with a new crystal, but this leaves the dial as the untouched part, and some patina is ok, especially for collectors. We will remove surface dirt, but the main thing I want to point out is-
Dials, for the most part cannot be cleaned. I am not talking about ceramic (vitreous enamel) dials, found on higher end wristwatches and pocket watches, but the vintage paint or coloured dials with applied markers type found on many brands.
That patina is caused by many things. Radium burns, smoke, water vapour, corrosion of the underlying metal, oxidization of the paint or dial finish, heat, UV light, adhesive decay, off-gassing of various components of the watch, e.g. plastic rings, certain old lubricants, whether or not the movt was ever 'dipped' (We NEVER dip) and the list goes on.
On a silvered dial you are seeing the oxidization of the silver compound, possibly also reaction to sulphides in the environment, and to attempt to clean these butler finished dials invariably ends up in disaster. That is not to say you cannot attempt to clean a dial, but you must be prepared to ruin it. For this reason, I do not clean the dials beyond some light surface debris removal. There is an old watchmaker's trick of using a soft boar bristle brush and lemon pledge, but this is also hit and miss, and can and will ruin a dial also.
The discolourization and 'dirt' is actually oxidization, and the breakdown of paints on the dial, adhesives on the markers, radiation, off-gassing of petroleum based or organic watch oils used in the past, reaction of the metal or paint to environmental pollutants and incursion of water or humidity. 
We do offer complete dial refinishing service, and this is the only part of the restoration we do not do ourselves, we have specialists who do this. They have many of the original pad printing dies, and do the dials the way there were intended, fonts, logos, appliqués, guichet frames, you name it. 
This process is not cheap, especially if the dial is for a valuable collector watch, which must be reproduced exactly. For my own watches, the dial has to pretty horrible before I will refinish them, but it really depends on the watch, and often how the dial was made and how the value may be affected by any refinishing. We usually have several examples in our display case should you be interested in what the finished product looks like, and will always be able to provide an accurate estimate for the job. 
I should also mention it is unwise to attempt to clean your clock dial for many of the same reasons, but silvered dials cannot be polished, and to attempt to do so with Silvo or some like product, is a sure way to strip the dial completely. Dial silvering is a chemical process which we sometimes undertake to restore certain vintage clock dials. In the old, lamp or candle lit rooms, silver was the most visible dial in that type of light.

So a few words about water.
You don't want to get water in your watch, everyone knows that. It can be the sweat from your wrist travelling down your stem into the keyless works, it can be the condensation on the inside of the crystal on an old watch that isn't even dustproof, or the salt water from your vacation, maybe you have a dive watch and forgot to screw the crown down.
Or maybe you wore the watch, took it off and laid it on the bathroom counter while you ran a bath or shower. As the air fills with steam, the watch is now cooling, and sucking that air into itself. 
Watches in the past bore the marking "waterproof" but they were no such thing, and the word can no longer be used. It is now something that must be accompanied by a rating, as in the case of dive watches and sport watches. What is important to remember is that these ratings are measured statically, that is, motionless. Plunging your arm through the surface of the water while swimming requires a serious depth rating of 100 meters.
Warranties on rated watches are very particular. Hot water will void most warranties so that means no showers no hot tubs. Salt water will likewise void some warranties, so no sea swimming. Activating the pushers on the chronograph will void still other warranties, so unless it is an ISO certified dive watch, no activating the chronograph under water.
If you can screw your crown down, chances are it has a decent rating, but if the pushers do not screw down on a chronograph, that's the Achilles heel right there. Again, it is critical to replace the gaskets in the crown and elsewhere regularly if you want to seriously maintain the rating. 
The certified dive watches must be re-certified, contact your manufacturer, because lives do depend on this.
Even a typical 100 meter sport watch must be re-tested every 1-2, and ideally the gaskets in the crown, crown tube, case back, and bezel should be replaced. Most of the higher end makers will do this as part of the full service, or CTR. Without this, do not assume your watch is still water resistant to the rating marked on the watch. Most warranties are not longer than 2 years, so this is usually an added expense if you want to use your watch under water with impunity. 
In addition, showering with the watch will erode your bracelet, even if it is Stainless Steel. The pins will get soap residue, dirt and other contaminants on them and this will accelerate the erosion. If a pin fails, your watch hits the ground. 
Heat shrinks rubber, so hot water contracts your rubber gaskets, and bam! A leak. 
By all means, read your manual if you buy your watch new, it will provide you with all the cautions and ratings of your watch, and you will have many happy years as an informed owner. 
Happy Timekeeping!

R

I often hear customers reminiscing about prices they paid many years ago for quality products, and this invariably leads to a comparison to products and prices now.
I myself remember exactly how much I paid for a certain item that was a significant purchase, a quality product that perhaps I had saved up for or made payments on. 
Now the numbers in this post won't necessarily apply to those outside North America, but the general idea is this:
As an example I often use, I will point to my fully serviced, Swiss movement Bulova 'Director' watch from 1940. The price of this watch new was $49.95, a not insignificant sum in those days, and I can make a comparison to a modern, Swiss movement watch.
The modern watch will most likely be an automatic Swiss watch, as opposed to the manual wind Director, and will have all the improvements of the last 75 years since the said watch. Higher beat frequency, better quality overall in materials and tolerances. These will usually retail for around $500, (or more) and this is what will sometimes kick off the discussion in the first place. The customer will remember when such watches were considerably less.
However, taking into account inflation, $49.95 in today's dollars is well over $800. In actual fact, you can get a lot more bang for your buck nowadays. 
So that Hamilton Jazzmaster Automatic at less than $500, is actually an excellent quality watch at a reasonable price.
Properly cared for, a quality watch can last several generations, and we often see watches that are 200 years old here, and sometimes much older. At the time, of course, only the very rich could afford these timepieces, and even Samuel Pepys considered his new pocket watch a mere plaything in the mid 17th century, but I digress.
In a world where one can buy a quartz wristwatch for under $20 and have it last the better part of 6 months to a year, paying over $100 for a watch means you are getting serious about your purchase.
Definitely allow getting serious to be part of your purchase experience!

R

Wanted: A few good people.

A comment that I hear a lot, after the customer has expressed delight in finding a brick and mortar watch repair place, is that watchmaking must be a dying art.
It's not.
It is a multi-billion dollar industry, and we here in North America have jumped on the throwaway bandwagon for a bit too long, so it is seen as a trade that is European in flavour, and possibly as anachronistic as a Shoemaker. 
Quality goods are goods that can usually be repaired and have long lives. A good pair of shoes will last many years, and a well made clock can last hundreds of years. The average age of a vintage wristwatch, that is fully serviced and in daily use, is about 60 years or more. 
Sure, there is only one watchmaking school here in Canada, (in Trois Riviéres, QC) but there are as many as 7 in the US, which still isn't that many, but the enthusiasm and dedication won't go away. 
This blog is for anyone thinking of taking up the trade. You can study here in Canada, or in the US, or in Switzerland. There are many other countries that have watchmaking schools, and these all vary in the cost, as well as the qualifications offered. The course in Switzerland will run you CHF $25,000 per year, and you can expect to be there three years. They billet you in a village, and you get some of the money doled back out to you so you can pay rent and buy food and supplies. 
In Trois Rivières, in the beautiful province of Quebec, Canada, you can study with a fully bilingual team of professeurs and instructors, and expect to spend two years. It is a WOSTEP based course, but because of the shorter length, the WOSTEP certification has been pulled. Additional studies are always needed, and the apprenticeship starts while you are still in school, and continues after you leave. You can expect to pay around $4700. CDN for the two years, which are comprised of a DEP and ASP section, the latter includes complicated watches and clocks. 
To study in the US, you will need a visa, and you will have to pay as a foreign student, and costs are around $20,000 up front. It depends which school you attend and in what state it is located, as costs and tuitions vary. The Nicholas Hayek school is in Miami, the NSCC is in Seattle, and the Lititz Watch Technicum is in Lititz, PA. All these schools require a serious dedication to the curriculum, and do not tolerate absenteeism. Still, if you're paying the money, would you really want to cut classes?
Basically, attending a school outside your own country will always be more expensive, both in tuition and costs of living. For example, a student from Madagascar paid about $22000 to attend the École Nationale d'Horlogerie in Quebec. 
Watchmakers are in high demand, and you can pretty much pick where you want to work. Students will sometimes get hired before they even finish school. One of the students in my class was scooped by an Aeronautics manufacturing firm in their first year, and went on to become a technician there. 
If you are interested in the trade, I'm sure you have already done a lot of research online, and are hearing nothing new here. The figures I mention are ballpark, and may be out of date. 
What hasn't changed is the Global demand for watchmakers. Far from being a quaint and anachronistic pursuit, it is a 21st century cutting edge profession, and if you like engineering you will probably feel right at home inside a watch movement. 
You can end up working for a repair depot, like Swatch or Richemont or Rolex, or you can work with a jeweller or a series of jewellers. You can always start your own company, although this is more complicated, and start up costs will apply as with any new business. 
Just something to think about in this increasingly IT heavy world of ours. 

***

Clocks are mechanical machines, utilizing either weights or coiled springs to drive gear trains to achieve timekeeping with an oscillator (pendulum or balance), or they are battery powered, utilizing a quartz oscillator to achieve timekeeping. Quartz clocks can use chime simulation, and in some cases actual sampled sounds to strike the hours.
The mechanical clocks require regular maintenance and service. The hardened steel pivots pass through brass plates, and this metal-on-metal contact can and will wear over time, ovalling the holes in the plates, and eventually causing the gears to jam and stop the clock from striking, chiming, or timekeeping. 
Oils dry out over time, and attract dust. This, in conjunction with particles from metal wear, make for an abrasive paste which wears both the brass and the steel.
Just like with mechanical watches, you cannot oil a dirty clock, and the clock must be fully disassembled to be properly overhauled and cleaned.
Most clocks, whether in Flea Markets, or Antique shops, will require service, unless they have been overhauled and have a guarantee. 99% of old clocks are neglected, and the maintenance period of 8-12 years has been forgone, resulting in sometimes extreme wear and tear. 
So definitely do get your clock serviced, and it will last many hundreds of years. Definitely do not spray the works with oil or WD-40, this will cause damage. Also do not place Kersosene in a cup inside the clock case, or apply to any part of the metal works.  Oil must not be applied to any gear teeth, it only attracts dust and dirt, and the gears grind themselves up.