Fascinating.
Kept me glued to the screen. visually and auditorily captivating. Not only a steadiest of hands, the chronological order of re-building – without a single error. This guy has seen many watches; almost a lost profession.
Good find Jeff, that was amazing and such fun to watch.
Imagine what would be involved to manufacture the tiny fine thread screws and gears, etc. How do they do that?
Cool video, Jeff. I’ve never seen anyone do a full disassembly of a mechanical watch. Fascinating all the parts… and this guy knows them by heart. No reference manual checks. He knows the names and the order of disassembly. Really remarkable how after a whole year, not really all that much watch relative to all the parts. That’s some terrific engineering. I haven’t watched the whole thing… I wonder if he reveals what the charge was for the owner?
xevious brings up a similar afterthought. Looking at all the specialized tooling and his knowledge, that he had some replacement part ordered from eBay for a steep $120, I would fathom upwards of $3 K.
Those specialty cleaners and spring loaders must have a very high price. His camera set-ups are quite costly. May have a tooling investment of upwards of 150 K. Then add the miscellaneous parts and defunct watches in some bins, perhaps another 150+ K. These things have to be recouped. Add the time (he makes a living from such repairs), I wouldn’t be surprised maybe closer to $5 K.
There was a time watchmaking was a profession and classes were given. A fellow with such knowledge could be in the educational sector and make a living from such. Nowadays, if you’ve made a name for yourself, you could cater to the select few that wish to have their vintage timepieces repaired/restored. These people aren’t at a lower living standard.
Addendum; Marshall Sutcliffe is an amateur watch restorer. So I’m probably way off in my estimate of work charge. I had assumed as these timepieces carry a high purchase cost and sentimental value, the labour costs would also be proportionate.
His camera set-up is in excess of $3.5 K. Don’t know of that sophisticated cleaning machine.
A while back I was mesmerized by a Tourbillion video:
The price tag of $50 to $100 K for an original Abraham-Louis Breguet.
The mechanism has been copied to lesser brands such as Tufina for $2 K.
If you are looking for an art piece as an investment, The Label Noir Rolex Tourbillon at $130 K.
Good for an evening at the Oscars.
All his videos are mesmerizing. He does have an amazing collection of tools/parts. Many seem vintage.
I think he is self taught - which is all the more amazing.
Imagine him working on flashlights. All the parts would seem so huge - it would be like one of us working on a steam engine.
Getting this type of work done is going to become even scarcer as time passes.
I love fussing around with old mechanical stuff and vintage audio.
But nothing even close to this wizard level…
Still shocked and disappointed that Rolex wouldn’t repair it for any price.
One would think since they built it - they could fix it.
All the Best,
Jeff
Mostly using equipment made before our fathers were born.
Or CNC that costs more than all our houses combined.
Thanks Jeff, the batch gear cutting was really clever. These sort of videos are really therapy in action.
Yeah, I think most of the old time tools use the idea that large movements on the tool index translates into small (or really small) movements on the part being tooled.
One more - a cat does flips. I had a cat that if I bounced a ball so it would arch over his head, he would do a back flip and catch it in the air.
Landing with a pin pong ball in his paws was - well - entertaining.
All the Best,
Jeff
I’m on a roll -
Some amazing behavior.
Hjeh, I thought I recognised the voice. That’s Slash Start. :laughing:
And here is another from the watch guy talking about tools.
All the Best,
Jeff
PS - can you tell who’s home sick and watching too much Youtube?
This is kinda cool.
And a good message too.
I and Mrs. Jeff are one - are you?
All the Best,
Jeff
Let’s go for a ride!
Happy Independence Day!
If someone would have told me I’d watch a 52 minute long video of someone repairing a watch from beginning to end without skipping, I would have called this person delusional! I’ll even admit to replaying the spring incident at 15:32 a few times 
Thanks for posting Jeff.
I binged on a bunch of those watch repair videos last winter. They're addictive.
It was fun to learn how mechanical watches work, although I had to reason out some of the details on my own. Figuring out which gears, respectively, handle the hours, minutes and seconds, and why they have to be geared to each other in the way they are was not obvious to a naive viewer like me!
This entertaining lecture by Nobel award winner William Phillips explains the science behind atomic clocks, GPS, and and a host of other topics.
Recommended viewing.
Eep!
Lots of creepypasta-like stories, real-life creepy stories, all over the place, but still fascinating stuff regardless.
Eg, want some “wtf?!?”-inducing history, just goggle “RadiThor”. :person_facepalming: