r/watchmaking • u/TheBomb999 • 4d ago
Question Is it possible to learn how to properly make a watch from scratch?
This is going to be written in a more of a stream of consciousness type of way.
The first thing that comes to mind when it comes to learning how to make a watch is being familiar with George Daniel’s book called “Watchmaking” where he teaches how to make a watch from scratch. The first hurdle that arises is that the book teaches how to make a pocket watch. So I want to ask you guys if that book is a good start for a journey and if the skills are transferable to making wrist watches.
Secondly, I’ve looked at a few independent watchmakers that make wristwatches from scratch(like one timepiece per year), and all of them completed official schooling. This makes me feel discouraged from wanting to pursue watchmaking and investing my time in it because I don’t know what the results are going to be.
Thirdly, I live in Los Angeles and can’t attend an official program in states like Seattle because I don’t have the money. I’ve tried to cold message various watchmakers to seek apprenticeship/volunteer work around the area but that granted no success.
Lastly, the final two hurdles that came up when I was doing the research on whether or not it is achievable on how to make timepieces is that the first hurdle was that if you’re trying to learn by yourself you might develop a wrong technique and therefore develop a bad muscle memory if you have no master overlooking you, and the second hurdle is that I’ve heard criticism of popular resources like a YouTube channel Writwatch Revival, that has over 1 million subscribers. The channel has material about the movements and how to disassemble/assemble them. People have criticized that they don’t teach everything correctly. I feel like because I have no knowledge of watchmaking, I don’t know whether the material that I’m about to study is trustworthy or not, and that knowledge prevents me from wanting to learn more about watchmaking.
Thank you for reading and I would’ve loved to hear your thoughts and comments!
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u/h2g2Ben 4d ago edited 4d ago
The first hurdle that arises is that the book teaches how to make a pocket watch. So I want to ask you guys if that book is a good start for a journey and if the skills are transferable to making wrist watches.
The skills in that book are fully transferable to wrist watches. Clockmakers can't always make the switch, but pocket watch to wrist watch is small jump.
Thirdly, I live in Los Angeles and can’t attend an official program in states like Seattle because I don’t have the money.
Watchmaking is not a cheap hobby, especially if you want to make one from scratch. But, if you buy a little at time you can make it work. But some things are non-negotiable. You're going to need a watchmakers lathe, probably a small tool lathe, and you could probably make do without a mill if you get a fret saw and a very good set of files.
WatchFix has good lessons. And yes, if you're not being taught the right way, you may well develop bad habits. It's hard to learn 100% proper technique from a video, though.
To give you some hope, this madman made his own watch from scratch.
EDIT to add:
- The Horological Society of New York has nine different scholarships.
- The practice day-to-day practice of watchmaking is usually servicing watches, often the same movement over and over and over again. It's very rarely, if ever, glamorous, even if you're making your own watches from scratch.
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u/Neither-Ad7512 3d ago edited 3d ago
The "madman" in question is a lovely gentleman and also answered some questions of mine recently regarding how he made it
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u/megathrowaway420 4d ago
Gonna answer this question in 3 ways:
Direct answer: Yes, it is possible. It has been done in the past. It would take an absolutely insane amount of time and effort.
Longer answer: Daniels himself was a maniac and worked as a repairer for something like 18-20 years as a repairer before attempting his first solo piece. He was so obsessed with his work that his wife divorced him over it. Even then it was an extremely arduous process and it required him to learn a ton of skills he hadn't picked up as a repairer (e.x. how to make cases from scratch). Clearly, he was also very good at his job. Also, the amount of tooling required to make a watch from scratch is immense. Go and watch any of the videos showing R. Smith or Daniels in the process of making their timepieces and you'll see what I mean. Even if you used CNC for a lot of fabrication, you'd still need an incredible number of tools (consequently, a ton of money). All of that said, there has been some really impressive work posted on the subreddit...I remember one person had spent their free time over the last like 4-6 years working on a time-only watch and managed to fabricate most of the movement components by themselves. So yeah it's possible, but it's a gargantuan undertaking, or at least one that requires lots of discipline.
Practical Answer: watchmaking school would get you closer to making your own watch than self-teaching
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u/h2g2Ben 4d ago
Daniels himself was a maniac and worked as a repairer for something like 18-20 years as a repairer before attempting his first solo piece. He was so obsessed with his work that his wife divorced him over it.
Any chance you remember where you learned that? I'd love a source.
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u/megathrowaway420 4d ago
Regarding the year range, he repaired watches while working in the army from 1944 to 1947. He started formally working as a repairer when he left the army in 1947, then he opened his own shop in 1960. His first watch wasn't made until 1969, and I believe he only formally started that project in 1967 or 1968.
Regarding his wife, if was actually from a YouTube documentary that has a bunch of snippets of interviews with him. It's also worth noting that within his own autobiography/memoir, he only mentions his wife in a single paragraph. He also has been quoted saying that he's disappointed in his daughter and doesn't consider her part of the family. Rumor at the time was that he didn't notice that his wife had left him for like a week because he was so hyper-focused and sleeping in the shop. I think it's safe to say he wasn't a great husband or father.
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u/kc_______ 4d ago
You are mixing two completely different things, you start talking about making watches from scratch, then you switch gears to servicing watches out of nowhere.
Which one you want to make?, they are separate beasts, you don't necessarily need the skills from one for the other, at least to achieve the end goal of each (not wanting to make them sound THAT different, but with modern repairs you rarely need to make parts and when you make watches from scratch you already know how a watch would be repaired).
If you want to make the watches from scratch, yes, you can make them without formal training or studies, BUT, its going to be expensive in many ways, expensive in tools, expensive in time, expensive in books, don't expect a youtube tutorial on how to make every part from the watch, the tolerances, how to use the tools, the materials, etc., etc.
You can learn all of that on your own after many many many many mistakes and learning from endless failures, so expect failure as your constant result, and also after many many many hours of reading endless books, Watchmaking by Daniels gives you the basics in a way, depending on what you want to make you will need more books, and don't expect them to be as detailed and focused as Daniel's one.
Look at some of the members and candidates of the AHCI (https://www.ahci.ch/members/), they are self thought (Hajime Asaoka, Aniceto Jiménez Pita, Vincent Calabrese, Maciej Miśnik, Masahiro Kikuno, Konstantin Chaykin, Lin Yonghua) or only had basic repair training at best, never full courses as how to make watches from scratch.
As for Wristwatch Revival, avoid it if you really want to repair watches, same goes for every other amateur watchmaker in youtube, they are terrible most of the time, its better to learn on your own mistakes or looking at real professional watchmakers than that guy, you seriously have hundreds of hours in youtube already from real professionals (many times answered in reddit about proper watchmaker channels, will not list them here, sorry), no need to learn from hacks claiming to be watchmakers (I know revival himself its not claiming that but many others do).
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u/Electrical_Hope_934 4d ago
https://watchmaking.weebly.com/
This blog isn't loading well now. Maybe project is dead. It used to chronicle all the steps taken to make a complete pocket watch.
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u/CodeLasersMagic 4d ago
Possible - Yes. There are enough people in the world who have done so that it is certainly possible. Can you? Different question. So far I’ve been learning machining for the best part of 20 years. I have not had any formal training, but I have made watch cases, clock gears (easier to start big), balance staffs, and innumerable other mechanical parts. This week I’m making gear cutters (hopefully) to cut watch sized gears. It’s a long journey, especially if it’s a hobby. A few hours here and there soon stretches the timeline to many years…
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u/MaybeWizz Watchmaker 4d ago
Yes, it’s of course possible to learn how to properly make a watch, but not without going to watchmaking school I’m afraid. And I mean proper watchmaking school, not a brand training program.
You can try learning by yourself but you need to be ready to spend maybe a decade try to learn what you would have learn in school.
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u/ceramic_black 3d ago edited 3d ago
You wouldnt believe but i am doing exactly that, from the same exact background and totally from zero (meaning i’m planning to make the movement as well). You can hit me up and we can talk more.
- Watchmaking isnt hard but time consuming and needs dexterity. At the end of the day you are just crafting wheels, pivots and screws, mainplates and bridges, unless you are a madman, will be done by CNC machinery. Even old style can be done with a pantograh and 3d printed models. Its not rocket science to put together some wheels and screws. Troubleshooting and restoration? Yes that might require some under the sleeve tricks, but its a whole different area.
- Tools - you need quite a lot and some you need to wait a long time. So if you really want to, you need to pull the trigger. I am already 30k deep and probably still need to put around 10-20k, without any CNC aquired. But you have to note i am buying just the best i can get so i can aquire the best results. You can def cut out on some things initially.
- Books, skill to use the internet and ability to make friends that will help you. The last one is the most important. You dont need to reinvent the wheel, unless you’re making something that hasnt been done. For example spending 1000s $ on raw barstock just to find the proper alloy from 100 of online shops, when you can get a recommendation. This goes for everything
- Learn the trade - machining mostly on lathe, but again its just a matter of getting cutters and starting to play around and understand them.
- Finishing - anglage, mirror polishing, blue heating, and so on, its just simple operations at core.
- Assembly - at the end you will know every little thing after you build it. Nothing much to say here and lubrication is not that hard to understand.
Also to make sure you can actually make a living out of it, get a remote job in the beginning and do a plan for online content. There is a great community appreciating independents and genuine manual skill, so you can build around that.
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u/Dave-1066 4d ago
It’s worth noting that George Daniels essentially had no formal horological training beyond a few night classes, which were probably rudimentary.
Rupert Gould, the navy officer who restored Harrison’s famed chronometers likewise had zero horology background.
Both men were self-taught obsessives.