Thompson Transparent 2660 “Nitric Blue” over silver foil

Day 30 of the 30-Day Challenge ‼️

Wow we made it!! I can’t believe it. I plan on doing a full write up soon on my reflections of the challenge.

For the last day I wanted to try something different from everything else! This was my first time doing transparent over foil and wow the results speak for themselves, it’s beautiful!

Unfortunately, I am ending on a (minor) sad note as on the last fire of the dial it got stuck to the trivet and ruined 😩 Fortunately I got pictures as I went…

I’m planning on keeping this trivet with the dial stuck to it as it is as a sort of trophy / reminder of my first 30 day challenge and how anything can go wrong at any time.

Thank you to everyone who has supported and followed along. I’ve loved all the comments and questions!

More to come!

(Another bonus last pic of my enamel shelf, it’s pretty much full thanks to the challenge!)

Hello everyone!

I live in the United States and have been avidly fixing vintage watches as a hobby for a while now. I began wondering why I hadn’t considered joining the industry.

As I did my research I noticed many of the larger brands require WOSTEP and other licenses and certificates.

Is apprenticeship in the United States no longer a viable way to become a watchmaker? Do I absolutely have to travel to another state or country to attend one of the schools?

Any suggestions would be great! Thanks.

Figured you all might appreciate this. I've been working on this case for the last couple months. Just put the straps on for the first time! Really satisfying for it to start coming together! It's shiny enough that the camera really struggles to get decent pictures. It's machined from 17-4PH stainless.

Hey,
does anybody know of a good lacquer to coat a dial that I am making with? preferably the lacquer comes in a spray bottle, I don’t have an airbrush.

How is it? And how does it compare to a witschi proofmaster? Any experiences? Thanks.

Thompson enamel 1840 “Sunset Orange”

Thompson enamel 1960 “Blue Grey”

Second to last day of the challenge and we get a twofer! It’s hard to believe tomorrow is the last day!

Made a Guilloché style watch dial update red lacquer paint

I used car touch up paint and it came out pretty good

Made a Guilloché dial is this any good for fist try is this useable in a watch case 38.8mm Dial 1mm thick

Thompson blend “Le bleu”

I mentioned on another post I needed to do a side by side picture of all the blue dials… why not do it all on one?

Greetings! I'm looking for a seasoned watchmaker with experience disassembling BR01 chronograph cases.

I have a BR01-94 Yellow Limited Edition (Ref. BR01-94-S YLW) that I'm having refinished. I need the case completely disassembled, including removal of the movement, crystal, crown, chronograph pushers and pusher seals. After refinishing, I need the watch reassembled and pressure tested.

I'm specifically looking for someone who personally does this work at the bench and has experience with chronograph pusher assemblies.

I'm in the Pacific Northwest and would strongly prefer someone in the Seattle/Tacoma/Eastside area so I can bring the watch in personally — but beggars can't be choosers here, and can mail it anywhere in Continental U.S.

Firsthand recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I'm trying to stock in a few movements.

Their quartz are often ETA F06.115 and Ronda 6003.D

As example in the Aquaracer Formula 1 and Link quartz

But my question is which height (HCP) should I stock

Standard, medium or tall ? I doubt I should stock the standard since tag often has applied indices

Let me know

Thanks

Thompson Enamel 1710 “Tallow Pink”

Someone asked me if I could do a salmon dial. This was the color I found that I thought would be closest. I feel like it needs a bit more red in it maybe? Not sure, cool color regardless. I’ll keep looking to see if I can find something closer.

Hi Guys

I've just started my first tentative steps. Into this amazing hobby. I have picked up a cheap automatic movement at my local flea market and would like to break it down if possible. Only issue is that I am stumbling at my first hurdle and can't seem to see a spring clip or screw to get the stem out. I have included a couple of images and if you could point me in the direction with movement type or even better, what am I missing it would really appreciated.

Thompson Blend “Pepsi Swirl”

This is a fun one! I used a cut out piece of paper to sift on the blue pattern over the already fired red. I then used a brush to clean up the pattern as best I could.

Last picture is the dial right out of the kiln. It’s always so fun to see how different the glass looks when hot out of the kiln compared to fully cooled. Red especially changes.

Hello everyone,

I've seen this item but I'm not really sure about what's the utility of it is?

I have a watch with a 8215 movement. The second hand is bended. I've tried a few other hands but not compatible because the dial is slightly domed in the center.

Maybe this tool could help me?

Thank you

It's my first time doing anything like this to a watch, but I'm already planning another.

Thompson Blend “Pepsi mix”

I’ve always loved the “Pepsi” Rolex so I’ve wanted to experiment with red and blue. First experiment was a 1:1 mix shown here!

Unfortunately the edge on this one turned out awful. The bezel on the watch slightly covers it up and it looks great in the watch.

Hi folks, I wanted to share a new tool I've just released - Geartrain Analyzer. Similar to the dynamic poising tool I've shared on reddit before, this is a tool I've created for my own use in repairing antique watches which I feel has the potential to be useful to the watch community at large so I've made it available online for free.

After simply entering the wheel tooth and pinion leaf counts + the rotational period of any one wheel, Geartrain Analyzer renders a visual representation of your watch's geartrain, and calculates many attributes about the geartrain:

• Rotational period of each wheel arbor.
• Gear ratio of each mesh in the train (i.e. wheel to pinion ratios).
• Tooth pass interval for each mesh - the interval in seconds between successive teeth passing a fixed point in space.
• Hunting tooth interval for each mesh - how long it takes for the same wheel tooth to meet up with the same pinion leaf again.
• BPH of the watch (note: only applicable for traditional Swiss Lever escapements).
• Total gear ratio of the mainspring barrel to the escape wheel.

When troubleshooting a watch with rate or amplitude issues that recur in a repeating pattern or sinusoidal pattern, calculating these attributes about the geartrain helps rapidly narrow down the likely source of the issue. For example, if you have amplitude variation on a five-minute cycle and your barrel-to-second-wheel tooth pass interval is roughly five minutes, you know immediately to start investigating the barrel teeth, second wheel pinion leaves, and their interaction.

As a reminder, I receive no compensation or ad revenue for folks visiting the site - this is just a tool I made for myself which I want to share with the watchmaking community in case anyone finds it helpful.

He said it was stopping intermittently but it hasn’t since he gave it to me. Looks ok on the timegrapher… beat error is a little concerning. He’s been wearing it daily for probably 6-8 years.

Brushed(linen pattern) brass blank, one base decal and another layered on top with just the darker linen lines. Didn't get as much of a relief as I hoped, and layering another decal would probably make it too dark. Next attempt I will probably use just one shade and layer the pattern so the linen effect is just in the brass background and the relief from the pattern

Hey guys, I’m currently posting this as I would like to hear some insight from some of y’all on how to make a bezel insert. I’m currently trying to make a replacement bezel insert for my Omega Seamaster 165.024 mod, that I made with a WatchDives WD1967Q, but don’t like the insert that it currently has and it’s crooked. The insert size is 37mm outer diameter and an inner diameter of 30mm. Does anyone have any information or can point me to the right direction to get this project started? Thank you all in advance.

I’m sure this question gets asked a lot, but for someone who doesn’t have a traditional pathway to becoming a professional watchmaker (no formal training schools or courses nearby), what can I do to become a professional watchmaker and eventually work with the great watch brands?

This bezel was made for 316l stainless steel. Turned on my Monarch lathe and finished with my lapping lathe

Thompson Blend “Kobe!”

Day 24 of the 30-Day Challenge

I was looking for inspiration for a blend to make and with it being the 24th day I went with Kobe!

I was watching a video from Alison moriarty where she talks about the challenges of mixing enamel and how not all combos work out great.

This might be one of those, it kind of turned out brown. It’s also a little under fired which is where that surface texture comes from, but for this mix I kind of like it.

What are your thoughts on this color?