The Watch Repairer's Manual

My wife has about 20 small quartz "style" watches that all cost less than $25 each and that she wears only with a certain outfit or a certain type of clothing. Several of the batteries had died and more than a few of the bands were broken. She asked if I could take her watches to the jewelry store and get them fixed, but they charge $30 just for a battery change. So, I decided to look into fixing them myself. I ordered a simple watch repair book and eventually was able to replace all of the dead batteries and replace the bands. That learning process motivated me to learn more about how watches work, particularly mechanical watches. I own two nice automatic (mechanical) watches, a Rolex Submariner and a Seiko MarineMaster 300m and have to spend several hundred dollars every 3 to 5 years to have them serviced. So part of my motivation was just to see if I could learn how to take apart their movements and then clean and oil them. I decided to order this book by Henry Fried so that I could learn more about mechanical watch movements and how they are repaired and oiled. The book arrived just fine about 3 days later and not only are basic repair and oiling of mechanical movements covered but the book goes into great detail about a wide array of detailed repair operations. The book also covers how to calibrate the time on a mechanical movement in detail. Some other reviewers complain that many of the pictures are from decades ago or that the book is not updated. However, mechanical movements have not really changed that much in the last fifty years and any modern reader will easily be able to learn all major (and most minor) repair processes from this book. Thanks to this book, I got started on a cheap $15 Chinese mechanical watch as my first victim. (Always practice the first month or so on something crappy) Once I had learned how to lube and calibrate it, I moved up to my trusty Seiko SKX007. After moving up the learning curve slowly, I was eventually able to take apart and remove the movement from one of my nicer watches. I cleaned and oiled the movement in my MarineMaster 300m and will soon do the same for my Sub. Not only do I find the work strangely rewarding but this book has already paid for itself several times over. I would easily recommend this work to others interested in working on their own watches. Five stars!

Book was recommended by multiple internet chat groups. I've gotten through most of it and find the information very informative. Illustrations and photos don't have the crispness and fineness of modern printing however, still very useful. I've just started with repairing pocket watches as a hobby and mangled my way through a few without anything but the internet as a guide. I prefer this book over videos, though I can see going between the two as I progress. Glad I purchased it. Good luck, hope this helps.

Good info.

Nice ! Good book to own for watch repair , or just watch info.

This might not want to be the first book on the subject you read, as the bulk of the book is pretty hardcore — and a little dated, too. But once you're starting to get your ahead around the subject (the more modern book by Mark W. Wiles, available here, is a very good place to start) this is great for backup and bedding your understanding. It has excellent exploded diagrams, and easily the best, most concise and clearest explanations I've ever read of what every part of a watch does. Will also provide useful technical information. Super-useful.

I'm handy and self taught. With this guide and a careful methodical approach, you can teach yourself very good skills through an intermediate phase of watch maintenance, repair, and refurbishing. I did. It's older and lays an excellent grounding in traditional movements. The good news is that that's abot 90% of all there is. The re st of the way is just learning the variations and (pun intended) complications. Modern, especially proprietary movements are just variations on the tried and true - just very complicated variations. Once you now the basics you can see through the complications, and this guide will be all you need to become proficient. The rest will be more education via classes, other education, and lots of experience. I'm on my way to working competence, and with the aid of photos can assemble, work on and tune up any watch -- slowly.

It starts from the beginning and has short quizzes so you can test your knowledge. Not overly complicated and lays it out piece by piece. If you are a watchmaker you need to read this book.

The language is not overly technical and the illustrations are very good. With mechanical systems having good illustrations are essential for understanding how to fix and repair

I think that this book has been copied from another rather than printed from plates. It is though well done and the diagrams easy to follow. The book was first published in 1949 but mechanical watches haven’t changed in centuries. There is more detail than I’ll ever need but it is fascinating to see how to repair parts that we would probably just replace.

Very knowledgeable book.

It is the Bible for watch repairers. Full of important information - get this if you are interested in the internals of a watch of the details of watchmaking.

if you are starting out or even if you know watches this is a very complete manual

Excellent book for educational purposes of all levels. myself being a toolmaker/machinist for many years and my gf a chef can both understand and follow all the intricate details. Test at end of each chapter drills the info deep into the long term compounds of the mind.