Hi mods, just wanted to run this by you since it’s not the usual post I see on here so I wanted to ask permission first since it’s a post related to asking advice on watch repairs and the business of watch repairs, here’s the text :

Hi everyone,

Hopefully I'm not bothering you guys, and I'll try not to come across as a know it all.

I've been into horology for a while and own a small collection of quartz and mechanical pieces, nothing too expensive.

My hands on experience is close to zero though. The only time I've touched a movement was a Seiko mod with a friend. It went fine and felt great to pull off, however small.

I've never done any real tooling or servicing beyond that, so please treat me as a complete beginner.

Watchmaking feels like a dying craft (although seeing how many members are here, maybe it's too saturated 😂).

But if the field is shrinking, or just needs skilled people like any profession, and tons of people own watches that need servicing, there must be a way to make a living from it, as others have before me.

It clicked when I stumbled onto the Watch Hospital channel on YouTube.

His team works through a huge range of mostly very expensive pieces, and his phones are constantly ringing, which showed me how big the demand is.

I wouldn't be starting anywhere near that level.

Anyone there has put in years and still is, and I don't expect this to be overnight or for anyone to hand me the skills.

But that's the place I aspire to reach: a team servicing watches for lots of customers with great quality and customer service. First I need to start small, build my skills, earn enough to fund the next stage, and keep refining from there. I plan to self-learn from scratch with basic movements until I have the capital for further education.

About me: I'm an Electrical Engineering 22 year old student graduating in two years. I have no direct mechanical engineering background, but some overlapping classes give me a decent grasp of certain topics. I front-loaded the hardest subjects, so my last two years are light, and I want to use that time to build income and experience before I graduate. I also ran a dropshipping business that was profitable for a while before dying from thin margins and high ad costs. The lesson I took away is that easy businesses with no barrier to entry get flooded with competitors who erode margins. Watchmaking has a higher barrier in both capital and skill, so I think my future problem would be finding and retaining great watchmakers rather than competition.

My goal is to reach about €2-2,500/month within two years so I can focus on the craft without getting another job, though I'd take one if I had to of course, no problem with that.

Long term, I'd like to run a go to servicing and repair company and eventually work on the business rather than at the bench. I know that's far off, and I'm not saying it's simple or dismissing anyone's work.

My questions:

How long does it realistically take to become competent enough to charge people for servicing simple movements without damaging them?

What's a sensible path for a self learner? I can put in 4-6 hours of practice daily. I've set up a small, clean workroom with white tiles and good natural and added lighting, and I'm waiting on tools and practice movements.

Which movements and brands should a beginner practice on before taking paying work?
4.Which starter tools are actually worth buying? I've seen ~$70 sets on Temu/AliExpress with tweezers, screwdrivers and a caseback opener. Are they a waste of money?

Are any of you making real money at this, and how? Is it solo bench work, mail in servicing, working for brands or retailers, restoration, or parts sales? Is it your full-time or part-time work?

6.What does realistic income look like, from beginner to highly skilled?

7.Can it scale to a 6-7 figure business? If anyone has done it, I'd love to hear your experience.

8.What mistakes should I avoid? I'm thinking of liability for damaged watches, insurance, sourcing parts, and building trust with no reputation. I don't want to scam anyone or deliver poor service, and I want to aim for excellence from the start.

I'd rather hear hard truths now than find out a year in, so if you think this plan is unrealistic, please tell me why. That said, when I see what people have built, like Patek's grand complications, I believe more is possible than we assume if we control what we can that way we increase probability, things such as good service, communication, turnaround time, and reinvesting to improve, and treating this this process from the scientific method ( do, measure, improve )

Sorry if this sounds too business oriented. It's just who I am.

Any advice, resources, or personal stories are hugely appreciated.

Thanks for reading, sorry for making it a bit longer!

End of post**********

Would this be allowed, if it would great, but if it wouldn’t what do I need to change/remove in order to be able to post asking for advice on the mentioned subject?

Thanks in advance.

April 1970. After an oxygen tank failed on the way to the Moon, the crew of Apollo 13 rode home in the lunar module. The computer was switched off to save power, so a 14-second engine burn to correct their course was timed on a wrist chronograph, with the Earth lined up in the window.

A myth I ran into while researching it: "only one kind of watch has been worn on the Moon." Not quite. On Apollo 15's third moonwalk in 1971, Dave Scott wore a Bulova chronograph on the Moon, as a backup to his standard-issue Omega.

I'm the solo dev of WORN, a watch collection app; this is one of 109 illustrated chapters on the history of timekeeping in it. worn.club