It’s always been a thorn in my side that old BestFit catalogues go for a lot of money (I paid £60 for mine), and that they are hard to get.

Finally, I got around to cut mine up and scan them in. I also ran some ocr software over them, so they are searchable.

I hope you find them useful – feel free to download and store a copy, but please don’t try to sell the pdfs on or claim that they are yours. Click on the links to get to the pdf files, or go to https://watchguy.co.uk/cgi-bin/files?subdir=BestFit&dir=Technical%20Manuals&action=documents.

Probably won’t get a lot of money now if I want to sell my cut-up catalogues 😉

Whilst we are at it, I have also compiled a large amount of technical information sheets, and they are all available at https://watchguy.co.uk/cgi-bin/files – enjoy.

With a brand spanking new fourth axis unit, I’m getting closer to my goal of cutting watch wheels….

Continue reading →

I’ve been busy with my CNC milling machine, and anything flat (minute recorder springs, setting lever springs, etc.) is no problem at all.

The final frontier are of course wheels and pinions. The fourth axis motor that came with the milling machine wasn’t very accurate, so I had to modify it in order to be usable for watch parts.

A good indicator how small you can machine is making a small pinion. The one in the photo measures 2.5mm across, and has 18 teeth, so that’s not bad for a start. Continue reading →

To all our readers who celebrate the season – we wish you a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. And for our readers and customers all over the world who celebrate something else, or don’t celebrate at this time of the year, we do of course wish you our finest season’s greetings, and a Happy New Year!

My colleague Frank always turns up to our Guild board meetings with funky self-made watch parts, and I was getting curious. He told me that he had a CNC mill, and I pestered him to let me visit him to have a look.

Frank graciously let me come to his workshop, and this is where my little adventure starts.

We often get water damaged watches sent into the workshop, and usually, it’s game over.

This watch saw water ingress a long time ago, and it was left out “to dry”, or, more like it, left out to rust in peace.

If you don’t act quickly, it’s the end of your watch. A week will do nicely, and you have thrown away thousands or at least hundreds of pounds.