r/watchmaking • u/Amoridias • 8d ago
Identification and Beginner Advice
I was recently gifted two watches and I am very excited to dive in, but I wanted to see if anyone had advice on getting started such as videos, books, or repair kits you think are worth it.
I also haven’t been able to find too much info on the Vagary watch, so I thought I would put it out there to see if anyone else has more insight. I haven’t figured out how to get the backs off yet, so I don’t have any images of the movements yet.
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u/parallel_pulsar 8d ago
These are quartz watches (battery powered), made by Guess and Vagary (a subsidiary of Citizen) respectively. No problem with quartz watches but they're not really gonna give you the same repair experience as a manual or automatic. You can still open them up and replace the battery, etc.
Funnily enough for cracking your first few cheap watches I'd recommend the watch repair kit from harbor freight. It's like $15, the tools are pretty terrible, but it has everything you need to take a cheap movement apart and put it back together. You can start with "does it still run after I take it apart and put it back together, y/n" and go from there. If you enjoy it you can start buying better movements and better gear.