Watch repair question.

When I was running machines for a living I wore a cheap, flat pocket watch. Caravelle? My wife bought a nice Waltham watch for Christmas one year, the inscription on the inside cover says "Rev. Thompson 1887"

OK, too old, too nice to be leaning on a milling machine.

Some years ago someone [not me] overwound it.

We also have a mantle clock. 22 inches tall, 12 wide, pendulum on the bottom; hasn't run in 20 years.

Question: Do I just pull some name out of a phone book? How do I proceed and how do I know good from bad repairmen?

Thanx, Dan

There's gotta be a watch forum or something.....

Sorry, that came off as rude. I guess my answer was- there has to be a resource out there for quality watch/clock dudes. I know they're a dying breed, and like a lot of cottage industries (cobblers, haberdasheries, etc) there's crap, and there's the guy that's still in business because he's the man. I'd start poking around the area and see who is the man, as it were.

I didn't see rude.

I found a similar watch on fleabay although mine has an elk engraved on the back but looks like the same gear.

Go to your local jeweler (the quality local place, not the big chains) and ask who does their watch repair work. Go ask a few places like that. Chances are that they all do business with the same guy. Around Montreal (which is a pretty big city) there are only 2-3 watch repairman still in business. It's a dying breed.

Mr Wiley, here in Saskatoon, died a few years ago, but I think his daughter is carrying on...I'm sure there are people out there, and I think the jewelery store idea is a good one.

When I was stationed in Ballston Spa one of my coworkers was a master clockmaker. That was how he passed the time underway on the sub.

Point being, might be worth a want add on Craigslist to see what comes up. Anyone worth taking it to is going to have a couple of in progress pieces you can look at to get a vibe for how they work.

Watch repairmen and clock repairmen don't crossover much. You'll probably need two different people. Watch repair is probably easier to source than clock repair.

My father owned a clock shop for years and always had more repairs than he could deal with. He retired a few years ago. He always had a watch guy he could recommend.

I think there is an American Horological Society you can check with for a member near you.

I think there's someone on here who is a watchmaker, but I can't remember who.

It's interesting that you bring this up though. I have my great great grandfather's Waltham pocket watch. He was a Civil War veteran. I need to have someone look at it, as it will only run with the back of the case open. There's a Masonic emblem in there that I think is putting pressure on the works when it's closed and it would most likely work fine if I remove it, but if that's not the culprit, I'd prefer to leave it in place. Either way, it deserves a good cleaning and I was never sure who to take it to.