I'm a novice with limited skill and equipment. If I run into a watch with a bad balance staff, my go-to action is to hunt for a donor movement with a good balance complete and cock. This can sometimes involve the purchase of several movements, however. Is purchasing a new or NOS balance staff and having a certified watchmaker replace the damaged staff worth the cost? Also, since I've never had this done as a stand alone job, would a watchmaker even do this? And does anyone have a guess as to...

Balance Staff Replacement Questions

I didn't want to ask this. I searched for quite a while for my own answer. I'm working on a Bulova 10BC that I've let sit for a very long time. So long in fact, that I can't remember where to position the click spring in relation to the click. Am I compressing the spring so the click is pushed to it's furthest clockwise position or do I leave the spring uncompressed and place the click squarely in the center? I can feel the heads shaking in shame at this question.

I'm looking into upgrading my tweezer set that was manufactured in sunny, exotic Pakistan. I know names like Horotec, Bergeon, Boley and Dumont immediately pop into folks' minds. What's your take on manufacturers like Idea-tec, TOWAT, Vetus or some other brand that doesn't get talked about much but still performs admirably? I don't think I'll find myself earning a living on this hobby but I'd sure like to lose fewer screws (and on a budget that won't get me the hairy eyeball from the missus).

Generally speaking, is it better to replace the rusted hands of a vintage pocket watch or keep them because they're original? Does that also apply to the dial? I picked up an Elgin 345 Grade 3 and it looks like the old acrylic crystal is the culprit. I'm pretty new to pocket watches and I don't want to mistakenly destroy some wildly collectable watch, but if this will only fetch $90 in mint condition I probably don't want to spend the money anyway.