™ HOROLOGICAL HOROLOGICAL TIMES JANUARY 2010 TIMES VOLUME 34, NUMBER 1, JANUARY 2010 CONTENTS Official Publication of the American Watchmakers-Clockmakers Institute FEATURES EDITORIAL & EXECUTIVE OFFICES 35 mm Precision Work Spindles, By J. Malcolm Wild 6 American Watchmakers-Clockmakers Institute (AWCI) Breitling Chronograph Push Button Repair Technique 10 701 Enterprise Drive By Dale LaDue Harrison, OH 45030 Toll Free 1-866-FOR-AWCI (367-2924) Commercially Available Hole Gages, By Bill Nelson 16 or (513) 367-9800 Fax: (513) 367-1414 Certification Relevance, By Wesley Grau 22 E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.awci.com Office Hours: COLUMNS Monday-Friday 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM (EST) Education Notes, By Jerry Faier 20 Closed National Holidays Making the Hole Sizing Instrument, Part 4, By Laurie Penman 24 Managing Editor & Advertising Manager Donna K. Baas DEPARTMENTS Associate Editor & Design Associate President’s Message, By Mark Butterworth 2 Katherine J. Ortt Executive Director’s Message, By James E. Lubic 3 Executive Director/Education & Technical Director Questions & Answers, By David A. Christianson 4 James E. Lubic, CMW21 New Members 19 Operations Director Thomas J. Pack, CPA From the Workshop, By Jack Kurdzionak 28 Watchmaking Instructor/Certification Coordinator Affiliate Chapter Report, By Gene Bertram 30 Thomas D. Schomaker, CMW21 Bulletin Board 31 Membership Coordinator Sharon McManus Industry News 35 Education Coordinator Classified Advertising 36 Daniela Ott Advertisers’ Index 40 Receptionist/Technical Support Sally Landis AWCI Staff Directory 40 IT Director Jim Meyer EDUCATION AWCI Academy of Watchmaking Classes 32 HOROLOGICAL TIMES ADVISORY COMMITTEE AWCI 21st Century Certification Exam Schedule 32 Ron Iverson, CMC: Chairman Karel Ebenstreit, CMW AWCI and ClockClass.com Partner for Training Program 34 David Fahrenholz Jordan Ficklin, CW21 Chip Lim, CMW, CMC, CMEW SPECIAL INTEREST Robert D. Porter, CMW Countdown to the Fiftieth, By Terry Kurdzionak 5 Manuel Yazijian, CMW21 AWCI-ELM Trust Donations 27 Reprinting and reproduction is prohibited without written permission from the American Watchmakers-Clockmakers Institute. Copyright ©2010 by the American Watchmakers-Clockmakers Institute. HOROLOGICAL TIMES (ISSNO 145-9546) is published monthly and copyrighted by the American Watchmakers-Clockmakers Institute, 701 Enterprise Drive, Harrison, OH 45030-1696. Subscrip- tion price for the public is $137.00 per year ($8.50 per copy). Members subscription is $70.00 which is included with annual dues of $137.00. Periodicals postage paid at Harrison, OH 45030 and addi- tional entries. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to HOROLOGI- COVER CAL TIMES, 701 Enterprise Drive, Harrison, OH 45030 This month’s cover features the Seiko Spring Drive Chronograph SPS001 President’s Message By Mark Butterworth I wish to take this occasion to wish everyone a very Happy New Year. There is always something about putting up a new calendar that gives us hope. We hope things will be better. We make some New Year’s resolutions. The late physicist Carl Sagan once stated there was only one thing he could guarantee about the future—given enough time, all things change. In our business world as well as the scientific one, the key phrase is “adapt or die.” Another great physicist, Albert Einstein stated, “The definition of insanity is to continue to do that same thing but to expect different results.” If we have changing business conditions, we need to try to predict if these are temporary due to the current economic reces- sion, or if there are permanent changes that have occurred. BOARD OF DIRECTORS OFFICERS As an example in the clock world, we went through a period of thirty years from Mark Butterworth: President 1970 to 2000 in which sales of mechanical clocks flourished. After that time, not [email protected] only did clock sales slow, but there was a change in the mix of mechanical and Manuel Yazijian, CMW21: Vice President [email protected] quartz in the wall and mantle clocks. Today, about 80% of the sales are quartz. Tony Riggio, CMW21: Secretary Part of the explanation is that there was a great improvement in the sound of the [email protected] chiming quartz units. It is also true that the quartz is less expensive. However, I Jack Kurdzionak, CW21: Treasurer think there is also a generational difference in that many simply do not want to [email protected] take the trouble of winding, adjusting, and maintaining the mechanical clock. DIRECTORS What does that mean for us? If we are retailers, it means we recognize there is a Michael Gainey, CC21 change in demand. Folks will still want clocks, not just to tell the time, but as [email protected] pieces of furniture or accent pieces. They may just not be mechanical clocks and Roland (Ron) Iverson, CMC [email protected] we may need to stock our shelves accordingly. As repairers, our world is still John Safranek bright, just different if we are willing to adapt. There are many customers want- [email protected] ing to have the mechanical clocks they already own restored or repaired whether Douglas Thompson, CW21 they are antique or modern. It goes without saying that many of the clocks which [email protected] had quartz units at the time of purchase will have need for our service either Ernest Tope, CMW21 because of the expensive original cost or that fact that it may have sentimental [email protected] meaning. We have a new class of candidates for our business. These are people Gene Bertram, CC: Affiliate Chapter Director [email protected] who may have been given a 31-day clock as a gift, inherited the depression-era Herman Mayer, CW21: REC Director electric, or love their mechanical clock [case] but do not want to fiddle with its [email protected] winding or maintenance. Maybe they are not physically able to do so any longer, Henry Kessler: IAB Director or financially able to do the needed repairs. Do we act as a purist who refuses to [email protected] do nothing other than a restoration of the existing unit, or do we adapt to the IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT wishes and sometimes needs of the owner of the clock by doing some type of Joseph Juaire, CW21 quartz retrofit? [email protected] FELLOW This is a time to reflect on our business practices, to ask ourselves if there is American Watchmakers-Clockmakers Institute anything that made sense 1, 2, or even 5 years ago that no longer is valid or Robert F. Bishop J.M. Huckabee justified under current conditions—our lease agreements, mall space, advertis- *James H. Broughton Gerald G. Jaeger ing, telephone, etc. This is the time to look at our expenses line by line to see Fred S. Burckhardt *Benjamin Matz Alice B. Carpenter Robert A. Nelson what, if anything, should be changed. Are there types of repairs or services we David A. Christianson *Hamilton E. Pease perform that really are not profitable? This may be the opportunity to do some George Daniels Archie B. Perkins time studies to find out how many hours are actually spent at a given task and if Wes Door Antoine Simonin *Henry B. Fried William O. Smith, Jr. we are charging accordingly. We need to ask if there is a demand for some type of *Josephine F. Hagans Milton C. Stevens service we are not providing but could be profitable. It might be outside our *Orville R. Hagans *Marvin E. Whitney Ewell D. Hartman *Deceased *Harold J. Herman Continued on page 15. 2 Horological Times January 2010 Executive Director’s Message By James E. Lubic, CMW21 I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and Holiday Season. Now it’s time to get to work on those New Year’s resolutions. If you had trouble coming up with any resolutions for this year I would like to help you with some ideas. If you don’t do so throughout the year you should look at your pricing structure for repairs. Make a resolution to monitor what your turndown rate is on various repairs that you quote to customers. Many of you may know this already, but for those of you who don’t…a good rule of thumb when monitoring your turndown rate on re- pairs is 20/80. You want to set your prices so that 20% or 2 in 10 customers walk out your door without leaving the repair because the price you quoted is too high in their opinion. I know watchmakers and clockmakers want to be heroes and repair every- thing that walks through the door, even though we all know better. Don’t be a hero be a smart business person. Don’t be afraid to set your own supply and demand line. If your backlog is too long using the 20/80 approach, jump it up to 30/70. You might be surprised at the results. RENATA Take some time to clean up your shop, and get organized. Trade those shoe boxes in AD for proper cabinets. You will feel much better about yourself and your business. Don’t be shy about projecting a professional image through your appearance. Invest in one new piece of equipment for your business. It could be a computer, computer upgrade, software, or test equipment. Stay current with technology. Someday you will want to retire. A clean organized and up-to-date business can easily be sold to supplement your retirement. A dirty, disorganized, outdated business usually ends up closing and the contents selling for pennies on the dollar, and that just isn’t right when you’ve worked so hard for all those years. Reward yourself and take a vacation this summer, how about August 4th through 8th to Covington, KY/Cincinnati, OH for the AWCI 50th Anniversary Annual Conven- tion and Educational Symposium.