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Re:Open source mechanical Swiss watch movement by HeyLaughingBoy on Wednesday May 12, 2021 @10:03PM (#27137636)
The hobby machinist community has been buying cheap Chinese milling machines and lathes for decades and disassembling them to fix poor finish and assembly (replacing bearings, scraping or polishing bearing surfaces, better fasteners, etc.) and then reassembling to result in a much higher quality machine at a reasonable price. Could something similar happen with watch movements?
Re:Open source mechanical Swiss watch movement by samatman on Thursday May 13, 2021 @02:13AM (#27138988)
It not only can be done, it routinely is.

Especially with the Chinese watches, they often come from the factory with less-than-perfect attunement. Watch repairmen will take a watch like this, clean everything, maybe replace a bearing or two, use high quality lubricant, possibly even swap a gear or so if it needs it.

They can also take an older mechanical in pretty bad shape and restore it to health. There's a point of no return for any mechanical device, of course.