Bah, don't listen to 'em. Inexpensive set of jeweler's screwdrivers, and pair of precision tweezers, some sort of magnifying device, and a couple oils (use Liberty oil for the pivots, it's cheap but good enough to start). Cheap oiler tools off eBay or amazon. I have maybe $50 in tools.

Buy some cheap movements off eBay, and dive in. Yeah, you'll lose parts and break things but you'll learn a bunch.

I have a couple Westclox watches from the 60s that I bought for $10/each on eBay, and they both now run at +/- 2 seconds a day.