Why an Amscope Microscope is AWESOME for watch

stefan_ava

Here are links to all various parts I ordered for this microscope setup.  Microscope https://amzn.to/3wwW7Jt (this can also be purchased from Amscope. Check both sites because prices vary)  Barlow Lens https://amzn.to/38Mqnqu  LED light https://amzn.to/3sOuklB  Camera https://amzn.to/48CLXtS  Adapter for camera to microscope https://amzn.to/3GbbFFR  C-CS adapter. (this doesn't seem to be needed if you get certain Barlow lens) it's only 7 bucks, so good to have, just in case.  https://amzn.to/4oUwpGI  Video Monitor https://amzn.to/3G55sLK  HDMI Cable https://amzn.to/3MOuYHq  L shaped Desk (even better than what I bought) https://amzn.to/48SYND8   I bought an SM 4NTP Amscope Stereoscope and this is my experience with using it to repair watches. I forgot to mention in video - this is a simulfocus microscope - which means that the camera doesn't have to 'share' with the eyepieces. You always can record an image while having full stereo vision through the eye pieces. Talk about all the parts and pieces to make this thing really work well.  UPDATE: I SWITCHED TO a .35 C mount adapter. This lessens the crop factor in a big way, though still not 100 percent. So - use the .35 adapter instead of the.5 cmount adapter I discuss in the video. Also didn't need the C-CS mount adapter with this switch. The edge of the lens does vignette on the right hand side, slightly - but this is still preferable to a massively cropped image.  Update (Dec 2025) - updated camera and desk. Even better stuff than I originally had. Nice.

Transcript

00:00Hi, my name is Stefan and this is a hobby. I'm a watch repair hobbyist which

00:08means that lots of little parts still go flying and I tend to get myself in

00:12trouble. This video is specifically about this and and what this what this is all

00:24about. This of course being a microscope. When I started with my hobby this was the

00:34extent of what I had and in fact my desk I had these are just little plastic

00:41storage units and a piece of plywood and this was sitting on my actual office desk

00:50and I would put it on my desk when I had a little time to play and then I would

00:55put it in the corner. As I got more tools as I got a little bit more serious about

01:00things that started to get a little more tricky and things start piling up

01:05everywhere. I also noticed that that working with loops which which of course

01:12I do you know here's here's a loop so that's typically what I was using was

01:19fine and that's what all professional watch repair guys use and they seem to

01:24generally not think a whole lot about microscopes except for looking at how

01:32jewels they're broken or not you know etc how clean things are but I always find

01:41myself getting stressed when I was working under the loop and it would get

01:45hot and sweaty and the loop would fog up and I would get hunched over and at the

01:49end of the day when I walked out of the office you know my eyes would be just

01:56whacked and tired and I was achy and I was like okay am I having fun with this

02:01hobby I mean this is this is really stressful and in addition to working with

02:04tiny parts I felt like I was just getting a lot of stress and so I really was

02:10wondering about whether whether a stereo microscope would would make a

02:13difference a lot of other industries that work with with microscopic parts

02:18or very small parts use these so why not the watch world and I'm gonna come

02:26around and say that this has been a game-changer for me I will I cannot

02:31imagine going back to just using loops I've now disassembled overhauled

02:38repaired and reassembled three different watches solely under the microscope using

02:44the loop really only for when I was using the time grapher because you know I

02:50have my watch sitting here on a time grapher I have my time grapher over there

02:54and I and then I adjust it pushing the regulator with a piece of pegwood and so

02:59for that I was using the loop but for everything else I did use the microscope and

03:05it's great let me tell you it's just great the the stereoscopic ability that

03:16that is a game-changer I thought it was going to be tricky to work under a

03:22microscope not close to the loop and I thought there was gonna be a sort of like

03:25intimacy issue not at all working under the microscope is fantastic and it it it

03:35makes it possible for me at least to do much better work than I was doing under

03:40a loop I'm seeing things I just didn't see before dirt but also in terms of

03:45oiling I can really see how much oil I'm putting in there so I really feel my my

03:51job has been elevated in terms of what I'm doing going into the specifics of

03:56what this microphone microscope I almost said microphone microscope is about is that

04:04the the main part is the head the dual arm the dual arm stand and the base of that

04:20down to the nice heavy stand so this can move in and out and it's there's no fear

04:27of it tipping that was all the amscope I've got my notes here the SM for NTP

04:37microscope and what that is is a 7 7x to 45x microscope and that's that's the basic

04:50bit they sell this same model with all the doodads that I'm going to go through for

04:56more money than what I spent buying them separately so once you have the

05:02microscope then the next bit that you'll want for this is a Barlow lens Barlow

05:11lens is basically a wide-angle lens gives you a wider shot and this is a 0.5 Barlow

05:19lens and on Amazon I was able to get it for half the price that Adam scope has

05:25it so that was $22 let me let me go back and also say that the microscope the

05:31the stand the base the basic head of it that was that was five hundred and eighty

05:39seven dollars however you can find coupons which can knock off quite a bit and so I

05:45was actually able knock ninety dollars off that so I think that the whole thing

05:48shipping to my door ended up costing around that a little bit less so we're

05:54not talking no money however in the in the no pun intended maybe pun intended in

06:00the scope of things I think that this this is money that's that's well spent

06:05because I want to have fun with this and I think we want to have fun with this

06:08hobby and and this is something that really is I think good money spent and you

06:13know if you decide the end you don't want it you can always sell it for

06:15probably three-quarters of what you paid and really be not that you know in the

06:21hole so the Barlow lens is $22 versus I think $49 if you were to buy it through

06:29Amscope in the 40 somewhere same with the light of course you do need to have this

06:34light you want to have an LED light and that attaches to the to the lens and you

06:40need to get one that does have that special attachment because otherwise

06:43it's not gonna it's not gonna hold that was 23 bucks again this is something that

06:52would cost a lot more if you were to go through Amscope probably 40 50 60 dollars

06:58and up so so that's one another area where you can go to Amazon find something

07:03and buy that great thing with these new ones now everything's LED so there's no

07:08there's no heat the older microscopes used halogen bulbs and so that could get

07:13to be a bit of a heat issue the camera is and this was something I did a lot of

07:20research on because a lot of these microscopes tend to have USB cameras and

07:24USB is fine for basic stuff but but you just don't get the frame rate and the the

07:31the lag the lack of lag that you would get with a camera that's outputting HDMI so

07:37this is a camera that outputs HDMI it can also do USB and it can also record to a

07:43chip which is which is great and with a remote control that comes with a camera

07:47you can shoot off stills you can shoot off video the video you have a variety of

07:53different rates the default rate is 1080 at 60 frames per second so you can

08:00actually actually watch it's not high speed but you can watch something a bit

08:04faster than what's typically you know broadcast frame rates which are 30

08:08frames a second or so this camera and this is where you'll save some significant

08:15money versus buying everything through Amscope this camera was $135 this is an

08:21HDMI camera so it's it's a it's a it's a proper camera and it's real-time image you

08:28need to get a C mount adapter for the camera and also because in fact the

08:34camera says it's a C mount but it's actually a CS mount which is a difference

08:38of five millimeters but that five millimeters makes a difference so the

08:43the adapter ring is 36 bucks 37 bucks and then this little C to CS adapter is

08:50another $6 or so so so you need to have those two parts to make that work once the

08:58camera is mounted in there I know it doesn't go in quite straight which is a

09:00bit of interesting so I guess the CMOS must be a bit crying but once it is in

09:05there it locks down and then it's it's a it's a beautiful thing the the one thing

09:14that you do have to think about if you're used to working with a desk a watch

09:20desk that's kind of up near your sort of chin or neck level is that any lower desk so I

09:27did have to I did have to buy this desk and reconfigure myself but you know I'm

09:32glad I did it it allowed me to have a bit more of an ergonomic thing here going

09:36on and and and I'm just happier in general so whether you build a desk of

09:40your own you find an old scrap desk or you do what I do which is I bought this

09:45desk for it is an L an L shaped desk that I got from Amazon for 120 bucks I

09:51couldn't have built it for the same price cheap it's a small desk I wouldn't I

09:56wouldn't imagine it working well for you know except for me for children but for

10:00watches for watch work it's great so the desk was another hundred hundred and

10:06twenty dollars hundred and thirty dollars so that was that was an addition you

10:10know once I decide to really go hog wild with this some of the great things of

10:15this microscope it is a par focal microscope which means that you can zoom

10:22in and zoom out and it stays in focus that is beautiful so you can actually

10:27zoom in focus zoom out and you're in focus great the the little monitor I did

10:33this is this was a good idea to get you could plug this into any HDMI monitor if

10:38you have an extra one lying around then don't worry about this but I wanted

10:40something that was nearby my desk so I could look over and make sure that the

10:44camera was a and focus and then be recording when I wanted to be recording so

10:50that was sixty five dollars and the the HDMI cable which I wanted to get small

10:55one was eight bucks these are things that you may already have lying around and so

11:01that is the the bit now admittedly this is a more deluxe way of going with

11:09magnification than buying a digital microscope or whatever but it's it's I

11:15really think it's worth it over the course of of this time in terms of the

11:20hobby I mean there's this expression cry buy once cry once and I think that that

11:25was a good idea I mean I have used I have used these little guys here which you

11:32know they work but they're just for taking images or whatever this this I'm

11:36actually using this is this is now a functional part and and used for

11:41everything with building them building and disassembling and working on this on

11:45the watches it's just the way to go I I don't quite know why more watch repair guys

11:53don't do it this way I think there's a tradition of using loops and and loops you

11:59know they work but but this is better it's three-dimensional if you have two

12:04good eyes I know I know I'm one of our dear guys Michael Bolton only has one

12:09good eye I'm sorry about that Michael but but but if you have two good eyes and

12:15you've and you're able to see you know stereoscopically that is a real game

12:20changer from a loop in terms of playing with a hairspring or in terms of just

12:24picking anything up you have no issues with with depth perception under this under

12:31the microscope it's wonderful and again like I said the the the working distance

12:36is fine so there's no issue with that that is something to definitely watch out

12:41for when you are buying or looking at buying a microscope because if you know

12:45how that working distance you know it's it's useless so that was something I

12:50checked all of these SM models that Amscope makes have the same have the same

12:55working distance so even if they show different numbers they're talking about

12:59the the lenses the Barlow lens which is an important thing increases your working

13:05distance so that's great what's nice is that I'm working and my neck does not get

13:12achy I'm able to work right now this is exactly how I would be how I would be

13:16working and my eyes are very comfortable my neck is fine my back is fine and and I

13:24can see things in a way that I could never see with a loop so that that is

13:30that is that I mean I yeah if I sound evangelical it's it's because I'm quite

13:36content at this point with this the additional funny kind of thing you'll

13:41notice I have in some of the shots I have sort of these walls built around my

13:46desk which which is of course to try to keep some parts from entering different

13:52dimensions it's helped somewhat there's still springs that have made it over the

13:56wall like like some kind of escape from from 1970s East Germany but one of things

14:04that's kind of good with the microscope is there there was I was just working on a

14:07movement that had very very very small clip springs just ridiculously tiny and they

14:13really just would spring and fly and I they were so tiny I was I was actually

14:17impressed that they could get the distance they were getting because of

14:21just air resistance but indeed they did so I finally resorted to taking a piece

14:25of plastic and taping it to the microscope and taping it to the table and by doing

14:31that I was able to work through the microscope I could forget the plastic was

14:34there but I had that extra barrier to to stop to stop run away and fly away

14:40springs obviously hobbyist issues if you're if you're great with a with a with a

14:46tweezers I guess that's not as much an issue but it is an issue and I would I

14:50would rather not be on the floor for most of the evening desperately trying to

14:54find a spring that's an obsolete part that I have no chance of finding at

14:58Cousins or anywhere else so so that's it so so that's my basic I don't know if

15:05it's called a review but my my sort of experience with this microscope is a

15:10perfect pretty close but not quite one of the things I noticed the camera

15:16does crop the image slightly from what you see in the actually not so slightly

15:20it's probably about 30% crop crops the image from what you see in the in the

15:24eyepieces so if you're using the camera to make sure you know when you're

15:28disassembling to record your action so you can put the thing back together you

15:31want to make sure that you're not working off screen so a quick look to the

15:35screen is always a good idea to make sure you're really centered that that's

15:38something that I've learned also always double check that you're in focus and

15:43this has a focus ring here while the while the eyepiece is par focal as I said

15:49I'm not sure that the that the camera is situated at a par focal distance I've

15:55noticed that I do have to adjust and so sometimes when you're exciting you pop in

15:59zoom work and then playback it's out of focus and that's of course you know

16:04terrible so you want to make sure you're in focus recording is great because I can

16:09then review my work snap off some pictures you know sent to my iPhone or

16:14whatever so I can actually look at what I was doing and you know in order to put

16:19it back together you know for a mechanical you know a hand why you don't need to do

16:22that but you know like a chronograph I mean III need to refer to images in order

16:28to ever hope to get that thing back together the way it was so that's you know

16:32I'm a hobbyist that's that's the thing the only downside and I'm not sure that

16:40it's enough to even call it a downside but the only thing you have to be a

16:42little bit aware of unlike using a loop is you know when you have a loop and

16:48you're working up here and you've got the movement right there you have your

16:52little you know parts tray right right you know right next to you so you you

16:57unscrew something you just put put it to the parts tray and because the loop of

17:02course in your head is variable focus and depth it's really easy to do that

17:06with this the parts tray is off screen so you don't see it it see it through the

17:13lens unless you're really playing with playing with things here so you know taking

17:19a screw off you know you do have to sort of look down and and make sure that

17:23you're getting to the parts tray it's not a big deal but but that is the one

17:28thing is that the looking away thing and you do find yourself you know zooming and

17:32focusing and so there's a bit more fiddling but I have found that to all be

17:38giving me a certain Zen that I wasn't getting with the loops so none of these

17:43things are things I would call downsides it's just a slightly different

17:47workflow and it's not enough to to be affecting anything so those are those

17:54are really that's that's it those are my thoughts on my experience with working

18:00with a scope I really do wonder why more watch repair guys and I mean I see the

18:06guys at Omega and you know Rolex and I work with loops so so you know they're they

18:13know what they're doing but I also wonder if maybe it's not just an aspect

18:18of of the tradition of of the of the craft and that some people are just you

18:25know not willing to change or don't want to change or they say you know well

18:27worked well enough for the for the greats of the past why would I do anything

18:30different but for myself I just I see things I just never saw for instance

18:39dressing my tweezers and my screwdriver I did that under the microscope and

18:43my screwdrivers are they're better than when they came out of the factory by

18:48far and also just I'd never never never never saw those edges under any kind of

18:56loop that I have so that's another aspect of this it's it's just a world of

19:01difference and with this Barlow lens you're working at a factor of 3x to to

19:10about I think maybe 14x 10 14x if you take the Barlow off you have 7 to 45 so

19:17the the 3x to 7x is you know pretty much like the loops but it's it's but it's in

19:25stereo so you know 3d and your field of view is is very nice and large with this

19:31so it's that's that's another thing that you do want to watch when you buy these is

19:35is to make sure you have the wide the extra wide field of view lenses which this

19:40model this model has so there you have it

19:43hopefully that's not too boring and there you go

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