Stereo Microscope?

[ACHiPo]

Why don't more watchmakers use stereo zoom microscopes? It seems like it would be better than a loupe?

[kilyung]

I like a loupe because I can use my other eye to get another tool and get it within the working area without having to flip up scopes.

[Lt.Arclight]

I have a Stereo microscope and find it useless for watchmaking. Personally, I need my head very close to the movement. My benches surface is shoulder high and my arms are supported by the bench. The loupe 4x for most work,10x for hairspring and escapement work lets me be right at the movement with one eye free to reach for tools and other parts.

Plus you adjust your focus by simply moving your head in relation to your work.With a microscope I find myself not able to do things that are now second nature.

[ACHiPo]

Great answers. Thanks.

The microscope would definitely need to be desk height and I could see how it wouldn't work well at all on a typical watchmaker's bench. We used them exclusively for electronic assembly (at desk height), but that was typically fewer tool changes, so I see the advantage of having one 'far' eye and one 'near' for watch tasks.

[blue92]

Originally Posted by ACHiPo

Great answers. Thanks.

The microscope would definitely need to be desk height and I could see how it wouldn't work well at all on a typical watchmaker's bench. We used them exclusively for electronic assembly (at desk height), but that was typically fewer tool changes, so I see the advantage of having one 'far' eye and one 'near' for watch tasks.

I've had a Nikon stereo microscope mounted on a swing that I built myself and is at eye level (all I have to do is turn my head) on my bench since 1975. Every watchmaker should have one. I bought it for Accutron repair, but I use it in Rolex repair to see, check, and set escapements. It comes in handy when you have a tangled hairspring. I was the only watchmaker working at the Rolex service center in Dallas, Tx. in 1986 that had a microscope and the shop foreman thought it was a waste of time. Now if your a Rolex watchmaker with a material account they require you to have a microscope, but my almost 40 year old microscope is still better than the one Rolex requires.

[Rikki]

I use a dyno lite digital HD microscope camera 200 power hooked up to my HD laptop it focus's about a foot above what I'm working on so it isn't in the way. I just look at the laptop and do my thing . I can focus on 1 pallet stone or the whole escapement if i want. I can take stills or Full HD video's of the movement going. It works great for doing CO Axial escapements you have to get used to the disconnect when looking at the monitor while your hands are doing very intricate maneuvers. Rikki

[Lt.Arclight]

Originally Posted by Rikki

I use a dyno lite digital HD microscope camera 200 power hooked up to my HD laptop it focus's about a foot above what I'm working on so it isn't in the way. I just look at the laptop and do my thing . I can focus on 1 pallet stone or the whole escapement if i want. I can take stills or Full HD video's of the movement going. It works great for doing CO Axial escapements you have to get used to the disconnect when looking at the monitor while your hands are doing very intricate maneuvers. Rikki

There is a distinct disconnect using it when working on tricky stuff. BLUE92- mounting it on a c-type arm OVER the bench is a great idea. I spent a lot of money on mine and it just sits under the cover.

[ACHiPo]

Originally Posted by Lt.Arclight

There is a distinct disconnect using it when working on tricky stuff. BLUE92- mounting it on a c-type arm OVER the bench is a great idea. I spent a lot of money on mine and it just sits under the cover.

That's closer to what I was thinking--a work station that had a zoom scope set up, maybe with a camera/monitor, at the right height. Working distance is typically several inches, so the work surface would need to be closer to table height rather than bench height.