Tascione Course Review

Tascione – 3rd. post

In the previous post I mentioned the cleaning solutions, oils, rodico and

some other materials and simple hand tools that I had ordered. Received

them a couple of days ago. I had my jars all ready to go as Bob showed in

his courses so when the supplies got here I was ready to give cleaning a

try. I logged into the Tascione course and did some quick reviewing before

jumping in. I decided to start with the Elgin watch movement first then

the Seth Thomas time and strike clock movement. I dissasembled the

movement carefully separating the parts and prepared them exactly as Bob

shows in the course. Cleaning and lubricating the mainspring went easier

than I had expected. Putting it back into the barrel was a challenge. As I

had no mainspring winder I had to wind it back in by hand. Not the best

way to do it but I learned a lot through the process. I’ll get a winder

soon. I then proceeded to clean, rinse, oil the balance and pallet jewels

and then assemble the watch up to the point of putting the balance back

in. Assembling the watch was fast and easy now. Since my last post I’ve

practiced assembling this and the clock movement many times with each

attempt being faster and easier. I placed the balance into position,

aligning everything wp correctly and began to slowly tighten the balance

screw down. The balance started vibrating before I even had the screw

tightened down. It was running beautifully. I finished oiling the jewels

and then just sat there staring at it for a few minutes. I had

successfully cleaned and oiled my first watch!

The clock movement was also a success. The mainsprings were the tough part

for me here too, but I got through it ok. The strike went together with no

hitches because as I mentioned above I had practiced assembly and set up

of the strike many times until I understood it much better. The clock

movement seems to work well but I know that with 3 or 4 new bushings it

would run better. I feel confident enough now to try replacing some

bushings. I still need to order the materials to do the job but looking

forward to the challenge.

Also a little about the online aspect of the course. The video and

animation players are all custom designed. These are not generic or

purchased players but were designed specifically for running these

courses. The ability to jump to a number of topics displayed in the

control panel while viewing the videos live is unbelievely helpful. Bobs

interactive clock animations are not only powerful teaching aids but are

works of art as well. There is also an active members forum and a recent

twitter post on his site claims that some or all of the Tascione course

materials and videos will be downloadable as well as viewable online.

Needless to say I’m extremely satisfied with both the Tascione watch

repair and clock repair courses. There’s still so much more to learn in

these courses but I never imagined that I would get this far this fast. I

have plenty of time to keep learning. The Tascione courses are in my

opinion an Excellent value and get a big Thumbs Up!

Should have another post up about the Tascione course in a day or so…going great so far.

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It’s been a couple of days since my first article covering the Tascione

Courses. Here’s the scoop so far. I’ve spent numerous hours over the past

two days watching Bobs videos and studying course material. These courses

have been more than impressive. Seeing Bob perform a particular technique

or repair while explaining the process is helping me learn at an

astonishing rate. Bobs enthusiam, experience and love for what he does is

so obvious in these courses.

I’ll cover both clock repair and watch repair separately.

Clock Repair - I’ve already dissasembled and reassembled an American Seth

Thomas time and strike movement. The count wheel strike has given me some

trouble. Timing the strike is tricky. If not for the videos and especially

the excellent interactive striking animations I’m not sure I could have

done it. When I purchased the course I was under the impression the

animations were “still” pictures but they are actually long running MOVING

animations with which you can interact. Bob uses the word “Powerful” to

describe them and that’s exactly what they are. And there are a lot of

them. I don’t yet feel confident enough to tackle any actual repairs like

bushing. I’ll move on to that after I’ve reassembled the movement a few

more times. It has nothing to do with the course. It’s just that for me

things tend to sink in with a little practice.

Watch Repair - The watch repair course is great. The amount of information

is mind boggling. It would seem overwhelming if I actually had to know

everything Bob teaches just to service my own collection. The good news is

that I won’t. He covers basic dissasembly and reassembly of a watch first

then cleaning, changing mainsprings, staffing and the list goes on and on.

Most of my watches have only required a good cleaning and oiling in the

past. This seems to be far more common than all other repairs combined. So

I feel I’ll be able to put what I’ve been learning about cleaning and

basic maintenance to use right away and learn the more advanced techniques

over time. So far I dissasembled and almost reassembled an Elgin 16 size

movement last night but messed up putting the balance back into the watch.

Aligning the pallet fork with the roller jewel – yes, I learned those

names in the course – didn’t go well. My fault though. Bob showed me the

correct way to line things up but being my cocky self I didn’t feel it was

necessary. It was necessary. I called it a night and will tackle it again

the correct way this morning.

I ordered some watch repair and clock repair cleaning solutions, rinses

and oil the day after starting the course. They should arrive soon. I’m

going to try to do some cleaning so I will post the results in a few days.

I have the bug! That’s the only way I can describe my recent infatuation

with antique clocks and pocket watches. Scouring ebay and other online

auction sites into the wee hours of morning I find myself stalking some

gleaming, ticking mechanical wonder that I just must add to my collection.

I now have twelve beautiful clocks and 22 – soon to be 23 – pocket

watches. Not bad for a two year collecting spree.
Problem is they don’t all run properly and the cost for a decent watch

repair or clock repair has often run more thaan the cost of the timepiece.

Well, bye bye great deal!
So it was time to consider the possibility of servicing my own collection.

I did some searching online and came accross a couple of watch repair and

clock repair courses. The Tascione course caught my attention because I

read some good stuff about Bob Tascione and his online courses on a few

other clock and watch websites. He’s been teaching both clock and watch

repair for over 20 years. I liked the fact that he offered a course called

“The Ultra” which included both the clock repair course and the watch

repair course for a big discount. I like discounts. I also liked the

online aspect as I had some lousy experiences with shipped DVDs in the

past. Also The Tascione website said that I would have immediate

access…and I was raring to go.

I must say I was a bit skeptical of the low prices. I like low prices but

how much good info was I actually going to get? Was I being sucked into a

quick little down and dirty “how to repair clocks and watches but don’t

ever attempt it” course? Like it says on the website sales material you

can pay more for a book on the subject than for the entire course – which

I’ve already done – I figured it was worth a go. Well, I spent about four

hours last night completely absorbed by the Tascione courses. The amount

of information and the way Bob presents it is surprising. I’ll write more

about the courses after working with them for a couple more days. A lot of

information to absorb. So far though I’m very impressed with the material

and presentation.