Etching notes in backs of cases

[mikethewatchguy]

When I joined the AWCI I was given a unique watchmakers mark to put into casebacks and I also add the personal numerical information about the watch. I use a "scribe" with a sharp point.

It does the job but my handwriting looks like a 3rd graders. Making an "S" for example is really hard. There must be some secret that the old watchmakers used to make the tiny yet smooth looking marks. I had a 93 year old guy tell me once that's not how to do it, but never showed me what to do to do it his way.

Any ideas on doing a better job at it?

[notime2spare]

think anyones listening to you...
But if the scribe is too sharp, it "drags" into the metal. And practicing in soft metal, doing the numerals bottom to top, usually works better.
But a lot of repair techs are using sharpies pens

[mikethewatchguy]

have been dead for at least 10 years not to mention all of my watches will need cleaning.

I brought this one up at one of our Watchmker's Guild's monthly meetings. A lot of folks have, as you said, moved to sharpies. It's interesting to bring these things up at the Guild meetings as everyone is old and doesn't give these things a second notice. But, when I go and ask these rather novice type questions, they all end up learning as they've never swapped how they do this kind of stuff. It sparked off more conversation than I thought it would.

One of the more practical solutions that I was told was used is to use the outside of the tip of your tweezers.

Thank you for the tip on doing numbers (and I assume everything else) from the bottom up. Great idea. And I suppose practicing, at a frequency of greater than once per watch completed, is a good idea too.