10 Mar 2007, 03:51
For soldering, get yourself a HAKKO 937 or 926 soldering station. Digital readout of tip temperature; programmable, so you can specify, to the degree, the tip temp. Also compensates for heat loss during soldering, so you get good solder flow. They show up on eBay rather frequently, and at reasonable prices [that's where I got mine]. Testing modules for functionality has been addressed elsewhere on this forum, but if you're talking about TIMING quartz watches, you need a timing monitor. Ule has a nice Zantech one on eBay right now, but the reserve seems a bit high. Just keep watching; one will show up within your price range [I have a Pulsar Analyzer as well, which works perfectly, but it is more of a Pulsar collectible than an analytical tool]. For internal repairs, a good binocular microscope is a must. Bausch & Lomb makes a great model called the StereoZoom. Mine has .7-3x variable zoom, 15x widefield eyepieces, and I finally just found the add-on 2x magnifier. This gives you a total range of magnification of 10-90x, suitable for anything you may need to do, all the way down to wire-bond repairs. Depending how lucky your bidding is, you might put this all together for US$300-500. Fix a few modules and you're even; after that, it's all gravy... My investment paid for itself a long time ago.