Help identifying movements

[tode1640]

Does anyone know of a good "spotters guide" to movements? There are so many out there, and experts generally seem to be able to recognise movements at a glance. I would really like to be able to learn to do that.

I live in Asia, where you can sometimes find quite decent reps in backstreet shops. The dealers will often make claims about their movements, and open up their watches to show people. However, looking inside a watch doesn't mean much to me. I don't know how to tell the difference between an A21J, an ETA clone, a real ETA a Selita etc. Can anyone point me in the direction of information here.

BTW, I find it hard to believe that this isn't a frequently asked question (and my apologies if it is!). However, I have searched the forums and all I have found is very old threads which point at internet resources that have long gone.

[FxrAndy]

I think the main tool to this is time and education but there is great reasearch tool by a Dr Ranft called the pink pages as I am on my phone so I can't paste a link but google is your friend as much as time spent reading the forums

[tode1640]

there is great reasearch tool by a Dr Ranft called the pink pages

Thank you very much for that. This is the bidfun-db Watch Movement Archive, and it is an amazing resource - it provides technical details and photographs of over 8,000 different watch movements. It isn't the easiest of systems to use (the search facility is eccentric, to say the least, and doesn't seem to work properly). However, there is a vast amount of information there. Unfortunately, because the search is so difficult I think that it would be very tricky to use it to identify an unknown movement - which is what I'm really after. Also, although it is a vast resource, there are some omissions (e.g. there are no Selita and it doesn't make it obvious which movements are ETA clones). If anyone knows of any other resources, then do please post them.

[stratct]

Thank you very much for that. This is the bidfun-db Watch Movement Archive, and it is an amazing resource - it provides technical details and photographs of over 8,000 different watch movements. It isn't the easiest of systems to use (the search facility is eccentric, to say the least, and doesn't seem to work properly). However, there is a vast amount of information there. Unfortunately, because the search is so difficult I think that it would be very tricky to use it to identify an unknown movement - which is what I'm really after. Also, although it is a vast resource, there are some omissions (e.g. there are no Selita and it doesn't make it obvious which movements are ETA clones). If anyone knows of any other resources, then do please post them.

Metatechnical cabinet is great too. Most movements have the name of the company signed under the balance. But just study up here and on other forums!