The courses are self-study with the assistance of a forum
The courses are self-study with the assistance of a forum led by watchmakers in Holland. The two courses are entirely cool. You work at your own pace, and the tools from the tool kit are top notch. The customizations that are shown on the watch are hands/faces that came with the movement kit. I found that it took about a month working a few evenings or weekend afternoon each week.
This is not a course you can power through because there is some question/answer on the forum, and invariably you are going to lose/break parts that you have to reorder. I lost a few springs that flew across the room, and broke a few screws... Fortunately, the kits use ETA movements so obtaining parts is easy from ofrei or other watch part houses. Also, I would lose or break parts when I got tired or tried too many steps in succession. Now I know why watch makers are a pretty calm crowd who dont rush any repair. There is a definite Zen zone I had to get into in order to work on watches.
the lessons are web based. I downloaded all the web pages and converted to .pdf on my computer so that I was not tied to the Internet. I can also refer back to them in the future (which I do).
I highly recommend the courses. Feel free to shoot me any questions regarding the courses, but save the actual technical questions for the course forum. Those questions are answered pretty quickly. Unfortunately, there is no level III course. If there were, I would have registered.
yes, after these classes and practicing on Benrus', creating your own watches wiht ofrei kits will be no problem as you will already have the tools and the understanding. I will cracking my 16710 later in the week to put on a transparent caseback. I already have the Rodico, silicon grease, and the press just came in the mail.
If you truly want to understand watches, take these classes.
-Sheldon