I was able to get into this with a $60 set of screwdrivers, a $20 crappy movement from eBay, and another $20 toolkit of random watch repair stuff that wasn't really necessary. And maybe like $20 of lube. I would never attempt to service something I wear/use, but for the $20 crap movement off eBay there's no harm no foul.
I probably already went overboard a bit when staring out. My cost where mostly in a stereo microscope and the consumables (mobius oils, cleaning liquids). Oh and maybe I didn't need a timegrapher before having a functional movement haha
Also, almost everything I had to import in to the EU. Importing chemicals is expensive for some reason I discovered. UPS charged me like 3 times the usual amount.
There is a lot of advice that says 'don't cheap out, just buy good stuff'; which is great if you are going to make this really your hobby for years to come. But I feel starting with some cheap tools on a junk movement is a fine start.
