Hello Tago, I can recommend Digital Tutors, pay 6 months or a month so you can try it out.  They have the biggest Maya tutorials in the internet & most of all they are all very well made and explain.  Try the Advance videos on Modeling, you should find more than 300 tutorials (many videos over an hour).  Best of all, they keep adding new techniques for any level on any 3d or composite software you like.  You will learn more there than in any University or Academy, no joke.

http://www.digitaltutors.com

Hello Tago. this is an interesting question that you have. I agree that efficiency is key.
The first step is to become familiar of the tools available to you as you’ve correctly identified. Merlyn mentioned digital tutors. I have been a member of digital tutors and i think its a great resource however as I spent time following their tutorials I realized that they were not giving me enough information of how to implement things outside of the project that they were going through.

if you want to understand the mechanics behind the clock work your better of going for gnomon workshop. Don’t get me wrong digital tutors is a good resource however they seem to teach you software more than they do the concept of 3d in this case modeling.

gnomon is more expensive but in my opinion wot the extra money. I would recommend that you try them both out and see what works well for you.

as a side note I would recommend watching speed modeling videos on sites like youtube.. your a user for 2 years so its very likely that you just need to be shown quickly how things are done and you will have a classic Eureka moment.

Deformers are a powerful modeling tool if you have not had an opportunity to use them.

hope this helps

David Mansaray