Another day another dollar

This week flew by fast, everyone was busy at work. In workshop 2 Gary, Chris, Jaewon and Phillip started the technician course! A big jump from micro mechanics, learning very different content. As always the technician starts with trial by fire, oiling 30 Incablocs to get a feel for the finer work which is required by the technician course. After which they moved on to the wheels, tedious work. Bending a series of wheels is harder than is sounds, the high spot is always running away from you. Nick, our newest student just took his very first exam, a grueling 8 hour exam!

Gary bending wheels 

As for our workshop, I took my hairspring exam! The last exam before the final exams, if that makes sense. A very difficult exam, requiring many different skills to complete. While Caio and Gui have almost mastered the turning of the winding stem and hopefully will take their exam soon. 

How it starts 

Winding and grinding 

On some side news, our professor Michael and I have been experimenting on how to turn a regulator balance to a free sprung without adjusting the inner pinning point. Results have been promising.

That’s it for now, until next time!

Happy Birthday Craig!

 Short week this week, yet still eventful. I’ll kick things off with the most exciting accomplishment. Craig has done the final assembly for his caliber. The Eclipse 000. A real work of ingenuity, came together looking very unique. The knowledge learnt while building it is just as important as the watch.

Voilà!

Lil guy

Now backing up to the weekend. Us over here had a lovely fondue day,, home made 4 different flavors.

Everyone came over to the workshop and ate till we could move no more. After which we put on Tropic Thunder to digest. Was a great time, though the only thing we were missing is a chocolate fondue!

Now back to work, Jaewon Had started work on pivot gauges, not an easy job, though so far he’s fairing well.

Caio and Gui are approaching their winding stem exam, a daunting 8 hour exam involving may different skills, from hand turning to hardening. Here is one of Caio’s practice pieces. 

To end it off, we show the creation of Joan. Made purely from Ali express for a genuinely unbelievable price.

That’s it for this week! Until next time.

Cows are back

 You know spring is properly here when the cows return. 

Unfortunately it’s a rainy day for them. As for us, hard at work. Hair springs are still taking up all of my time and the other senior students. Our skills have greatly improved since we started, after many weeks bending springs under the microscope we are feeling much more confident using tweezers to manipulate the spring.

Gary made a new case prototype out of brass for a 7001, it’s looking sharp!

Some more good news, Jaewon do his wining stem exam  this week and passed! He’ll be moving on the pivot gauges.

That’s it for this week, until next time.

Fire and fury

This week we all just spent laboring away, the senior students are still working with hairsprings, almost understanding the secrets the coils hold. Preparing for their exam. Guilherme and Caio are understanding the frustration of hardening the winding stem and learning of the fickle nature of steel under high temperatures and cold water. 

Over in the other workshop, Chris, Gary and Phillip are making their way through the pivot gauges. A task which at the start seemed almost impossible, but now burnishing is coming naturally. As for Nick, still fresh off learning the drill, still got plenty to learn from the machines. 

Jaewon ever on his experiments, is trying hardening on winding stems of different materials and with different techniques. Results are inconclusive.

Hardening 

Until next time!