What we strive to not become

Students hard at work

This week went by pretty fast.  The students have been busy working on separate projects; Eddie continuing to work on his tools and also starting on the 8mm lathe today,  Simone working on his pivot gauges, Tomas completing his balance staffs, and Theren working on a side project.

Eddie tapping in the 70 lathe

Eddie trying out sun-ray finishing

The result

Simone measuring his pivot gauge

Tomas turning his balance staff

Theren working on a restoration project

Theren restoring tools he bought from the flea market last week

Theren tracing out components for his school watch

To show the students what not to become, Henrik presented the students with an example of bad watchmaking.  It is a watch with two different screws, oil spills on the bridge, and multiple scratches all over the place, overall a horribly done job from the previous watchmaker.

A watch with 2 different screws (one flat polished and one rounded)

Henrik got a gift from Jordan in AWCI, USA, this will be put on one of the school walls. It is a poster of all the calibres from the past of the Hamilton watch company, Impressive! And thank you Jordan!

After school goodness

Kai shows the students how to draw gear teeth on Inventor

This week students learned how to make gears in Inventor thanks to Henrik`s brother Kai, who was kind enough to teach them how to draw.  It very useful to the students since they will be designing their own school watches in the 2nd year.

Kai drawing the teeth profiles using simple calculations

Henrik also gave a bonus lesson on another finishing technique used for making the sun-ray pattern last Sunday.  Using a special setup on the 70 lathe with the milling attachment they were able to produce perfectly centered sun-ray patterns.

Sun-ray pattern

What often happens in watchmaking is that watchmakers drop tiny components all the time.  Theren dropped his balance staff and everyone helped in looking for it.  With the team effort, Theren was able to retrieve his lost balance staff.

Team effort in finding Theren's dropped balance staff

This past Saturday Henrik took the students to a flea market in Fribourg called the Retro Technica.  It was filled with cool machining tools, radios, vintage video games and many many watchmaking tools, including collets, drills, taps, lathes, and many other tools.  It is a great place to get bargain deals on used tools for watchmakers.

2nd hand lathe at the flea market

vintage jacot tool

a plethora of drills, gravers, and other goodies

Wheel Working Week

Theren making his stand on the 102

Last week Theren started on a stand for his 6 glorious winding stems and 13 pivot gauges.  The stand is an optional side project that the students can do to showcase their work.  Theren made the stand out of brass and made a spiral pattern for the pivot gauges.  It took him 3 days, but it is finally finished.

The finished stand with casing

This week the students also learned how to make their first wheel, the hour wheel.  The techniques are not that new, but the setup requires extreme accuracy to make the wheel both centered and sharp.  By learning how to make the hour wheel, the students now know how to make ANY wheel.

Henrik showing the setup of making a wheel on the Schaublin 70

Eddie checking the centering of the wheel

Tomas checking the centering of the cutter

Back to Swiss

While the students were on holidays, Henrik was working hard teaching another specialized course on finishing in Kansas City, USA.  The course was held by the AWCI and had 15 of the best watchmakers selected by the association.  It was Henrik's first time in the United States of America, and he had a blast!

the American students sharing ideas

Group photo

Henrik demonstrating the use of the polishing tripod

The students polishing away

The American students working hard

Henrik explaining bluing techniques

An old polishing tool

The students discussing the use of the tools

As school has once again started, the students are back to working hard.  Besides the unfinished work, Henrik applied the same curriculum for the students as he had in America.  They learned the classical way of flat polishing, straight graining, and frosting.

A totally black polished piece

Flat polished on the tripod

Because Theren broke a tap while working his displaying stand for the winding stems and pivot gauges, Henrik had a chance to teach the students how to cook out a broken drill or screw from non-ferrous metals.

Theren's stand

The students observing the cooking process

The cooking of the drill

This week Eddie also finished learning all the machines, ending with the jigborer.

Eddie on the Jigborer

The students doing polishing exercises 

More polishing

If you want to meet Henrik, come to Kansas City!

Tomas and Theren has just finished their pivot gauge exams which they have been preparing for all week.  Now that that's over, next up for them are the balance staves.  Balance staves are the ultimate micromechanical challenge in the course for the students.  After micromechanics, the students will start working on real watches.  Soon they will be able to make watch repairs and service watches on their own.

The students working hard

Final push before holidays

One finished pivot gauge

The school has another holiday coming up next week where they will be taking a week off to recharge.  Meanwhile, Henrik will be travelling to Kansas City, America, collaborating with the AWCI (American Watch and Clock Institute) to offer a specialized course in finishing.  It is a 2 day course in all types of different finishing techniques offered to watchmakers in the USA.

Eddie working on the 102

We will see you in 2 weeks!

A "Quality" week

Eddie turning a screw

This week in school the students continued their work on pivot gauges, which Simone has also started.  Eddie has learned how to use the lathe and thus started on many of the tools that we have shown on our blog of the finished tools the other students have made.

The new microcity building in Neuchatel

On Thursday we went to Microcity in Neuchatel to participate in a conference on the topic of the Q factor.  Mr. Doug Bateman, the speaker, talked about the quality factor relating to clocks and watches.  The quality factor is basically a calculation for decay of energy applied to the timekeeper.

Mr. Bateman brought a lot of props to explain the Q factor 

Henrik also went to the MIH where they presented the Gaia prize to 3 watch related people that changed the watch industry.