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!

Watched and wondered

 Last Friday until Sunday, most of us stayed in Geneva to marvel at some lovely watches. We started off by stopping over at Time to Watches, a micro brand watch event with some very unique pieces. 

Keaton

After a nice lunch in Geneva old town, we hopped over to AHCI, the independents watch event. Here is were the real horology lies, and where you get the opportunity to meet the master minds behind the master works. 

Lederer 

Moving on, still on the same day by the way, we went for a gander at Cronipolis, yet another watch event. Some more lovely watches that you don’t get to see very often.

Sexy time with penguins

Now, us being pretty exhausted from watches, needing a break, we hit the streets for a good evening. Filled ourselves with a Brazilian barbecue, nectar of the Gods. 

The boys 

The night didn’t stop there, but unfortunately that will remain off the blog, anyways I digress.

Now on Saturday, we hit up the big boy, and go visit Watches and Wonders. Way saw way too many watches to talk about here. So I will just mention what stood out the most. We were lucky enough to get a meeting with Armin Strom in the press room. They unveiled to us their new 12:59 any time watch. An unequalled marvel, containing a minute repeater with the Westminster chime and double balance in resonance. All put into a lovely sized titanium case.

Voila

Now back to school, been a long week here for us. At workshop 1, myself, Bernd, Joan and Louis are making progress on the hairsprings, but those coils are really testing our patience. 

Gary is making some good headway on the production of lovely little case for a 7001.

At the start

Where he’s at now

The new student Nick has now started to learn the machines, as always starting with the drilling press.

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

Watches & Wonders Inbound

 We’ll start off the coolest stuff. Our friendly neighborhood Craig is making amazing progress on his school watch. Although he has graduated, he has rented a bench to carry on his research into the mystical arts of horology. 

Curvy

All you see is designed and made by Craig, here using a sandwich method for the bridges, giving it a truly unique look. Not only that but also making curved Geneva stripes, putting the waves into waves of Geneva.

As for myself, I have been trying my hand at black polishing larger surfaces. Here I am attempting it at the regulator of a Zenith pocket watch. Black polishing and frosting.

Before 

After

Meanwhile, in my workshop, Caio and Guillerme have started learning the process of making the winding stem, a complicated part which required many steps to complete. Jae won has also been making progress with this task, here showing his hardened and tempered stem.

Gary has started to work on a case, looking forward to seeing the finished product.

Tomorrow we will be heading to Geneva for a weekend in watches, we are all super excited and we will catch you up next week.

New student!

 Hello everyone, this week we welcome a new student to our school! Nick has joined us from England and will be staying in Le Locle for the next two years. 

Welcome Nick

On some other exciting news, our school is getting some tool upgrades! We have some new lapping machines, installed this week. It’s now up to our professors to master its use, then to teach us these new skills. 

The big guns

Onto the students, Jaewon ever on his side quests is pursuing the perfect burgundy, or maroon, or Bordeaux. So he’s been has success on screws, but still working on bigger pieces.

Slick

Gary has plated some hands on his vintage Tissot and relumed. Also found a perfect crystal replacement. Looking lovely now.

Before 

Voila

Meanwhile Chris, is doing some science experiments, a screw head broke with the screw in the watch. Unable to remove the screw Chris decided to melt it out. He dipped the bridge in warm sulphuric acid to dissolve the screw, it was successful. 

That’s it for this week, see you in watches and wonders!