IT FEELS GOOD TO BE BUSY!

WEEK 11:

 IT FEELS GOOD TO BE BUSY!

Harman Wadhwa 

Origin : New Delhi, India

Age : 28

Watchmaking class : 8 month Service & Technician course

Current mood : Not available

Pierre Aubert

Origin : Toulouse, France

Age : 22

Watchmaking class : 2Y Fullskill Program

Current mood: Wishing it were still Monday 😆!! There is so much I want to do..! This was another great week in the workshop. I have been focusing on precision filing for both my school tools and my setting lever spring for the school watch (more on this next week). I started grinding to form gravers which are to be used for hand turning later on. It is a very pleasurable and interesting task. Unlike regular filing, we cannot see the working face while grinding. Feeling and regular checks are thus key to accurate grinding. We also had the chance to meet Brad, a former student who now runs his own brand with Charles (another former student)! We were very lucky to get detailed advice from his valuable experience!! Many thanks again! Last but not least, Henrik, Svenja (The School Administrator) and I (since it was in French) attended a conference on Jules Grossmann in Le Locle. It was fascinating to see the underrated influence of Germans in the successful development of the Swiss industrialization of watchmaking..!! Atomic clocks were then covered: what a captivating subject..!! Nothing would be like it is in today's world if it was not for the precision of Atomic clocks..! It was also a great opportunity to meet experts of the industry! Restorers to be more specific 😁!!

Markus Mc Donald

Origin : Stockholm, Sweden

Age: 20

STEP 1: 

HARMAN LEARNING HOW TO REMOVE A STUCK SCREW

To remove the stuck screw thread, a staking set was used!

STEP 2: MARKUS AND THE LATHE

Applying last week's lessons!

STEP 3:

 PIERRE AND HAND GRINDING OF THE GRAVERS

STEP 4: 

HENRIK & HARMAN AT THE EPHJ! 

It is the largest international trade show dedicated to high precision in fields ranging from watchmaking to medtech! 

 STEP 5: CONFERENCE ON JULES GROSSMAN & ATOMIC CLOCKS! 

 This is the glass tube where is held the Rubidium for Rubidium Atomic Clocks! 

 The tube is placed in this metallic cover for the frequency adjustments to happen. This allows Rubidium Atomic Clocks to be placed on GPS satellites where precision is ESSENTIAL..!!! In fact, while an error of 1 sec at sea causes a 500 m positioning error, a 1 second would cause a 300,000 km positioning error for a satellite..!! This is why Rubidium Atomic Clocks are accurate to the nanoseconds (ns), at least. 

HENRIK'S WORDS

One more super busy week!! Brad who took the Fullskill many years ago came by to say hello, it was really great to catch up! He now runs his own watch brand together with another former student (Charles) also from my school! I Could not be more proud of their achievements!! Later in the week I also went with Harman to EPHJ in Geneva, its like candy land for a watchmaker or any technical people from our domain of work (and related)! After work on Thursday I also went with Pierre to a conference about Jules Grossmann (director of the first watchmaking school here in Le Locle) it was very interesting, the atomic clock was also covered by another speaker. Otherwise work progressed well for all the students, I even got some spare time to get back to my sapphire project, now working on the movement, will share some pics soon when I get some time to organize the photos.  Have to run now, but see you next week and have a great weekend!