Cook-out Week 🍲

                                                            WEEK 13
                                                       Cook-out Week 🍲

Harman Wadhwa 

Origin : New Delhi, India

Age : 28

Watchmaking class : 8 month Service & Technician course

Current mood : this week was great, my exam went well and we had a`cook-out`(Cookout happens once a month, one of us cooks lunch in school and we all enjoy the day together on weekend). It was my turn this month, so I cooked Indian food and went for a short hike in France.😃
As for school work, I have started to cover escapements & canon pinions. Both are really interesting, and I love it. 

Pierre Aubert

Origin : Toulouse, France

Age : 22

Watchmaking class : 2Y Fullskill Program

Current mood: Very exciting week!! I was introduced to hand turning on the 8mm Lathe. It is the most characteristic skill of a classical watchmaker! In fact, it is the one thing I dreamed to learn the most before I joined watchmaking school. And as expected, it is just amazing..!! It is very similar to filing: it is a matter of connecting your hands to your mind in order to achieve any shape you would like! And your hand is freely moving into the material, which just feels like sculpting..!! But it also has to meet all your watchmaking requirements for function 😎 I just loved it. In that regard, I have started to make conical pivots, domed pivots and spot centers- all of which are going to allow me to make actual watchmaking parts in the future (balance staffs, winding stems, pivots ...etc). You can literally make anything you want with it, and I find this very appealing. 
As for the school watch, the setting lever spring is almost done: it is already 100% functional, but I want to keep filing so that it becomes buttery smooth when pulling the crown in and out. 
We also had the great pleasure to explore Indian food thanks to Harman!! It was really delicious! And I must say that I have enjoyed the spices a lot.

Have a great weekend and see you next week!

Markus Mc Donald

Origin : Stockholm, Sweden

Age: 20
Watchmaking class : 2Y Fullskill program.
Current Mood: This week was focused on the lathe and a mix of filling tools and grinding gravers which allowed me to stay focused and challenged. What stood out too me during the week was the machine and application of the lathe , although the removal of material is both a pleasure and a challenge being a science of precision onto itself. What brought me the most head scratching and Inquisition, was the various different applications of the Lathe.
This week was aimed at tackling both the external and internal threading which came with its own measurements and step by step process which in the upcoming weeks will become smoother and more experimental to the point of refinement of this versatile yet challenging application. 

STEP 1: INDIAN FOOD ANYONE?

Indian cuisine!

Happy faces!!

Great views!

Types of Escapements!!

Learning to Glue the pallet jewels!

STEP 2: MARKUS AND THREADING OPERATIONS

STEP 3: HAND TURNING!

 Modifying gravers to suit my hand turning tasks! 

HENRIK'S WORDS

This week was very pleasant! The temperature dropped to a comfortable level and I think everyone was happy with that. I also got to enjoy very good Indian cuisine cooked by Harman, delicious! after the cook out we had a nice hike together in France which was also very enjoyable. This week I also introduced Harman to the escapement he seemed very excited about it! Markus also learned a new subject, how to make threads both external and internal in the lathe, he also seemed to enjoy it very much! I teach Pierre the basics of the hand turning with the 8mm lathe, needless to say he loved it! My sapphire project is progressing well, so far I am happy with the shapes developing on the movement, cant wait to see how the entire movement with its modifications will look ones finished! Have to run now, but see you next week and have a great weekend!