EXCELLENT*

 EXCELLENT*

Week 25

Harman Wadhwa 

Origin : New Delhi, India

Age : 28

Watchmaking class : 8 month Service & Technician course

Current mood :Hair springs Hair springs, just a spiral yet so complex. Practice is the key to master something, i am getting there with hairsprings but i hope i would get "Excellent" before the exam.  😉

Pierre Aubert

Origin : Toulouse, France

Age : 23

Watchmaking class : 2Y Fullskill Program

Current mood: Very interesting week!! Started to turn between dead centers on blue steel with brown steel gravers!  It was not easy in the beginning. But now that I have found the right angle, pressure and sharpness of my gravers, it is going like butter! In fact, it is a lot more enjoyable than regular steel..! I have prepared multiple carriers so that I can work efficiently on my pivot gauges one after another. I also had some time to make the intermediate wheels bridge for my school watch! It is looking good and I look forward to working on it! 

Markus McDonald 

Origin : Stockholm Sweden 

Age : 20

Watchmaking class: 2 years Fullskill Program

Current mood : This week was aimed at tackling the mock exams at a much more intense rate. Being with the aim at getting the quality as high as possible, in as little time as possible. This served to be highly efficient in improving the quality as well as the quantity. This combined with with an emphasis on making tools in the between the preparation and the exams resulted in the week being both a learning experience and an exercise in adversity.

Alex

Origin : Kaohsiung, Taiwan 

Age : 26

Watchmaking : 2Y Fullskill Program

Current mood: Another week, another endless filling. Thankfully I am starting to work on a new project, keeping things relatively fresh. The new project is to design my own poising plate. The shape is totally up to the designer. Some people make it simple so they have more time for other project, some, like myself, make a cool shape out of it. But it will obviously take more time and energy to complete. It will be a good challenge and practice.

STEP 1: DEAD CENTERS TURNING (PIERRE)

Pivot gauges on carriers => Production style

Funky way to produce high quality videos while turning..!

STEP 2: INTERMEDIATE WHEELS BRIDGE (PIERRE)

STEP 3: HAIR SPRINGS (Harman)

Understanding the centering around the collet of the of hairsprings.

STEP 4: POISING PLATE DESIGN (Alex)

The drawing of one of the poising plate designs.

HENRIK's WORDS:

Excellent week indeed! Markus is progressing very well with his preparation for the first exam; precision filing, Harman started with the second final part of the hairsprings; to true it under the bridge and will next week start with the timing before practicing for his exam, Alex continued with his tools and did a very nice design of his balance poising plate, meanwhile Pierre continued with his school watch and finished one raw bridge for it with the pantograph. Out of subject; *EXCELLENT did not refer to watchmaking this time around, but instead food, as some of us are very conscientious about food and health, so Pierre found an app for his phone to scan bar codes of foods to check if they are containing additives and bad ingredients, scanning our food, he found out the food I eat for lunch is almost always excellent in the healthy meaning, whereas a lot of the other foods did not score that well, subsequent "excellent" remarks followed me around this week 😁 At least I stay healthy! 😊 Enjoy the weekend and see you next week!

Fun Week!

 Fun Week

Week 23

Harman Wadhwa 

Origin : New Delhi, India

Age : 28

Watchmaking class : 8 month Service & Technician course

Current mood : As they say, the hardest things come at the end, it is true!!! Hairsprings are not easy to work on, they are highly sensitive: any minute wrong angle or pressure spoils the centering and flatness of the spring. I am hopeful and positive to get the hang of it with some more time and practice. We also went for a picnic before the summer fades away, we all enjoyed our lunch with the overview of Swiss alps, it was a perfect vibe, food and company.  

Have a great week and see you next week.

Pierre Aubert

Origin : Toulouse, France

Age : 23

Watchmaking class : 2Y Fullskill Program

Current mood: Busy and interesting week ! I took my final exam for the winding stem making, it went pretty smoothly 😊 I also got some more time for my school watch throughout the week. I started to design the bridge that will cover the intermediate wheels on the dial side, it is now ready for production on the pantograph. As for my yoke, for some reasons it was very flexible after the tempering (yet crystal hard after the hardening). I think the piece might have been too close to the heating-plate. Anyway, it came apart ! I am on my way to remake it ! Nothing to do about it but to accept the situation as it is .. !! In that regard I first had to make a new specialized pusher in order to extract the pins and save them for my new yoke. Looking forward to making this new piece (and take this opportunity to make it even nicer !) as well as making the intermediate wheels bridge ! Have a great weekend everyone and see you next week. Last but not least, we attended the prix Gaïa, the Nobel prize of watchmaking 😇

PS : We also went for a very nice walk in the Jura mountains for lunch on Thursday ! I really love these landscapes.. !

Markus McDonald 

Origin : Stockholm Sweden 

Age : 20

Watchmaking class: 2 years Fullskill Program

Current mood : This week was the same as the previous week being split between exams and regular work, the most substantial difference between this week and last week was the quality of the test exams which where of a much higher quality allowing for better prep for the real exam.

Alex

Origin : Kaohsiung, Taiwan 

Age : 26

Watchmaking : 2Y Fullskill Program

Current mood: The week went on quite well. Made the balance bridge support in first try which I am quite happy with. It goes to show how important planning is before going in to action. Before going on to the lathe I spent about 30 minutes on the bench, going through every steps of what is about to happen. However, I still got some unwanted surprises. The piece was wobbling in lathe while turning which result in a rather rough finishing. It looks good in the end after a bit of work but I will try to make another one soon. Good practice though. Good practice.

 

 STEP 1: EXPLORING THE AREA

                                                                Lunch with a view

STEP 2: HARMAN & HAIRSPRINGS

Tools required for Hairspring operation 🏥

        Working on the hairspring and fixing the collet

STEP 2: 

                                        

STEP 3: ADDING CARBON FOR HARDENING (PIERRE)

                                      STEP 4: MAKING A PUSHER (PIERRE)

STEP 5: BALANCE BRIDGE SUPPORT

Balance bridge support made by Alex

HENRIK's WORDS:

A very diverse week! So many things going on right now! Two outings; one for lunch in the nearby mountains which was a really nice and later we went to see the winners of this years prix Gaïa, it was packed with enthusiastic people, which was really nice to see! The students are progressing very well. As the week was rather busy I did not get much time on my own projects, but hope to get some more time next week. Enjoy the weekend and see you next week!

Cook Out!

 Cook Out

Week 23

Harman Wadhwa 

Origin : New Delhi, India

Age : 28

Watchmaking class : 8 month Service & Technician course

Current mood : I'm in the last segment of the basic course which is balance and hairsprings.

Learned how to replace the balance staff and poise them. i

It is good to know some parts of the balance can be replaced instead of ordering the whole balance. Save parts, money saved:D

Hairsprings next week, looking forward to it. Adios:)

Pierre Aubert

Origin : Toulouse, France

Age : 23

Watchmaking class : 2Y Fullskill Program

Current mood: Exam week! I also had the time to prepare the three winding stems that need to be handed in to end the topic. They were just hardened. I need to make the slots and finish them! Have a great week-end :)   

Markus McDonald 

Origin : Stockholm Sweden 

Age : 20

Watchmaking class: 2 years fullskill course 

Current mood : This week was split between my regular schedule of working on my tools and the preparation and execution of my mock exams, although I did two I found them to be a mix of mental attrition and learning as I was able to adapt and learn a lot from my exams such as speed, accuracy and grading and which not only is a good experience in the long term it also helps prepare me for the final exam.

Alex

Origin : Kaohsiung, Taiwan 

Age : 26

Watchmaking : 2Y Fullskill Program

Current mood : Learned how to griind the graver using the Agathon and how to do internal threading with the lathe. Besides that, the week has mostly been practicing on what I have learned so far.

STEP 1: DRILLING IN THE LATHE

Practicing on internal threading drilling the hole first.

STEP 2: HARMAN WORKING WITH VERY SMALL STUFF NOW

KIF Shock Absorber insetting. 87X

The actual size comparison of the shock absorber kept at the center of the coin, human hair on top of coin as well.

working on balance and its poising effect.

STEP 3: MONTHLY COOK OUT!

Buckwheat galette ´crepes´ made by Pierre. it was Delicious!!

STEP 4: GROUP HARDENING

 The three winding stems held in iron wire to maintain them straight and prevent bending. 

Large basket of water + salt to ensure proper cooling during the quenching 

Henrik’s Word

We continued with more trial exams this week for Pierre and Markus. I got to show Alex the Agathon grinding machine and how to drill and thread internal threads and external threads on round stock in the lathe. Harman learn how to rivet balance staffs and attaching rollers to them as well as truing them in the flat, he also did the static poising on them as well as checking the pivots and learning a way of correcting them if bent, next week he will learn to work more with the hairsprings. as there was so short time last week I missed out writing but I had actually an interesting watchmaking visit to Porrentruy that Saturday, below some highlights from that visit, if you are in Switzerland I can highly recommend to visit this very interesting place. Also Eero, who previously took restoration courses with me, came by for a visit and talk with me and the students, he will join us later this year for some special courses. For our monthly cookout Pierre was in charge and made buckwheat galette which was very tasty!! See you next week!

Eero showing the students some raw movements he will later restore.

Eero came by for a visit, always nice to see happy people!

PORRENTRUY VISIT

WINTER IS COMING !

 WINTER IS COMING 

Harman Wadhwa 

Origin : New Delhi, India

Age : 28

Watchmaking class : 8 month Service & Technician course

Current mood : New Week, new topic- I have started working on balance, hairsprings and how to replace a broken shaft with various different methods, it has been an interesting week with my exam and new topic. I am looking forward to the result as well as to be working on hairsprings in depth.

On the other front, I did some shopping ;) bought used tools from an old watchmaker and got made a decent bargain, which is great!!

Pierre Aubert

Origin : Toulouse, France

Age : 23

Watchmaking class : 2Y Fullskill Program

Current mood: In the zone! I had two more trial exams last week, it went really well and allowed me to become more efficient in approaching the making of winding stems. The final exam is next week, I really look forward to it. Have a great week-end and stay warm (near a fireplace?)..!! Fall is already here..!

Markus McDonald 

Origin : Stockholm Sweden 

Age : 20

Watchmaking class: 2 years fullskill course 

Current mood : This week was split into two sections; the first being further filling and preparation of a tool before precision filling and the second being learning the milling machine. This machine was very taxing specifically in learning all the procedures and how to calculate accuracy for tool making. 

Alex

Origin : Kaohsiung, Taiwan 

Age : 26

Watchmaking : 2Y Fullskill Program

Current mood : There goes another week. Learned the basics of how to operate the lathe this week as well as threading with the drilling machine. The lathe is, according to Henrik, a very involved machine, and it definitely is. The beginning of the learning is quite overwhelming due to all of the information I have to take in. It must have taken me about 3 practice runs to get a clear picture of what exactly I am doing. Also did some filling to get closer to the tolerances given. That is pretty much it.

STEP 1: TREASURE HUNT (HARMAN)

                 It is a happy feeling when your passion and your career come together 😁

 Treasure

More than a century old "burin fix", will restore it soon :D

Extracting the balance staff from the balance wheel on lathe

                          

STEP 2: PRACTICING AND LEARNING NEW SKILLS (ALEX)               

Tapping

Learn how to make cones/tapers (Alex)

STEP 3: LEARNING HOW TO MILL (MARKUS)