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!