BACK TO CREATIVITY!

WEEK 57

Pierre Aubert, James Punshon, Jayne Zhuo

Origin : Sydney, Australia. Toulouse, France. Singapore.

Age : 38

Watchmaking class: Technician Course

Current mood: James here! Hairsprings have begun! It`s still early days, but so far so good. We spent the week learning the theory and practical application of the oscillator, and today we took some time to modify some tools to assist our hairspring and balance work.

We dive further into the flattening and centering of hairsprings next week, so wish us luck!

Great warm weather here today, so should be a warm, green weekend. Enjoy everyone!!

Name: Markus McDonald.
Origin: Stockholm, Sweden. 
Course: 2 years full skill course.
Current mode:This week I continued on with my burnishing, working on both improving the quality, broadening the tools and techniques and recording the progress be it with the micro meter or clock. Additionally I worked on making the dimension a lot more precise from 0.60-0.80 in length too 0.40 with a 0.20 width in dimension. This was a whole different level as it required not only a lot more use of the micro scope but also a lot more care when burnishing as the risk of breaking it was ever present.
I found this shift too be quiet intense, only possible thanks too starting bigger and gaining confidence before shifting too the very realistic measurements that would be a lot more common.
In conclusion although I have been doing burnishing now for several weeks I have found every day both important and essential as although it might not seem much, the skill needed to achieve a consistent black polish and a consistent piece is an art form.

Michael

Origin : Malaysia

Age : 28

Watchmaking class : 2 years Fullskill Program

Current Mood: Finally finished with the balance support tool. Milled it in the Aciera F1. Has been a very slow week due to some technical errors. Changing and readjusting some bad habits. Looking forward to next week for the next tool - pallet fork holder.  

Alex

Origin : Kaohsiung, Taiwan 

Age : 27

Watchmaking : 2Y Fullskill Program

Current mood: The week is good, finished the winding stem for the restoration project. Though I was whipped a couple of times by the belt because it snapped but it was all worth it, learned how to weld it back together and it was really nicely polished! Also did quite some cleaning, this must be what Cinderella felt like. Looking forward to new project next week!!

STEP 1: WINDING STEM AND BLACK POLISHING (ALEX)

UPPER STEM IS THE FINAL PRODUCT, LOWER STEM IS THE BRASS PROTOTYPE.

CLOSE UP OF TURNED CIRCULAR GRAINED FINISH IN SLOT AND BLACK POLISHED CYLINDERS.

STEP 2: BALANCE SUPPORT (MICHAEL)

SCISSOR STYLE BALANCE SUPPORT WITH MICHAEL'S SPECIAL STYLE GRIP ON SCREW!

MICHAEL PREPARING THE F1 TO MAKE THE BALANCE SUPPORT.

HENRIK's WORDS:

We are back to creative mode this week! The milling machine (Aciera F1) and larger lathes (Schaublin) have been used a lot this week as well as the smaller Horia lathes. Even though it was not necessary to black polish the winding stem that Alex did for the antique pocket watch movement, he did it anyway as an exercise and it came out looking really nice! Also, Michael did a really cool balance support for dynamic poising (scissor style) which he will later enjoy in the timing course. Since a lot of the balance exercises were completed this week the technician course started to work on hairsprings, mainly to prepare the tools and to understand the basic rules of hairspring manipulation. Have a great weekend everyone! 

OUR FRIENDS CAME FOR A VISIT! AND ITS GETTING VERY GREEN IN LE LOCLE!