BACK ON TRACK!

 WEEK 93

Willy, Yuriy, Alex, Michael

Origin : Singapore, Canada, Taiwan, Malaysia 

Age: n. a.

Watchmaking class: Technician & Fullskill 

Current mood: Back to school from the Christmas break. During the holidays, Michael and me came back to school to do our little project( Wooden handle for our pocket knives). Two days of milling and shaping on two pieces of olive wood. Wah lah... our handles !

Frist week of the 2021 we were all fabricating the black polishing tool. Making different improvisation on the base design. Mine is the simplest, with some look good changes to it. Well, not the best but I am getting better with my hands.

Pierre Aubert

Origin :Toulouse, France.

Age : 24

Watchmaking class: Fullskill

Current mood: Very busy first week..! Can’t believe I am done in less than two months. What a wild journey. I spent the week making polishing tripods with Michael and Alex! Fun times. I also got to mill the slots for my ratchet click and spring on my school watch! I made a special recess for the click as it will receive a special beveled screw that hold both the click and bridge down. As for the space for the spring, I forgot to take a picture of the finished machining..! I only have the picture of the middle radius slot! But you will see it soon ;) it is open on the side of the bridge and will allow me to do some nice finishing. Next step: make the click and spring :)! Have a good weekend everyone!

PS: We ce got plenty of snow here! I hope it won’t go away with rain..!  Sent from my iPhone

Name: Markus McDonald.
Origin: Stockholm, Sweden. 
Course: 2 years full skill course.
Current mode: n/a

STEP 1: MICROMECHANICS! (ALEX)

Alex made this amazing looking special blocking screw for his pointed nose vice, inside is a luminescent vial glowing!

STEP 2: MICROMECHANICS! (EVERYONE)

Serial production black polishing tripods!

STEP 3: BLACK POLISHING! (EVERYONE)

Before the black polishing is done the screw is prepared with bevels, here the slot bevels have been made, after this the outside circular bevel will be made.

Black polished screw under different lighting conditions. 

STEP 4: KNIFE UPGRADING! (WILLY & MICHAEL)

Willy and Michael made wooden handles for their knifes during the break, very nice upgrade!

STEP 5: EXPERIMENT WITH FINISH AND MICROMECHANICS! (MICHAEL)

Michael trying out finding a new decorative pattern for his tripod screws.

STEP 6: SCHOOL WATCH! (PIERRE)

Pierre spotting the radius references for milling the space for the click spring.

HENRIK's WORDS:

 

Very busy first week! Everyone back at school again and we continued where we left with the black polishing, we also practiced some frosting, bluing and rhodium and gold plating as well as looking at what tools and techniques to use for beveling, with this knowledge Yuriy restored a pair of vintage Zodiac hands, by polishing and gold plating them as well as applying new luminous paint. They also started to make their own black polishing tripods. Very fun and creative week! Next week we will get back to the regular program and start with the Escapement course. Have a great weekend everyone!