Friday, November 25, 2022

BEVELLING WITH PHILIPPE NARBEL!

 WEEK 190

Team A

Origin: Sweden, The Philippines & Taiwan
Name: Daniel, Miguel, & David
Watchmaking class: Fullskill
Current mood:

This week, we prepared for our filing practice exams so we spent most of our time making male and female pieces.On Tuesday Mr. Philippe Narbel came to the school to give us a demonstration on finishing techniques. We learned a lot from him about what tools to use and different methods of bevelling.

-Miguel


Team B

Origin: Japan/Switzerland & Canada
Name: Tetsu & Dean
Watchmaking class: Fullskill 
Current mood:

This week (21~25 November) was quite an eventful one and was gone rather quickly.
The first event was on Saturday (actually it was last week, though), everybody had an opportunity to visit Herrli to look for some tools and parts of interest.
It was amazing to see the huge selection of items; lots of which were like gems, and guys enjoyed themselves treasure hunting.
On Tuesday, Mr Philippe Narbel kindly visited the school as a guest lecturer, and he demonstrated his famous bevelling work to everyone here.
Thank you, Sir!
It was so amazing and interesting, as everything he did looked very easy, but it would be a different story when any of the students tried to do it, of course.
Then, one more event was on Thursday, a cheese factory experience at Crèmerie Les Martel Sàrl; Gruyère cheese factory just a few minutes away from our school.
It was a wonderful excursion and good to know such a facility located nearby, thanks to Svenja.
Back to the real business. 
Dean & Tetsu continued their pivot gauge turning and burnishing. They have made some progress, which means that a few pieces have been successfully made and accepted by Henrik as a part of mandatory work.
We wish you all a nice weekend! 
Dean & Tetsu


Team C

Origin: Switzerland, Norway & USA
Name: Renato, David, Francesco, Åsmund & Robert
Watchmaking class: Fullskill 
Current mood:

This week we were lucky to have visit from watchmaker Philippe Narbel, he showed us his interesting techniques for bevelling watch parts. 
We also continued to dismantle balance wheels. Some of the things we did was to remove the hairspring collet with hairspring from the balance staff, remove the roller. We looked at multiple methods of removing the balance staff. Such as turning down the rest of the staff on the bottom side in a lathe or hand filing the staff off carefully, without touching the balance. The rest of the staff was knocked out in the staking set. We also learned re-riveting with a new balance staff and also truing the balance in the flat as well as checking staff pivots condition.

-David


Åsmund, Francesco, Robert (Norway, Italia, United States)
Early this week we had a welcome visit from M. Philippe Narbel. He gave demonstrations on preparation and finishing of metal parts that are going to come in handy in the future. Various tools were discussed, his results are exemplary, his skills and knowledge are a lofty standard to try and match. Bravo!, and a Thank You, M. Narbel!
On Thursday, we had a field trip to the Crèmerie Les Martel, in Les Ponts-de-Martel. (Horological note: Home of the old Martel Watch Company.) Some local knowledge gained, and some fresh  Gruyère purchased. "Thank You!" to our administrator Svenja for this idea.
These high points were filled in throughout the week by practicing watch repair to time limits. Using practice movements, noting any "signs" of discrepancies that must be either recorded (prior damage) or corrected within the time limit, there always seems to be a new "fault" that is introduced, and it is only coincidence if we get the same movement twice. This training is to look for the..."work"...of prior..."watchmakers"...as we come closer, month by month, to leaving Henrik and his knowledge as we set out into the world.

-Robert


Team D

Origin: Finland
Name: Xinying
Watchmaking class: Technician
Current mood:

This week we had a lot things that were different from regular week. On Saturday we went together to Biel to buy watchmaking tools from Herrli. I found two nice staking tool sets and some other tools. On Tuesday we had a guest, Philippe Narbel, in our school. It was very interesting to listen him talking about his career, philosophy about watchmaking and of course his finishing techniques. On Thursday we visited local cheese factory and had a tasting there. It was nice to do something that was not related to watchmaking for a change. Otherwise I continued practicing flattening wheels and finnished the practice box. Next I'll continue to service barrels and wheels for the movements and little by little I will start to prepare myself for the test that will probably take in place in couple of weeks.
Xinying 



STEP 1: BEVELLING WITH PHILIPPE NARBEL! (EVERYONE)












Amazing day with Philippe!!!


STEP 2: SPECIALIZED TOOLS! (ÅSMUND)

Clear barrel closing tool made by Asmund


STEP 3: HERRLI! (EVERYONE)
Eagerly awaiting to get inside!

Last Saturday Maurizio at Herrli watch tool and part store in Bienne/Biel opened the doors for us, once again thank you so much!!


STEP 4: SPECIALIZED TOOLS! (ÅSMUND)


Asmund also finished his fancy polishing tripod! Nice!!


STEP 5: RIVETING BALANCE STAFF! (RENATO &DAVID)
Riveting balance staff to balance!

Checking the flatness after riveting!


STEP 6: STUDENT OUTING! (EVERYONE)







Thanks to Svenja we had a very tasty student outing to Crèmerie Les Martel at Les Ponts-de-Martel!




HENRIK's WORDS:

 

 

Cold and wet this week and we got snow for a few seconds before it melted! The highlight of the week was Philippe Narbel’s visit!  We had the very good fortune of having Philippe come over for a whole day showing us bevelling techniques! It was really fun and super interesting to learn his very effective techniques of making amazing bevels! Thank you so much Philippe!! Miguel, David, and Daniel continued with various micromechanical work! Renato and David learn how to rivet a new balance staff to a balance as well as attaching the double roller, checking concentricity and truing the balance in the flat. Tetsu and Dean continued with pivot gauges they are getting better each week! Francesco, Asmund and Robert had another 2 trial gear train exams!  It was a very enjoyable and fun week!  Have a great weekend everyone!

Friday, November 18, 2022

CHÂTEAU DES MONTS!

 WEEK 189

Team A

Origin: Sweden, The Philippines & Taiwan
Name: Daniel, Miguel, & David
Watchmaking class: Fullskill
Current mood:

This week we have been introduced to more machines like the lathe, the grinding machine and the profile projector.We were shown how to sharpen the gravers for the lathe and how to thread screws and bore holes.We learned how to use the profile projecter to check the angle and dimensions of our work pieces.After another week of practice, our consistency is starting to come together.

-Miguel


Team B

Origin: Japan/Switzerland & Canada
Name: Tetsu & Dean
Watchmaking class: Fullskill 
Current mood:

This week, (14-18 November) Tetsu and Dean continued making pivot gauges.  As the sizes of the gauges being made became smaller, the amount of work required to ensure they didn’t break under the pressure of burnishing became greater.  Also of note was the need for them to ensure their gravers were as sharp as possible when cutting the shoulders of the pivot gauges.  The hardened nature of blue steel can wreak havoc on the sharpest of gravers, so knowing when to swap out the dull gravers for sharp ones has become important.

Burnishing such small pivots has proven to be a high-stakes game of balancing pressure against increasingly small pivots.  One wrong move and hours of work can be snapped off in the blink of an eye!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Tetsu and Dean



Team C
Origin: Switzerland, Norway & USA
Name: Renato, David, Francesco, Åsmund & Robert
Watchmaking class: Fullskill 
Current mood:

Me and David started with the balance and hairspring topic. We are now practicing different methods to remove the roller from the balance staff and balance staff from the balance wheel. Besides that, how to remove the collet from the balance staff and how to remove the hairspring completely, i.e. from the collet and stud. Very interesting exercises, can't wait to see how we fit and manipulate a new hairspring later on!

-Renato


Geartrain...a little taste of real "meat and potatoes!"
The 3 of us did some timed work on ETA 6498 movements this week, where multiple sections of study were put to the test:
- The Winding/Setting works
- The Barrel for the mainspring
- The 4 wheels of the Geartrain
We had a short period to note any previous scratches/defects on the mainplate and bridges, then the challenge was "Don't add any fresh ones!" as we dis-assembled the movement, noted any introduced errors, corrected them, cleaned all the parts, added lubrication to specific points, and put them back together for grading.
A very satisfying week where so many parts of a watch came into focus all at once, a small feast for the senses of accomplishment and knowledge coming together at once.

-Robert


Team D

Origin: Finland
Name: Xinying
Watchmaking class: Technician
Current mood:

This week I finnished setting and winding practice for rest of the movements and started practice with barrels. It was a little bit challenging at the beginning but gradually I learned to look at right spots to complete practice barrels and I will continue next week to do the same for the movements.
Xinying 




STEP 1: TURNING AND MAKING THREADS IN LATHE! (DANIEL, DAVID & MIGUEL)
Michael showing how to set up the lathe prior to turning!









STEP 2: LE LOCLE WATCH MUSEUM! (ALMOST EVERYONE)
Eagerly waiting to get inside!
Astonishing level of engraving work!!









Engraved Apple watch!

At the Château des Monts last Sunday we had the chance of meeting Jean-Bernard Michel showing us how to engrave!


STEP 3: SPECIALIZED TOOLS! (FRANCESCO)
Francesco making some special size tools for his Horia jeweling tool!


STEP 4: THE BALANCE AND HAIRSPRING! (DAVID & RENATO)
David and Renato learn something new this week; how to extract hairspring, double roller and balance staff!




HENRIK's WORDS:

 

Lots of raining this week! Most of us went to Château des Monts, the watch museum in Le Locle to see Jean-Bernard Michel showing his work! Xin was working on barrels and mainsprings! Miguel, David, and Daniel got introduced to the lathe as well as the grinding machine and profile projector! Renato and David started a new course; the balance and hairspring course! Tetsu and Dean continued with pivot gauges and the quality of the burnish was much better compared to the week before and the dimensions got closer as well!  Francesco, Asmund and Robert had 2 trial gear train exams!  It was a very interesting week!  Have a great weekend everyone!