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)
STEP 2: SPECIALIZED TOOLS! (ÅSMUND)
STEP 3: HERRLI! (EVERYONE)
STEP 4: SPECIALIZED TOOLS! (ÅSMUND)
STEP 5: RIVETING BALANCE STAFF! (RENATO &DAVID)
STEP 6: STUDENT OUTING! (EVERYONE)
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!
