It’s getting nippy

 Summer might be making its way out the door here in Le Locle. But the students here are still on fire with their work. 

Starting off with Craig, having finished off his engraving and surface finishing for the polishing tripod.

Looking clean

Moving on to Garry, he’s reaching the final steps of his watch case. Here he used the 3D printer to make a 45 degree polishing jig for consistent finishing.

Jig at work

Bernd finished his last mandatory tool, the pallet fork platform. This tool is used on a heating plate in order to hold down a pallet fork while its pallet jewels get replaced. The tool was made from materials found in the school’s scrap metal box and from an old main spring. The spring was blued after reshaping it. Recycling at its best!

Henrik has started to teach static poising to the senior students. Two of them are quickly approaching their finals exam!

That ladies and gentlemen is the face of concentration 

Henrik met with a student alumni who is back in Switzerland and now working in Audermars Piguet!

New student from Korea! Jaewon

That’s it’s for now, until next time!

Hard at Work

   Week 34

Louis Lu and Craig working on the lathe

STUDENT HIGHLIGHTS

Workshop A

Students:
    Art, Bernd, Cesar, Joan, Louis Lu, Mun, Nine

     This week Bernd modified a Käfer J12 pocket thickness gauge for the use with a watchmaker’s lathe. He replaced its flat contact points with two hardened and blued steel blades. He also finished his second to the last mandatory tool, the brass anvil. One more to go!

The Brass Anvil, an exercise in precision-milling different shapes

 

Joan worked on one of his mandatory tools: the v-slotted poising plate.

Workshop B

Students:
    Christiaan, Craig, Gary, Philippe, Sense    

 

Christiaan, Gary, and Philippe continued their machining education, learning how to use the milling attachment on the lathe. Gary quickly put this skill to use by machining some new screws for one of the other workshop machines.

 

Milling the slot in the screw

Philippe passed his first exam with two expertly-filed brass blocks.

Perfect fit, made by hand

  

Craig and Sense joined Art and Nine in learning how to properly assemble and disassemble a balance wheel. They practiced removing a broken balance staff, tightening a roller table, and riveting the balance staff to the balance wheel.

Art making sure the staking tool is centered

Extracting the roller table and safety roller from the balance staff

 

Sense riveting a balance wheel together with the staking set

Craig also reached a significant milestone in the construction of his watch: machining out and assembling all of the bridges and plates. All made from scratch and of his own design. Well done!

Plates fit together and awaiting finish

Thank you for reading!

Watchmaker memes, courtesy of Art

Hope to see you again next week

We’re back baby

 Everyone is back from the summer break. Starting strong with an eventful week. 

Craig for the past few weeks in the workshop has been working on a complete restoration of his late mother’s watch. This included a full diagnostics and cleaning of a quarts movement, a new crystal, complete disassembly and cleaning of the case, and sanding down the old worn plating, polishing the metal to a pristine finish, and re-plating in gold. All that remains is the clasp, which is made out of a stainless steel alloy that is resisting electroplating.

Meanwhile Gary has been working on a case he designed with pen and paper. He first machined it from brass then moved on to steel. The finished product shall be coming along soon.

Square is the new circle

Chris is getting up to some stuff too. This week his laser machine arrived! He’s been playing with it these last few days and working in a dial.

Laser cutting

Finished product 

That’s it for this week, until next time!

Swiss Lever Escapement Course

 Week 30

As the students of the Fullskill and Technician course went on holiday, the benches were used by the students of the summer escapement course, a one week intensive course to learn as much as possible about the Swiss lever escapement and how to repair and adjust them, both modern and vintage movements were used to practice on.

The students using the scope mode to see the effects of the escapement faults.

Dog Days of Summer

  Week 28

Summer break is fast approaching! Time to hit any last-minute milestones before heading off on vacation.

 

STUDENT HIGHLIGHTS

Workshop A

Students:
    Art, Bernd, Cesar, Joan, Louis Lu, Mun, Nine

     Bernd made preparations for turning a series of pivot gauges, making graver handles and fitting material blanks in lathe dogs (brass collars used to spin the workpiece when turning between center pivots).

 

 

Louis Lu restored his own Jacot Tool, this week by making a new bow complete with knurling on the handle. 

 

 

Workshop B

Students:
    Christiaan, Craig, Gary, Philippe, Sense

    

Christiaan, Gary, and Philippe began practice on the milling machine, allowing them to make large complicated shapes without hours of tedious filing.

Gary demonstrating how to square the milling head

Gary also finished his balance bridge support, showcasing a very clean frosted finish.

 

Craig dipped his toe into alchemy (electroplating), experimenting with different heat, voltage, and timing parameters to achieve a clean gold plating finish with consistency.

Higher voltage for shorter time (left) and lower voltage for longer time (right)

Thank you for reading!

Should we be concerned about what Craig is plotting?

Hope to see you again next week

History

 Week 27

This week, the school took a trip to the Internation Museum of Horology followed by a trip to CENIC Watches to stock up on tools and supplies. The museum recently acquired a variety of new pieces, including a special exhibit on the history of hairsprings.

Hairsprings made of glass!

STUDENT HIGHLIGHTS

Workshop B

Students:
    Christiaan, Craig, Gary, Philippe, Sense

    

It's time for the lathe! Christiaan, Gary, and Philippe learned how to use this fundamental piece of machinery, critical to so many aspects of watchmaking.

Learning how to cut screws

Craig passed the notoriously difficult Escapement Exam, leaving only one more exam before the Final...

Thank you for reading!

...hello, Nine

Hope to see you again next week!