Count down begins

 With just one week left, everyone is busy. Time is passing by faster than expected, but that’s always the case. I have started working on my school watch, making the bridges out of German silver. Having drilled the through holes for the bridge screws on the jig borer. Then on the lathe, using the base plate to spot center the jewel holes and attaching the bridge to then drill. The George Daniel’s method.

Used a ball mill to make the slots for the winding stem and a mill for the winding pinion slot. Some fun lathe work.

Michael and Henrik are doing some demonstration of ratchet wheel decorations. Amazing how many different ways there are to decorate a single wheel. Here we can see the classic triple snailing along with the method made by an old student Ivan.

Mesmerizing 

Along with these, they are also showing prime examples of Geneva stripes, a very traditional and classy finishing technique, done on the mill. 

Up close

Sharp yet curvy 

Philip and Gary took their gear train exam today! Congratulations to them both. Caio and Gui have started working on the balance staff, a daunting yet rewarding trial.

Jaewon completed another pivot, can only be seen under the microscope.

 Meanwhile Joan is working on hairsprings, the most unforgiving part of watchmaking, one slip and it’s all over.

That’s it for this week! Until next time!

Exams!

 Here we can spot a wild watchmaker in his natural habitat. 

Gui is speeding through the technician course, yesterday he took his pivot gauge exam just a few weeks into learning them. Meanwhile in the other workshop Jae won and Chris took their gear train exam. The first exam for the technician course. An exciting exam including a full barrel service, bending wheels, adjusting end-shake and divisions. 

Nick is machining his way through his brass tools, here you can see his diamond pallet fork holder. 

Jae won, still working on an ancient memovox. Been neglected for many years until Jae won came along to bring it back to life. Life to that baby pur.

This is a special weekend in Le Locle, it’s the annual festival when thousands of people come and fill our empty streets. Hopefully we’ll see you there.

Until next time!

Way too hot

 Hard to work in this heat. Yet we persevere.

Sens took his final exam this week! So if all goes well we will be celebrating very soon. A big weight must be lifted from his shoulders, and now we must wait.

The other students in his workshop as making their way through the start of the technician course, bending wheels, adjusting end-shake and division. Hopefully they will be taking their first technician exam soon.

As for myself I spent the day today doing some restoration work on our lathe. Disassembled the whole cross slide, deep cleaned then reassembled and oiled. It’s now smooth as butter on this hot day.

Short one this week, but I hope you everyone has a chill weekend under some shade.

Until next time!

Back to Geneva

Starting off with last weekend, we have a Hong Kong movie night! Chris and Phillip were kind enough to cook for everyone, making some Hong Kong themed dishes. Some old students also came by to pay a visit. A very merry day all around.

Our chefs

Later in the week it was time for EPHJ. Also fun to go on a Geneva trip. Spoke to many people and saw many cool machines. We were also lucky enough to get an invocation by The Watch Lab in Geneva to visit their wonderful workshop. 

And look at this little guy, hopefully he won’t be taking our jobs.

Back to school now, I have been making some good progress in making and plating some dials. Took a while to find a good plating method but with the help of our professor they are coming out nicely.

Turning the dial

Plated 

Bernd worked in turning a special Horia pusher for pushing the 7001 roller table. Useful little guy.

Pushing 

Chris made a custom graver for cutting screw threads. It’s a function his new lathe has, so we’re all eager to see him start playing with it.

That’s it for this week. 

Until next time!

Celebration time

 Yesterday Bernd finished his hair spring exam! This is his final exam before his final exam. Now having 5 months free to prepare and work on his own projects. A big weight lifted. 

Over in our workshop, after Bernd’s exam we started learning the final details of the technician course. Our professor taught us the theory and oiling points of the calendar and of the automatic winding. Which now leaves just the chronograph. 

While in the other workshop, Nick is making solid headway on his turning. After having learnt how to operate the lathe, he’s quickly finishing parts for his tools.

Balance bridge holder

Completing his balance bridge holder, a very useful tool in the second year. Also putting to use the milling attachment to make screw heads. 

Meanwhile Sens is preparing for his final exam, here achieving and almost perfect reading.

Jaewon, Chris, Gary and Phil are now learning the intricate winding and setting system of the watch. A part of the watch hidden behind the dial and rarely seen. This arrangement of the watch is particularly tricky to oil and involves a couple different oils.

That’s it for this week! Until next time!

Who let the dog out

 Everyone working hard over here in Le Locle. I myself finished restoring a very old pillar pocket watch. With gilded and hand engraved bridges, it is quite the handsome watch. 

Dog?

After a lot of debate, we still could not come to a conclusion as to what this animal is.

Not many parts to this watch

As for GUI, today he completed his winding stem restoration exercise. For this, he is given a caliber with no winding stem at all, from this he deduced the full dimensions of the stem then turns and tempers it. A very useful exercise.

Dimensions to be found

Restored 

Jaewon, Chris, Gary and Phillip are now learning about barrel restoration. Going through arbor end-shake and side-shake, and how to change it. 

Work arbor 

Chris laser engraved the back of Joan’s custom AliExpress build. Came out nicely.

Sense is now preparing for his final exam, touching up his skills on regulation. Attempting to reach isochronism, where the rate at low amplitudes match the rate at high amplitude, giving the watch consistency. As well as dynamic poising, to match the rates at different positions.

I’ll end it with a reminder of spring’s arrival. Until next time!

Bizarre phenomenon

 Here we observe an interesting event. On a ETA 7750 which at very low amplitude the escapement greatly miss-locking. The escape wheel tooth can be seen falling directly on the impulse plane of the jewel. Although as the amplitude rises, the teeth can be seen sliding up to the locking face from the impulse face, until it very quickly falls directly onto the locking face, no longer miss-locking. Interesting to see. 

On other news, a lot of students have been taking exams this week. Gui and Caio both took their winding stem exam, and Nick took his first exam. Nick took his male and female exam, hand filing two brass pieces. 

Here we can see Nick now learning his way around the lathe.

Onto Chris, been forging some metal. Melting his tin to make a black polishing plate. 

Jaewon started to take apart his Valjoux 23, finding some interning reparations. The pusher lever having been welded together. Interesting technique. 

That’s it for this week. Until next time!

Another day another dollar

This week flew by fast, everyone was busy at work. In workshop 2 Gary, Chris, Jaewon and Phillip started the technician course! A big jump from micro mechanics, learning very different content. As always the technician starts with trial by fire, oiling 30 Incablocs to get a feel for the finer work which is required by the technician course. After which they moved on to the wheels, tedious work. Bending a series of wheels is harder than is sounds, the high spot is always running away from you. Nick, our newest student just took his very first exam, a grueling 8 hour exam!

Gary bending wheels 

As for our workshop, I took my hairspring exam! The last exam before the final exams, if that makes sense. A very difficult exam, requiring many different skills to complete. While Caio and Gui have almost mastered the turning of the winding stem and hopefully will take their exam soon. 

How it starts 

Winding and grinding 

On some side news, our professor Michael and I have been experimenting on how to turn a regulator balance to a free sprung without adjusting the inner pinning point. Results have been promising.

That’s it for now, until next time!

Happy Birthday Craig!

 Short week this week, yet still eventful. I’ll kick things off with the most exciting accomplishment. Craig has done the final assembly for his caliber. The Eclipse 000. A real work of ingenuity, came together looking very unique. The knowledge learnt while building it is just as important as the watch.

Voilà!

Lil guy

Now backing up to the weekend. Us over here had a lovely fondue day,, home made 4 different flavors.

Everyone came over to the workshop and ate till we could move no more. After which we put on Tropic Thunder to digest. Was a great time, though the only thing we were missing is a chocolate fondue!

Now back to work, Jaewon Had started work on pivot gauges, not an easy job, though so far he’s fairing well.

Caio and Gui are approaching their winding stem exam, a daunting 8 hour exam involving may different skills, from hand turning to hardening. Here is one of Caio’s practice pieces. 

To end it off, we show the creation of Joan. Made purely from Ali express for a genuinely unbelievable price.

That’s it for this week! Until next time.

Cows are back

 You know spring is properly here when the cows return. 

Unfortunately it’s a rainy day for them. As for us, hard at work. Hair springs are still taking up all of my time and the other senior students. Our skills have greatly improved since we started, after many weeks bending springs under the microscope we are feeling much more confident using tweezers to manipulate the spring.

Gary made a new case prototype out of brass for a 7001, it’s looking sharp!

Some more good news, Jaewon do his wining stem exam  this week and passed! He’ll be moving on the pivot gauges.

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

Fire and fury

This week we all just spent laboring away, the senior students are still working with hairsprings, almost understanding the secrets the coils hold. Preparing for their exam. Guilherme and Caio are understanding the frustration of hardening the winding stem and learning of the fickle nature of steel under high temperatures and cold water. 

Over in the other workshop, Chris, Gary and Phillip are making their way through the pivot gauges. A task which at the start seemed almost impossible, but now burnishing is coming naturally. As for Nick, still fresh off learning the drill, still got plenty to learn from the machines. 

Jaewon ever on his experiments, is trying hardening on winding stems of different materials and with different techniques. Results are inconclusive.

Hardening 

Until next time!

Watched and wondered

 Last Friday until Sunday, most of us stayed in Geneva to marvel at some lovely watches. We started off by stopping over at Time to Watches, a micro brand watch event with some very unique pieces. 

Keaton

After a nice lunch in Geneva old town, we hopped over to AHCI, the independents watch event. Here is were the real horology lies, and where you get the opportunity to meet the master minds behind the master works. 

Lederer 

Moving on, still on the same day by the way, we went for a gander at Cronipolis, yet another watch event. Some more lovely watches that you don’t get to see very often.

Sexy time with penguins

Now, us being pretty exhausted from watches, needing a break, we hit the streets for a good evening. Filled ourselves with a Brazilian barbecue, nectar of the Gods. 

The boys 

The night didn’t stop there, but unfortunately that will remain off the blog, anyways I digress.

Now on Saturday, we hit up the big boy, and go visit Watches and Wonders. Way saw way too many watches to talk about here. So I will just mention what stood out the most. We were lucky enough to get a meeting with Armin Strom in the press room. They unveiled to us their new 12:59 any time watch. An unequalled marvel, containing a minute repeater with the Westminster chime and double balance in resonance. All put into a lovely sized titanium case.

Voila

Now back to school, been a long week here for us. At workshop 1, myself, Bernd, Joan and Louis are making progress on the hairsprings, but those coils are really testing our patience. 

Gary is making some good headway on the production of lovely little case for a 7001.

At the start

Where he’s at now

The new student Nick has now started to learn the machines, as always starting with the drilling press.

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