Very cool promo clip from Sarpaneva ...

Sarpaneva has to be one of the coolest young guns around ...

This is not a product review post nor have we been paid to say good things about Sarpaneva but his watch promo video clip rocks ! Click on the link below and see for yourself !

The right thing to do ?

Come on. If you're a real watchmaker, you will surely have to agree with Swatch on this. Its not good for the industry if everyone just depends on one company to do everything. Nothing will improve. Nothing new will happen. Then it will die out eventually.

What am i ranting about ? Read the article here.

TellWatch : 3D CAD/CAM watchmaking software

Polysoft Tell website

TellWatch screenshot from Polysoft Tell website.

This has to be something which everyone should know about. Its a 3D CAD/CAM designed and made solely for watchmaking. Its called TellWatch. This software should be taught and used in all watchmaking schools. Its made by a Swiss company called Polysoft Tell.

Their website is http://www.polysoft-tell.com/fr/.

It seems like most major watch manufacturers have this software. Read an article about TellWatch here.

Watchmaking students ! Take note !

TellWatch has a student version which is FREE for download on the Polysoft Tell website. Just register your details and download !

And for the rest of us, PolySoft Tell has courses on how to use TellWatch.

This has been a great discovery !

Benefits of TellWatch

- Specifically designed for watchmaking.

- Swiss based

- PolySoft has training courses for Tellwatch

- Student version available for free so all students will be able to learn Tellwatch

- TellWatch used by most major watch companies so learning the software will greatly enhance employment opportunities upon graduation

- Aspiring Independents have a powerful and industry accepted tool to design their own watches on

* After discovering this software, Henrik has emailed Polysoft Tell and is awaiting their reply. He intends to make TellWatch a core component in his Full Skill course.

If you're aspiring to be an Independent, you need to read this ...

Article front page from QP Magazine.

If you're thinking of taking up a watchmaking education and if you're thinking of being Independent later on, you should read this article at QP Magazine.

http://www.qpmagazine.com/fileopen.axd?aaid=6035

You need to register to read the article but it only takes a few seconds and they don't even need to verify your email address to let you have access to the PDF file.

Anyway, one of the most important points said in the article would surely be this :-

" Today’s environment makes designing and producing components and watches easier and faster than ever. The internet and social media have made communication and marketing easier and cheaper than ever. And there are more and more independent watchmakers launching their own brands and new watches than ever. So where, you may ask, lies the difficulty? Well, being engineers at heart (watchmaking, at its base, is micro- mechanics) independent watchmakers naturally take to new production technologies more easily than new methods of communication – show a watchmaker a new CNC machine and a Facebook page and guess which one excites him the most? That leads to more independents creating their own brand, but lacking the skills to market their watches effectively using the new communication tools available. "

And this couldn't be far from the truth. This is why Henrik decided that an addition of a marketing unit is very important. Well, even if there's demand, but you need to let the buyers know that you exist.

Thank god someone has the gumption to point it out !

Other schools should do the same too ! Do you hear us ?

We're not hear to tell you what to do. We're not here to compete with you. We're here to make sure that watchmaking skills will not be lost in translation or lost to time ! But if all you do is to teach technical and assembly skills, and no one knows a thing about marketing themselves or their creations, then no one is going to sell anything much. If they don't sell enough, they will give up or just join some big manufacturer because they can't survive. End of story.

*Article extract taken from QP magazine at their website http://www.qpmagazine.com. Accessed 5th June 2011 at GMT 17:55 hrs.

The Rolls Royce of all tool kits ...

In the midst of preparing acquisition plans, a Swiss company called PetitPierre came up. Their website is http://www.petitpierre.ch/ . And guess what i found !! This has to be the Rolls Royce of all watchmaker kits. The website is entirely in French but use google translate to see it in English.

Who has 8000 Francs to give ? I want one of these !

Coffret d’outillage horlogers "Tradition" Kit priced at 6,650 CHF.

There is a Nubuck leather carrying case which goes with the kit at an additional 900 CHF.

Another picture of PetitPierre's Coffret d’outillage horlogers "Tradition".

Otherwise, for the rest of us mere mortals, they have a basic kit which rocks as well. From their website, it is priced at 1470 CHF.

PetitPierre's Valise de l’horloger voyageur kit priced at 1470 CHF.

.

More picture of the Valise de l’horloger voyageur kit.

* Pictures were taken from PetitPierre's website. Copyright and intellectual property remains with PetitPierre. This blog entry is not for commercial purposes. We are not affiliated to PetitPierre in any way.

Why was it moved one month earlier ?

One of the great things about watchmaking is that of tradeshows. The only other thing in the world that creates as much excitement are cars.

Well, we intend to have some sort of a showing at BaselWorld next year so we had to look into it rather early. Goodness, the show organisers had moved the dates about one month earlier to about 8 March. This leaves us with less than 9 months to prep and think of what we wish to do there.

And Hotels. What a nightmare. We heard that Hotel reservations are a nightmare. So yeah, if you see a few tents outside, thats us ! ha ha ...

It doesn't need to be all about watches ...

We all know this is a watchmaking school blog but it doesn't mean we have to only post stuff about watches. Watchmakers are human too. Some like food ( I.e Henrik ), some like cars and other stuff. And lots of watchmakers like photography too.

Anyway, this is a really interesting time lapse photography project by a famous photographer. The video clip can be found on the link below :-

http://vimeo.com/24456787

Have a look ! The music's nice and the amazing thing is that the footage wasn't taken with a video camera. It was painstakingly taken with 4 cameras, and all the pictures painfully stitched together. Quite an accomplishment. Sounds like the photographer has what it takes to be a watchmaker ! lots of patience and perseverance !

Enjoy !