NEVER GIVE UP...!!!

WEEK 4: 

NEVER GIVE UP...!!!

Harman Wadhwa 

Origin : New Delhi, India

Age : 28

Watchmaking class : 8 month Service & Technician course

Current mood : "The micro-mechanics are over for me! Very thrilled to start technician work next week!!"

Pierre Aubert

Origin : Toulouse, France

Age : 22

Watchmaking class : 2Y Fullskill Program

Current mood : "I think I have learned a thing or two about patience this week 😝: I had to re-start from scratch my balance bridge support 9 times..!!-before it actually met the desired quality :)) Looking all good now haha. See you next week!"

STEP 1: 

LEARNING TAPPING (INTERNAL THREADING) & EXTERNAL THREADING

 

STEP 2: HARMAN's SHIFT => SERVING JUGAAD 😁

Before

After

STEP 3:

 "Striving for perfection and trying to catch excellence..!" 

(Just trying haha it's a long journey😝)

Before

After

Only finishing left to do

 STEP 4: 

Vintage hands for school watch before modding/modernization

Modified shape of vintage hands, scraping finish with applied red super luminova, with polished sinks, matt top surface and beveled and straight grained back-end of boss

Jig boring circular table with scraping for precision flatness, not decoration. This is where I got the idea for the hand surface finish with randomly scraped spots

HENRIK's WORDS

One month gone! Time warps in le Locle for sure, already next week Harman will begin his manipulation course for the technician course. This week was interesting as we tried out drilling, thread making and tapping of brass in the lathe, we also got to use the tailstock microscope (centering microscope) in the Schaublin 70 lathe, this was not an easy task for the students at this stage, but we will review it on a later stage in the course again. I started to experiment with a school watch as I have a bunch of old vintage hands that are suitable for the ETA 6498 movement, the hands I had in stock had no real shape or finish to them as can be seen in the before pic, as I did no want to have the same painted, black polished or brushed hands as is so common anyway, I tried instead to imitate what I think is a beautiful decorative look; the scraping look as we have on most of our classical machines in the school, such as on the Jig-Boring turn table. anyway more pics to come on this project next week, stay tuned!

We Know the Drill ;)

WEEK 2 & 3

Lathe: We know the drill ;)

Harman Wadhwa

Origin : New Delhi, India

Age : 28

Watchmaking class : 8 month Service & Technician course

Current mood : "Mind just got tapered.."started to use the Schaublin 70, loving the experience with the lathe. On Easter holidays, Henrik suggested to work on a school watch: I'm excited to work on the bridges over the weekends :D"

Pierre Aubert

Origin : Toulouse, France

Age : 22

Watchmaking class : 2Y Fullskill Program

Current mood : « Very exciting times: the lathe is an AMAZING tool!!! The precision is simply out of the world!! The love relationship with filing is getting very serious: I just started designing my school watch and filing the bridges. More on that later, stay tuned. PS: Filing might replace meditation ;) It is the purest form of self expression..!! The hands and the mind. What else? See you next week."

STEP 1 : LEARNING THE DRILLS 

                                                 STEP 2 : FULL CYCLE LEARNING

                   FIXING OUR OWN TOOLS (compound vice for the ACIERA 6T drill press)

STEP 3: TURNING

-

OUR CHAKRAS ARE ALIGNING!

(Trying to explain lathe operations :p)

STEP 4: APPLIED SKILLS

-

SCHOOL WATCH debuts

                                                      

HENRIK's WORDS

3 weeks has already passed as well as Easter!  Students are very efficient and seem to like even the filing! We covered already the drill press, learning on our beloved precision Aciera 6T column drill press, super smooth and most importantly no accidents! The students also started to work on their school watches mainly modifying 6498 bridges to classical shapes to continue practice classical hand filing, we also had time to learn the basics of the lathe on the the Schaublin 70 (watchmakers super lathe). Just before Easter I also met up with Mr. Simonin (former director of WOSTEP) to pick up some restoration projects.  We talked in length about marine chronometers and school watches, coincidentally he had one of my restoration projects that I did in the course on restoration and complications back in 2006, the marine chronometer that I restored, he still had it!! and it was in perfect condition still running strong! It was truly emotional ones again to be with it and hearing its beautiful song so healthy and strong! Anyway next week we will do some more cool stuff stay tuned...

Teaser for next week :) 

The Marine Chronometer Henrik restored back in the complication and restoration course in WOSTEP

Sweet memories.

Filing sets you free

WEEK 1

NEW KHWCC SPECIMENS : IN SEARCH OF FLATNESS

SPECIMEN 1 : Harman Wadhwa

Origin : New Delhi, India

Age : 28

Watchmaking class : 8 month Service & Technician course

Current mood : « Exploring the  technical side of watches »

SPECIMEN 2 : Pierre Aubert

Origin : Toulouse, France

Age : 22

Watchmaking class : 2Y Fullskill Program

Current mood : « Watchmaking addict anonymous- It’s been too damn long since my 2017 bench test..!! I’m just so thrilled to finally be here and embark on this life long journey. The addiction is REAL. »

STEP 1 : WEAPON MAKING, LIKE REAL BOSSES, TAKING DOWN KHWCC

STEP 2 : FILING- THE JOURNEY IS WHAT MATTERS

                                                   STEP 3 :  IN NEED OF CAFFEINE

STEP 4 : VISITING THE WATCHMAKING’s GODFATHER- Mr. Simonin (WOSTEP Founder)

STEP 5 : LEGENDS ARE FROM KHWCC – 3 GENERATIONS REUNION !! Henrik’s recipe for outstanding abilities must lie in KEBAB consumption !! We’ll try to keep up.

                                                          

HENRIK's WORDS

This first week was exhausting as we all were filing and sawing from morning to late evening to develop manual dexterity and to get used to shaping brass and steel, however, the week ended very nicely with much needed Paradise Kebab.

Final Week!

We have finished the final week of the 2-year Fullskill course, some of us went ones again to check out the Basel World watch fair and others stayed in school or were busy packing and organizing, and finishing of last watches. 

These two years went by so fast it felt as if we just started! Also, good news for us; everyone successfully passed the final exam and no need for anyone to retake it. We also enjoyed a nice graduation dinner in a Swiss traditional style restaurant with awesome food and wine.

We hope the next students coming will enjoy the school as much as we did and wish all our readers great success whether it is in school, professionally or privately!

We will take a short 2 week break until the next students arrive. Stay tuned!

Below, enjoy some highlights from the last few days.

Best wishes to all our readers from the KHWCC Team!

Sif receiving her diploma

Yi-Ting receiving her diploma.

Stan receiving his diploma

CJ receiving his diploma

Everyone together with their diploma (Henrik in the center)

Stan finish one of his vintage chronograph repairs just in time!

Some pics from CJ when he was finishing his school watch.

CJ's school watch which changes look in different light, in this light it gives kind of a sparkling effect.

Last Working Day

Today is the last working day officially, because next week we are going to visit Basel World, wrapping up our tools, having a deep clean of the school and our apartment. It's always busy before moving, so everyone is trying to work as much as possible.
CJ also finished his school watch at the last minute, we took some nice pictures. Please enjoy.

Circular graining of mainplate on dial side.

All bridge are sand frosted. Ratchet wheel are matte finishing. And with Henrik's design of click system.

CJ also converted the balance to a classical bi-metal balance and he also fitted it with a blue steel hairspring formed with a Phillips curve. 

Before and after.

This week we also introduce some quality control of watches, such as pressure test, and leakage test.

Pressure test.

Leakage test

Stan modified a screw driver into a specific part for Rolex movement.

Look what we got this week.