February 18, 2011 – 8:18 pm
As watchmakers, we are continually at odds with dust and the tiny fibres that are seemingly able to defy gravity and find their way into the airspace above our benches. We wipe down our benchtops every day and strive to keep our workspaces pristine. We guard our doorways with cleanroom tacky mats and don lab [...]
January 25, 2011 – 9:30 pm
The short video above demonstrates a simple and efficient means of removing the arbor from the mainspring of a watch barrel, using a riveting stake and a sturdy pair of tweezers. This particular technique isn’t one that was ever shown to me during my years spent training to be a watchmaker, rather, it’s one that [...]
January 19, 2011 – 6:54 pm
The future is here. No need to run out and drop tens of thousands of dollars on the latest rapid prototyping printer or SLS unit to turn the bits that make up your CAD drawings into real life atoms – atoms of titanium no less. You can now have real life versions of your Google [...]
January 1, 2011 – 12:03 pm
Each year, on New Year’s Eve, up to one million people squeeze into Times Square in the heart of Manhatten to celebrate the end of one year and the beginning of another. The hallmark of this gathering is the famous Times Square Ball Drop. Every year at one minute to midnight on New Year’s Eve, [...]
December 19, 2010 – 7:23 pm
It’s that time of year again. With Christmas just around the corner, I thought I would take some time to compile a list of useful stocking stuffers for watchmakers. I’ve scoured the net high and low to try and find the best prices on a lot of these items, as well, without sacrificing on quality. [...]
December 13, 2010 – 10:58 am
A lot of the watchmakers I know grew up playing with LEGO, or a similar constructible variation, like MegaBlocks or Meccano. Even modern mechanical watchmaking gurus, like Greubel-Forsey, admit to using these sorts of basic building constructs. The first physical prototype of their 30° double incline tourbillon was created using Meccano. Perhaps it’s the logic [...]
November 20, 2010 – 10:19 pm
Mini vac systems are a valuable tool in any modern watch lab or workshop. There is no better way to deal with dust and small debris, which can so easily detriment the performance of a fine timepiece, than to suck it into a self contained vortex. I didn’t have the luxury of a vacuum or [...]
October 22, 2010 – 10:16 pm
A watchmaker’s job isn’t done once a watch is assembled and ticking. The much more abstract task of then getting that watch to keep time – in an almost infinite variety of positions, temperatures, and states of wind – takes place. It’s the most challenging part of our craft and the pursuit for perfection is [...]
October 18, 2010 – 8:15 am
I have had the good fortune of working with several different automatic watch cleaning machines over the years. The Elma RM90 is the first I was ever exposed to. While it lacks the ultrasonic capabilities and digital settings of machines such as the Greiner ACS 900 and Rolex’s CM3, I find its rudimentary construction to [...]
October 12, 2010 – 3:34 pm
Late last night, Gizmodo posted X-rays online from the March 2010 issue of the International Journal of Nautical Archaeology, which featured a more than 300 year old pocket watch mechanism, preserved in its original case thanks to the rust that sealed it shut following a shipwreck that is thought to have happened in 1653. The [...]
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