Monday Lessons

***A quick Monday afternoon exercise turned out to be more of a challenge than originally anticipated.
 
While I was working on Valjoux 7750 I asked Tyler to quickly work out how many times the chronograph hand ticks per second. He recorded the motion then slowed down the video and quickly pronounced the chrono seconds hand ticks 4 times a second. I then asked him to figure out how many teeth the chrono wheel has.

He quickly concluded that the count is 240, "give or take 1 or 2", and this made perfect sense because if you divide the frequency of the oscillator by the number of ticks per second then 240 would be the right number.  But for some reason I really wanted him to physically count the number of teeth exactly. After all Valjoux 7750 is the movement he will be working on at the TAFE in his third year and we don’t want him embarrassing us.

As enthusiastic about watchmaking as he is, he found the task of counting a bit trivial and assigned the job to Laura, who to her credit, without being burdened by estimation did the proper count. To our surprise the centre wheel has not 240 but 200 teeth. Which means that the seconds hand actually ticks 3.333 times a second, not 4. The point is you can be deceived by what you see, and even what you recorded. Once again, watchmaking is all about being overly pedantic, even when you are “100%” sure that you are right.

The question remains, how are we going to cut a 200 teeth on a 7.2mm diameter wheel one day in our workshop? We have no idea yet, but we will do it. 

Happy collecting,
Nick 

Putting things into perspective

***Putting things into perspective



This morning we talked about the size of watch components we routinely handle in our workshop.
Any craftsman - a violin maker for example - would have no problem cutting and measuring a piece 1 millimetre thick. But our watch components are much finer and smaller. For example, the escape wheel pivot is 15 times thinner than a millimetre. And a hair spring is just 20 microns thick (one micron is one thousands part of a millimetre).

To put things into perspective, we took a photo of micrometre jaws holding the hairspring.
We shone the light from behind the instrument so you can see the gap between the 'jaws'.
Without the light, the gap is not visible to the naked eye.
 

The majority of vintage watches suffer from poor handling so hair spring alignment is often part of the service. To make the coils perfectly concentric is an art form - this job is done by hand using fine tip tweezers and without any special magnification, except the eye-glass. And this is what you learn to do in the third year of a watchmaker apprenticeship.

A 20 micron part is literally the cutting edge of fine mechanical engineering and it is obvious why watchmakers are so proud of their skills. A person trained to handle such fine work is a priceless asset to society - and if you know how to repair watches then you can be easily trained to handle any 'larger' components in the medical, optical or electronics industries.


Sydney TAFE is the last remaining teaching faculty for aspiring Australian watchmakers. Only 12 watchmakers enrol in the 3 year course each year because Australian watchmakers are not taking up the apprentices. 

And the main reason why knowledge and skills are not passed on is simple: the calculated and precisely executed restriction of the supply of spare parts to independent watchmakers by big Swiss brands is causing devastating effects. Yesterday I had a conversation with a Swiss colleague who said that even Swiss watchmakers are very upset by the restrictions and corporate greed which is causing loss of jobs in Switzerland.


But the small rebelde team keeps marching on - and we are looking for another young and talented person to join us. If you wish to become a watchmakers apprentice or know someone who is excited about practical micro-engineering then spread the word.

Happy collecting,
Nick

Watchmaker's Apprentice Wanted: Sydney Watches Pty Ltd / rebelde

Watchmaker's Apprentice Wanted

* Hands-on training by third-generation Master Watchmaker

* CAD training

* Prestigious Culwulla Chambers workshop in the middle of Sydney CBD

* Above-industry wages

* In conjunction with Sydney TAFE Diploma - 3 years course

* Guaranteed employment for the right candidate

* Opportunity to be part of an Australian watch brand story

* Endless learning opportunity: work on high grade mechanical watches

* Introduction to top Australian watch collectors

* Further career opportunities: Micro-Engineering, Design, overseas studies.

We are SPECIFICALLY looking for young and enthusiastic apprentices to undertake 3 years of Watchmaking study, aged 16-19 years. There is the possibility of accommodation assistance available for an interstate candidate. However we will consider all other applicants, regardless of age.

Send your CV/Resume to nick@clockmaker.com.au