Another update and a first personal job...

[FeelingTheBlues]

Greetings TRF,

It's been quite a long time since I've posted about my formation but I finished two more classes this week, therefore it's time for me to post another thread!

Before we start with the news, allow me to post (at last...) pictures of what I did on my lathe! I didn't post them in my previous thread but certainly didn't forget about them (please excuse the cellphone quality pictures though...:banghead).

Two rivets, a brass one and a steel (the one with the little cover...obviously...) one.



This one was made to make me practice drilling with the lathe, the small part is actually longer and it was squeezed in the biggest part.



My tool stand, which has been pretty useful so far!



My vice, I made the screw and the tip.



And now some tools...

I just made the body of those but they're made to take bars off bracelets if you want to make them smaller. Instead of squeezing the blue'd steel tips in (the "easy and simple" way), my teacher asked me to drill a bigger hole and drill another one before making a screw out of a very small steel stem to hold the blue tip. All in all, it was a pain...



Some levers to take out the hands of a watch, I can't use them yet as they would break (I had to file the tip until it was about 0,1mm thick) but they will be useful soon!



Now look at those details...



And my exam (along with the practice), a fully handmade winding stem for a pocket watch!





...And yes, both worked!

Now that this is done, let's talk about the last two exams I passed! The first one was pretty simple and more boring, it was about learning all the names of the basic parts of a watch and understand how they worked. The good thing is that I was learning that while I was practicing a few things in an actual movement, making it much easier to understand how everything worked and the different names and specifications.





And when I disassembled it...





Take in note that those pictures are from the very first time I disassembled my very first movement, before the teacher gave me those pieces of advice:

- Always put the hairspring above its bridge.
- Always put it in its own compartment, alone.
- Always put the escapement wheel alone.

...We can all make mistakes, can we? At least nothing broke...this time!

Needless to say I didn't make those mistakes again for the other movements (even the very small ones). Now over the past weeks and after breaking an escapement wheel (again, a little accident that happened in the first times...remember that I'm still learning here! ) I've been able to take rubies off a plate and bridges and put them back while making sure they were at the proper height (or rather depth in the bridge) depending on the wheel they held as well as disassemble and reassemble a mainspring. I've also been able to take out a shock protection system, separate the rubies, clean them, put a drop of oil and put the whole thing back on top and under the hairspring and I've been able to clean and put back three types of movements (for pocket, men's and ladies' watches) while putting oil at the good places. That was my exam as well and it's a success.

Unfortunately I haven't been able to take a lot of pictures because I was quite busy, I asked my teacher if I could practice on one of my watches and he recommended me to wait until my class about repairing movements because if an accident had to happen and I had to break something I would have to wait for the teachers to work on my movement and it would slow me down. Now that the class is done, I do not have to worry about losing time so I decided to start working on a watch I got yesterday and that needs a service.



Some would think it’s foolish to go against my teacher’s recommendations but the real problem was me getting late in my formation should I need to ask the teacher to repair my watch if anything breaks. Now that the class is over, if something wrong happens I’ll just have to leave it on the side and work on it when I’ll be able to repair parts on my watch while getting more knowledge and practice in other fields.

Keep in mind that this service will take longer than usual as I’m going to work on it during my breaks at school, I think it will be interesting as it will leave me some time to take pictures and show you guys the different parts that work together in a mechanical watch.

Now the first thing we need to do is take the movement out of the case…



…And the hands off the dial…



…Oh, by the way, don’t mind the look of my desk and my pots to put parts in them, however dirty they look they’re just scratched as a few hundred students must have worked with them before me…

Now that this has been done carefully using levers and a piece of paper to avoid damaging the dial, let’s take the said dial off!



At this point the movement should look like this…



…Well, okay, it’s usually more clean…

After that come the hour wheel and the cannon pinion.





Then only must you flip it over!





…And leave it as is as the day is over!



My apologies but those are the only things I’ve had the time to do as it was the end of the day, I’ll work more on it on Monday and will take pictures of the most interesting parts! Keep also in mind that since I only worked on “naked” movements it was the first time I was actually taking hands and a dial off a watch, it was a great experience indeed!

Thank you for watching and reading, feel free to comment!

[kilyung]

Making great progress my friend!

[Lisa]

You have to make your own tools? Whoa.

I showed Dave your pics... he said, "that makes my head hurt."

All those teensy tiny parts....

That Monroe watch is beautiful. What a score, and a terrific practice piece.

[FeelingTheBlues]

Originally Posted by kilyung

Making great progress my friend!

Thank you Mike!

Originally Posted by Lisa

You have to make your own tools? Whoa.

I showed Dave your pics... he said, "that makes my head hurt."

All those teensy tiny parts....

That Monroe watch is beautiful. What a score, and a terrific practice piece.

We had to make a few of them indeed Lisa!

As for Dave's head, I hope it doesn't hurt too much!

Thank you for the kind words, those parts are very tiny indeed and I did drop my share of them. I had to look on the floor for several minutes before finding them (although most of the times friends of mine would find them...) and believe me, that can give you quite a headache!

[GregoryZ]

Very impressive Carl! I've always wanted to take apart a watch as you are doing. I'm afraid I don't have the skill/aptitude needed. Please continue to show your steps. This is very informational!

[East Bay Rider]

I'm hooked. Looking forward to the progress updates.

[FeelingTheBlues]

Thank you so much guys!

[Thatguy]

Nice! Keep us informed! Very interesting!

[hdrazor251]

Impressive.

Keep the updates coming.

[dbelle7]

Carl,
I'm so impressed! You MADE your tools??? Wow. Loved seeing all the steps in photos.
Go Carl!!
:)

[threemonkeys]

Really fun read, my friend. I'm looking forward to seeing your progress.

[Hooper]

Keep it up Carl

[Cru Jones]

I've recently gone twice to the hardware store and come back with the wrong halogen lightbulbs both times, so, you can imagine how impressed I am by all this, Carl!

[MonBK]

It won't be long before you're a master watchmaker.

[bayerische]

Originally Posted by MonBK

It won't be long before you're a master watchmaker.

X2!

Awesome job Carl!

[FeelingTheBlues]

Thank you very much everybody, I appreciate all your kind words and am always glad to post pictures of what I do at my school!

Originally Posted by dbelle7

Carl,
I'm so impressed! You MADE your tools??? Wow. Loved seeing all the steps in photos.
Go Carl!!
:)

Indeed Dawna...at least a few of them!

Thank you my friend!

Originally Posted by Cru Jones

I've recently gone twice to the hardware store and come back with the wrong halogen lightbulbs both times, so, you can imagine how impressed I am by all this, Carl!

Now that made me laugh out loud!

[Kingair]

Amazing . . . in a few months we got another member who can do the maintenance on our timepieces . . .

Really nice progress . . . . impressive

HAGWe

[mailman]

Good for you Carl Thanks for the pictures

[Bangel]

I marvel at your progress Carl. Your photos say patience, discipline and skill.

Looking forward to seeing you work your magic on the movement.

I'm staying tuned....

[FeelingTheBlues]

Originally Posted by Bangel

I marvel at your progress Carl. Your photos say patience, discipline and skill.

Looking forward to seeing you work your magic on the movement.

I'm staying tuned....

Thank you kindly Julian!

You'll have to wait until at least Monday though...apparently they must close the school on weekends! Talk about slowing me down...

[Monte Cristo]

It seems you are ready to take on the servicing of my Daytona....errrr.....maybe I'll wait to see you put that watch back together first

Seriously though, great work Carl

[HL65]

Very cool Carl!! Great to see your progression my friend! Cheers,

[Beek]

Wonderful. Keep up the good work, Carl

[Brushpup]

Loving the updates on your progress Carl. Maybe one of these days we'll see you revered as one of our watchmakers here. Good work and thanks for posting us up on things.

[cedargrove]

Very impressive Carl. Those tools you made are quite amazing. I always enjoy your progress threads, thanks for posting.

[SearChart]

Great job Carl!

I must say that the movement of the Monroe watch is pretty beautiful

[mikkibarry]

Wow! As one who has attempted some minor watchmaking and gotten as far as opening a pocket watch just to have it go "sproing" because I misread a page about letting down the main spring, I am very impressed indeed. Luckily, my destructive foray was on a non working pocket watch I got for 2.50 specifically fore the purpose of taking it apart. And luckily also I wear glasses and did not have to have a gear removed from my eye. I will not attempt again without adult supervision.

[FeelingTheBlues]

Thank you so much guys, it's always great to share my progression with people who have a passion for my soon-to-be job!

For those of you who complimented my tools, I must say I was quite surprised when I learned we were going to make some as well. Funny thing is, although people find it impressive that we work with so many small parts a lot of them are actually amazed by the tools we create and the fact that we actually use them. It does help you to become a DYI person.

Originally Posted by Monte Cristo

It seems you are ready to take on the servicing of my Daytona....errrr.....maybe I'll wait to see you put that watch back together first

Well I could at least make some of your Daytona's parts fit in the case before closing it...better than nothing, isn't it?

Originally Posted by mikkibarry

Wow! As one who has attempted some minor watchmaking and gotten as far as opening a pocket watch just to have it go "sproing" because I misread a page about letting down the main spring, I am very impressed indeed. Luckily, my destructive foray was on a non working pocket watch I got for 2.50 specifically fore the purpose of taking it apart. And luckily also I wear glasses and did not have to have a gear removed from my eye. I will not attempt again without adult supervision.

I know the feeling, the mainspring did give me some trouble from times to times.

Here's a friendly advice: if you ever have to take the spring out of the barrel, be careful and wear safety glasses. The first time I tried it the spring (like it happened to a lot of people apparently...) flew right in my face...

[SearChart]

Originally Posted by FeelingTheBlues

Here's a friendly advice: if you ever have to take the spring out of the barrel, be careful and wear safety glasses. The first time I tried it the spring (like it happened to a lot of people apparently...) flew right in my face...

I am certainly not going to forget this

[FeelingTheBlues]

Thank you to all of you who took the time to read and post in my thread! Tomorrow is another school day for me and I'll try to work more on the Monroe during my lunch break! More pictures shall follow!

Originally Posted by SearChart

I am certainly not going to forget this

What will you remember? To always wear glasses or the fact that I almost got killed by a mainspring?