Comments on: Watchmaking is a hobby?

Watchmaking is a hobby?

caddis — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 14:48:06 -0800

Making a watch by hand. In these days of "fast" and "convenient" I decided to commence a work of "painstaking" and "craftsmanship", making my own wristwatch. I have had the idea for a certain arrangement of the watch dial, as on the image at the right, for a while now. My investigations into available movements showed that no production movement would give me this layout. After a long period of indecision and wondering what I was really getting myself into I decided to make my own movement, followed by the case and dial.

By: Alvy Ampersand

Alvy Ampersand — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 14:50:55 -0800

Very neat!!!

By: caddis

caddis — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 14:53:48 -0800

Having toured a factory in Switzerland staffed by ex-watchmaking technicians now building sub-miniature implantable medical devices this micro technology really amazes me. Everything was done through a microscope yet manipulated by hand. This is a dexterity far beyond what I think I could perform. Of course these devices were then implanted by neurosurgeons, some of the cream of the surgery crop. However, here is a guy in his basement building his own watch. Wow. Color me impressed. I think it looks pretty nice too.

By: Flashman

Flashman — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 15:10:17 -0800

Maybe for his next project he'd enjoy building a medieval castle using only a hammer and chisel.

By: DenOfSizer

DenOfSizer — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 15:11:59 -0800

Wow. And to think humans have been doing this for more than 500 years. Cool.

By: CodeBaloo

CodeBaloo — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 15:16:03 -0800

Fascinating process. Thanks for the link!

By: craven_morhead

craven_morhead — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 15:18:03 -0800

Wow. Agreed, cool stuff.

By: isopraxis

isopraxis — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 15:18:11 -0800

That is a helluvalot of tedious work. The design itself isn't what I'd call the top of the aesthetic heap, but then again, the Rolex oyster doesn't scratch my itch much either. I just read an article in Wallpaper* or Surface about a Frenchman, hand-building Swiss watches with his own innovative carbon-fibre springs. It is supposed to be the next big thing in Swiss movement. (Or would that be French movement?)

By: owhydididoit

owhydididoit — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 15:21:11 -0800

cool!

By: Foosnark

Foosnark — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 15:39:51 -0800

The design itself isn't what I'd call the top of the aesthetic heap, but then again, the Rolex oyster doesn't scratch my itch much either. Agreed... but now I'm thinking a watch imitating a classic analog instrument panel, with 3 separate dials laid out in a line (either horizontally or vertically), would be a cool geeky watch.

By: delmoi

delmoi — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 15:54:07 -0800

A lot of work for something so ugly in the end.

By: LordSludge

LordSludge — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 16:02:22 -0800

He said "movement". That's cool. But he's got nuttin on this guy.

By: imperium

imperium — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 16:30:42 -0800

Maybe I'm just a watch-making idiot, but I'd like a little more explanation. So many terms (including cool ones, like "going train", that remind me of Robert Johnson), so little definition. Watchmakers would know what he meant, but...

By: Nelson

Nelson — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 17:16:09 -0800

More watch geekery at TimeZone. I've slowly come to understand why a nice mechanical watch may cost $20,000 even if it's in a steel case with no jewelry. Fantastic hand craftsmanship.

By: Iron Rat

Iron Rat — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 23:22:38 -0800

Nice to see some lathe and mill work on this site!!

By: Cranberry

Cranberry — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 23:36:13 -0800

That is so cool, caddis! Do you have any estimate of the cost of your one-of-a-kind watch, with or without the price of instructional materials?

By: caddis

caddis — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 06:13:37 -0800

Who knows? I would guess that the materials were relatively cheap, perhaps no more than one or two hundred dollars. The fancy bands might have even been that much. The tools though, I would guess they were quite expensive.

By: QuarterlyProphet

QuarterlyProphet — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 06:49:21 -0800

I think he thinks that you made it.

By: SteveInMaine

SteveInMaine — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 06:59:18 -0800

Watch porn! Man, I wish I had the patience and eyesight for something like this. I've also become aware, after knowing a few, that engineers are wired quite differently from the average Joe (or Joanne). Of course having the right tools doesn't hurt, but there's something about designing this kind of stuff on this small a scale that's just awsome. And delmoi, the aesthetics of this thing are in the bits that don't show.

By: Wolfdog

Wolfdog — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 09:10:36 -0800

Fascinating. Thanks, caddis.

By: exlotuseater

exlotuseater — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 20:11:55 -0800

This is very cool. Thanks. I want to make one.

By: dg

dg — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 22:48:16 -0800

That is so cool.