And then there were 6

So we were informed a little while ago that our summer work experience is partially lined up. Usually there isn't as much participation from the different brands but apparently that has changed this year. There are 6 of us and 6 brands have joined to give us some experience on the job. The companies participating will be Patek Phillipe, Audemars Piguet, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Rolex, Omega, and Breitling. Our teacher is going to decide who gets to go to which company so maybe I'll have to slip him a few 50's to get where I want to go haha. But it should be interesting to see what it's like in one of these large companies.

On another note, I finished a few more little projects. This first one is a hand setting tool. I made the tips with color markers and designed the case myself. If you can't tell I sort of put the olympic feel too it by arranging the tips like the rings and with the same colors. The handle is aluminum and the tips are plexiglass. The tips are just screwed into the handle according to which size pinion you are working with.

And this was a trial for something I am going to do for the school watch. It is a bushing for the barrel on a Unitas 6497 movement. I made this one from german silver but I will probably use bronze for the actual watch. I had to enlarge the hole that was originally in the watch and make the piece to very specific dimensions to be able to fit it in properly. Then I chamfered the hole and polished the chamfer. I suppose I should include pics of the original. Maybe I'll try to do that monday...

So the part I changed is in the middle of the gold colored part. You can see it is almost a silver color in the middle. Normally the barrel would ride on jewels but this is a very large barrel and would be much better if we used the bronze we are planning to use. You can see the polishing on the inside chamfer of the bushing. This also acts as a lubrication spot to hold the oil in place properly.

The gold colored part was originally the same color as the other recessed parts of the bridge but I retouched the whole surface as to be even.

Underside of the bridge

All of this was just a trial to see if I could make it properly and it worked great the first time. Should work great for the real project when I get to it.

Any questions? I didn't think so...

New Tools

Here are the latest tools I've built

This is a custom tool to adjust the hand of the chronograph on one particular movement only. It sets where the hand resets to when you push the reset button. Obviously you want it to reset to zero. Took a while to make but I will need it for the final exam next year

The little pin holds the arm of the wheel. When you put the top on and twist it, it turns the friction fitted part that determines the position.

This is a barrel closer. The barrel is shown here too. If you have no clue what a barrel is, it holds the mainspring which is the power that drives the escapement and on to the rest of the watch. This is what you are winding when you wind a mechanical watch.

These are just a couple special screwdrivers for a certain eccentric screw. Can't remember what movement it's for but no one cares anyway...