As of today, I've basically three weeks left of time at both the Watch Technology Institute and in Seattle itself. Two more weeks of class which will be spent practicing for the CW21 test which will be administered in 3 weeks. After the CW21 all that is left is to clean out my desk and say farewell to my instructors and classmates.
I've secured a very good watchmaking job in Dallas, Texas earlier this month and will be leaving Seattle almost immediately after leaving school. This leaves these few short weeks to tie up any loose ends and get packed!
I'll probably post once or twice more with updates before my move out of Washington. But thanks for following along with me during these last two years. Time fades away!
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Case Brasswork Complete
As I posted previously, I've been working on making a watch case out of brass. I have finally got around to finishing all of the forming and drilling. I have decided to go with a through-screw configuration. It looks great, like something off of a submarine. All that remains is to send it off to be plated, then to push the chrono pushers and case tube into the case and install the crystal.
If it's back from the plating place by the time I leave school I'll post pictures here.
If it's back from the plating place by the time I leave school I'll post pictures here.
 |
| Ready for plating! |
Thursday, July 3, 2014
Broken stop-lever
This week I have started my final quarter of watchmaking education at North Seattle College here in sunny Seattle. The primary focus of this last few weeks are to focus on finishing up remaining projects and final practice for the AWCI CW21 exam in August.
Today I worked on a Rolex 3035, which is the previous incarnation of the 3135 that is found in many modern men's watches. The watch had stopped entirely and I had to figure out why.
In this situation it was fairly obvious as there was something directly blocking the balance rim, the stop lever (also known as the hack) had broken. In the 3035 the stop lever rides on the set lever. When you pull the stem out into the setting position the set lever pivots, pushing the stop lever up where it lightly contacts the balance rim stopping the watch. This allows one to easily set the watch to the second when changing time.
The hook at the back of the lever in this watch has broken off and the part was sliding freely, blocking the balance regardless of the position of the stem. Fitting a new part confirmed that the slot where it rides and the set lever and in good condition and the old one has most likely broken due to fatigue because of improper assembly. With the part being replaced the mechanism is once again working as designed.
Today I worked on a Rolex 3035, which is the previous incarnation of the 3135 that is found in many modern men's watches. The watch had stopped entirely and I had to figure out why.
In this situation it was fairly obvious as there was something directly blocking the balance rim, the stop lever (also known as the hack) had broken. In the 3035 the stop lever rides on the set lever. When you pull the stem out into the setting position the set lever pivots, pushing the stop lever up where it lightly contacts the balance rim stopping the watch. This allows one to easily set the watch to the second when changing time.
The hook at the back of the lever in this watch has broken off and the part was sliding freely, blocking the balance regardless of the position of the stem. Fitting a new part confirmed that the slot where it rides and the set lever and in good condition and the old one has most likely broken due to fatigue because of improper assembly. With the part being replaced the mechanism is once again working as designed.
 |
| Broken! |
 |
| The new part with the old, broken part |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)