Timepieces...

[Externet]

It has always been a mystery to me.  HOW are watch parts made ? 

What equipment, machinery takes to make gears a few millimetres small  with such degree of precision and replication ?  Ladies watches having even tinier gears, jewels shaping, machining, dimensioning? ... are impressive.  And it has been happening for a couple of centuries plus, since the machining techniques were less than in their infancy...  And to make it harder, how are the machines that make timepieces parts made ?

Please share whatever you know; I will hold my jaw from dropping. Thanks.

 

 

[iNow]

 

[zapatos]

That was fascinating!!!

[MigL]

Sure, for a Patek Philippe which costs the same as a mid size automobile.
The average Chinese manufactured automatic movement is assembled by young kids, from parts  copied from Swiss or Japanese movements, and are only slightly less accurate despite costing a thousand times less.

[iNow]

49 minutes ago, MigL said:

Chinese manufactured automatic movement

There’s a video for that, too

 

 

[swansont]

9 hours ago, MigL said:

Sure, for a Patek Philippe which costs the same as a mid size automobile.
The average Chinese manufactured automatic movement is assembled by young kids, from parts  copied from Swiss or Japanese movements, and are only slightly less accurate despite costing a thousand times less.

The added precision isn’t linear in cost. Not that mechanical timepieces are bought/sold for their timekeeping precision; there are reasons we went away from them.

[Externet]

Thanks, gentlemen.

Enjoyable videos.  Mostly focused in assembling the watches, not much on how their parts are made.  Still wonder what equipment does cutting the micro-teeth in gears, how a drill bit to perforate and form a 'jewel' is made  .  And why not, a step deeper; how the machine that makes those drill bits is made.   There has to be a hiding engineering universe behind... that centuries ago was all by hand skills.  Escapes imagination.

Following the clue of searching for videos; found parts made with mostly automated modern equipment

---> https://monochrome-watches.com/inside-vaucher-manufacture-fleurier-how-exactly-watch-parts-are-manufactured/

And to drool:

---> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nlw1NQQGlXI

---> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdY-p5g7HS4

 

Will look for an Antikythera replica...

[iNow]

11 hours ago, Externet said:

Still wonder what equipment does cutting the micro-teeth in gears, how a drill bit to perforate and form a 'jewel' is made 

Lathe with cutting fluid, hand files under microscope, and some are cast by pouring molten metal into a form 

[npts2020]

One of my first jobs was molding plastics at a place called Chemcut. We made machines that cut metal with acid instead of with machine tools. The basic process is to coat the metal with something that is acid resistant but breaks down under UV light. You then cover the metal with a negative of the piece you want and bombard it with UV light then run it through an acid bath that eats away all of the metal under the broken down chemical. I know at least 2 watchmakers had bought the machines because hundreds or even thousands of gears or other small parts could be manufactured at once in a relatively short time.

[StringJunky]

On 6/21/2024 at 1:26 PM, swansont said:

The added precision isn’t linear in cost. Not that mechanical timepieces are bought/sold for their timekeeping precision; there are reasons we went away from them.

And you have to have them serviced every couple years or so. The costs don't stop after buying timepieces of that precision and complexity.

Edited July 15 by StringJunky