Making a watch from scratch

#1

Post by dcminter » Sat, Dec 14, 2024, 2:30 PM UTC

Making a watch from scratch
old.reddit.com

Re: Making a watch from scratch

#2

Post by dcminter » Sat, Dec 14, 2024, 2:33 PM UTC

This person's build is amazing! Mostly photos, but still super cool to see how "from scratch" it is - if you're expecting "bought a few components from Swiss companies" then, yeah, it's not that!

I submitted this a week ago and sadly it sank without trace (poor choice of posting time I suspect), so I'm trying again. I have no affiliation with the builder.

Re: Making a watch from scratch

#3

Post by zvr » Mon, Dec 16, 2024, 9:51 PM UTC

dcminter wrote: post #2

This person's build is amazing! Mostly photos, but still super cool to see how "from scratch" it is - if you're expecting "bought a few components from Swiss companies" then, yeah, it's not that! I submitted this a week ago and sadly it sank without trace (poor choice of posting time I suspect), so I'm trying again. I have no affiliation with the builder.

Thank you for this, it's amazing!

Re: Making a watch from scratch

#4

Post by neom » Mon, Dec 16, 2024, 10:41 PM UTC

https://imgur.com/a/making-mechanical-watch-VmYL7qF link direct to the gallery.

Re: Making a watch from scratch

#5

Post by jasonjmcghee » Mon, Dec 16, 2024, 11:00 PM UTC

In case you haven't seen it before, my absolutely favorite watch resource:

https://ciechanow.ski/mechanical-watch/

Re: Making a watch from scratch

#6

Post by eigenvalue » Mon, Dec 16, 2024, 11:43 PM UTC

If you liked this you might enjoy this series of video interviews with George Daniels, inventor of the coaxial escapement; he also made watches by hand:

https://www.webofstories.com/play/george.daniels/1

Re: Making a watch from scratch

#7

Post by rrr_oh_man » Mon, Dec 16, 2024, 11:47 PM UTC

dcminter wrote: post #2

This person's build is amazing! Mostly photos, but still super cool to see how "from scratch" it is - if you're expecting "bought a few components from Swiss companies" then, yeah, it's not that! I submitted this a week ago and sadly it sank without trace (poor choice of posting time I suspect), so I'm trying again. I have no affiliation with the builder.

> bought a few components from Swiss companies

I know what you're referring to and it is exactly what I thought of immediately.

Thanks for pointing out that this is not that!

Re: Making a watch from scratch

#8

Post by dismalaf » Mon, Dec 16, 2024, 11:49 PM UTC

dcminter wrote: post #2

This person's build is amazing! Mostly photos, but still super cool to see how "from scratch" it is - if you're expecting "bought a few components from Swiss companies" then, yeah, it's not that! I submitted this a week ago and sadly it sank without trace (poor choice of posting time I suspect), so I'm trying again. I have no affiliation with the builder.

Almost everyone that's not already a large company is buying components.

The only truly independent watchmaker I've ever heard of machining absolutely every component is Masahiro Kikuno.

Re: Making a watch from scratch

#9

Post by elzbardico » Mon, Dec 16, 2024, 11:57 PM UTC

This is the kind of people we need to reboot our industrial civilization after the nuclear war. Send him to our New Zealand doomsday bunker.

Re: Making a watch from scratch

#10

Post by technothrasher » Tue, Dec 17, 2024, 12:04 AM UTC

I can fully appreciate the amount of skill involved here. I'm currently on a journey to make a clock from scratch using traditional clockmaker's methods. I started from pretty much zero knowledge of even basic machining, let alone specific clock and watch work. I'm a couple years in now (working in my spare time between work and family obligations), and I can repair most types of issues with clocks and many watches. But I'm not quite tooled up and practiced in making the gears yet. That's the most major stumbling block currently to my ability to make a traditional clock completely from scratch.