Hi all,
I've mentioned in the other thread that I'll share an IWC watchmaking class session. Here's a brief report just to share the session which took place in Abu Dhabi's Etihad Towers, sponsored by Richemont and the local IWC crew, in November 2012.
I’ve only recently got into the world of fine timepiece and have been reading up a lot to try educate myself, especially when it comes to making decision on which watch buy. Previously, if you were to ask me what is a balance spring or a balance wheel, I’d have given you a blank look...( not that I’m an expert now anyway, just a little better informed). As much as I am influenced by the aesthetic and appearance of a dial of watch and its functionality, I am intrigued with the whole business of mechanisms, innovations of mechanical watches over the years and the historical development of certain calibres that survived to this day.
Last November, I was invited to an IWC watch-making class. During this watch making class we were introduced to Hannes Pantli and Christian Bresser. Mr Hannes is a member of the board of directors, and Chris is part of the complications team in IWC. He gets to assemble all the wonderful Perpetual Calenders and other high-complication pieces and limited editions in IWC. We were in good hands!
Mr Hannes has such a positive aura which is hard to explain. A man of such experience and influence just exudes great presence. Here’s the room set and ready for us to butcher a watch caliber. It was lead by Chris and accompanied by his guidance and a series of slides and diagrams to illustrate the technicalities and definitions of the parts we were about to dissemble and re-assemble.
Do not let this picture of calm fool you. Jumping screws and groans of frustration were frequent occurrences here. I reckoned I didn’t look too bad in the lab coat.
Here you have it, Calibre 98200 ready to be taken apart… Note that the Calibre 98200 is a specially made calibre for the purpose of this watchmaking class. It is still base calibre for most of the hand-wound IWC watches but not commercially available. It has special marked areas on the back plate to assist the novice watchmaker wannabes to take it apart easier.
After releasing the tension of the main-spring, and removing the pinion, the ratchet wheel was the first to be removed…
… followed by the winding wheel + bridge…
The centre train bridge was next, along with all the gear-train…
With the last bridge plate remove, the dis-assembly was complete. We are not qualify to touch the balance wheel and its related components. A watch-maker would need to be trained at least 2-3 years before he is allowed to touch that balance-spring! Not something we would want to try only after 1 hour wearing that lab coat!
So, that was the easy part!
Re-assembly
During the reassembly, the watch gear-train goes back into the jeweled positions. This is rather tricky to ensure the all the gears and pinions are in contact and positioned properly.
The centre train bridge is then placed to secure all the gear train positions…
… winding wheel and bridge is then screwed back in place….
… finally the ratchet wheel… at some point during the reassembly, you can begin to see the balance wheel starts to gather some inertia and starts beating! If the gear train or the bridges are not assembled properly, the balance wheel will not move. This could mean a slight gap in any of the bridges or just a slight torque on the gear train to get the balance wheel oscillating.
Christian Bresser, Deputy of the Department of Complications, conducted the watchmaking class. He was both entertaining and informative in giving us interesting background and sharing with us his story of previous classes. Bear in mind that we had help in performing the above tasks. A professional watchmaker can dissemble and reassemble a simple movement above in about 15 minutes. It took us about 2 hours including instruction to perform the same task. Watch-making is not about speed, it is about patience and passion. Christian reminded us the respect we need to give to such a well-crafted instrument to ensure its continuous service for years to come. This includes adequate maintenance and methods of handling. After personally gone through the exercise above, one can immediately appreciate the fine and delicate art of watch-making and the respect it deserves. No reading or visual reference can give the equal comprehension of this fine art as this guided watch-making class
I can't forget a moment when everyone flinched during the class. On the topic of "careful handling", Chris did not hesitate to demonstrate the durability of the IWC as a product. He literally, and I mean literally, took his personal Ceramic Pilot watch and hammered it down the table (with a cloth covering). I believe there was enough force to drive a nail on the table. Though I think he made a dent on that table, the watch was still working fine. Of course, I could read everyone's mind at the time " What were you thinking! you don't do that to a watch!
" but then again, he is the watchmaker and candidly challenge us to perform a similar test with our IWCs. Na-ah, no thank you!
P/S: As I’m a newbie, I apologize in advance should I get some of the terminology mixed up… to all the sifus and gurus here, feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, cheers.
Thank you for reading!
