Oct 10

Good morning friends, third edition of my watch building adventure is here.

I’ll start this with two observations from my immediate vicinity, 9:06am in a parkslope coffee shop which shall go unnamed. Firstly, if you ever open a coffee shop, pay for a spotify account, no one wants to hear the ads. Second and far more importantly, I think it’s fantastic that you decided to wear a kimono-style bathrobe and birkenstocks to get your morning latte but, for all of our sakes, next time find one with a longer hem or wear underpants. An eyefull of manhood flopped out on the bench was not something which I or anyone deserves at this hour.

Now that I've got that off my chest, let's get to the watch project.

Truth is, not much physical progress has been made on the watch since last week. I’d spent two months up in Vermont, Burlington, the official headquarters of well intentioned white people, helping a friend of mine renovate a 1920’s house overlooking lake champlain. It was a really nice break from NYC and the makerspace there allowed me to begin the machining on the watch case. However eight weeks in the far north was plenty and I’m really glad to be back in Brooklyn.

I’d signed up for the makerspace in Sunset Park a few months ago and next week I’ll head in and prove to a machinist named Phil that I know how to use the tools without leaving blood smears. With any luck the lathe they have will be a less awful one and allow me to take what I learned on the first prototype case and knock out one which is more refined and precise.

While I’m doing that, the first case iteration will be heading out to a watchmaker in Philly who has a full suite of pressure testing equipment and who volunteered to give my design a run through to see what kind of water resistance it has. I never set out to make a dive watch but would like to see it hold up to 100 meters which is what’s recommended for swimming. Even if you’re not a diver, jumping into a lake will cause brief pressure spikes which go far higher than the static pressure of the water depth. Once I get those results I’ll either proceed with my current snap ring caseback design, adjust it, or go back to the drawing board.

While that’s happening I’m also trying to get the dial engraving to look better. The laser engraving folks I’ve contracted to do the work are going to try again and hopefully send back a sample which is more in line with the drawings I sent. Their first attempt was the best I’d seen so far but is still far from perfect.

*a trial laser dial engraving under magnification showing less than ideal ablation of the base material.*

And now some musings about my psychology when it comes to projects like this. I’m one who tends to enjoy planning the creation of something, sometimes even more than the actual work. During the planning phase anything is possible. Accuracy isn’t constrained by physics, curves and lines are as subtly perfect as the brain can conceive and material is deliciously pliable and finished. Then the build part comes and the dreams start smacking into reality. Some of that dissonance comes from inexperience, my brain hasn’t learned all the physics involved in metal cutting, doesn’t yet instinctively factor in friction heat generation during a cut, or to compensate for the inevitable flex in old tooling. But some of the parting of dream and reality is also simply a matter of money.

Given an appropriate budget for this project I have no doubt that the mind/matter paths could converge far more quickly. I could have a shop make the case in minutes using a CNC machine. I could have a Swiss manufacturer punch out perfect hands with an email and credit card number, and buy a machine capable of engraving the perfect dial. As I get older the route of throwing money at problems becomes increasingly more attractive. I’ve done enough fucking around with crappy tools on other less intense projects to know that good intentions and effort can often only take me to a point below an ideal I’ve set. Inevitably the wrong, or poorly made tool will thwart even the best efforts and leave me cussin’ at a lump of metal which isn’t up to snuff.

One of my early photographer idols was Robert Capa, a Hungarian Jew born André Friedman. In one of his biographies one of his colleagues identified him as a man with “Champagne tastes and a beer budget”. I’ve got the same problem but unlike Robert, I’ve got credit cards and, as long as the statements are ignored, I can buy enough parts to maybe build my own quality tool which will replace the store bought version.

*The prototype case V1 with the laser etched dial and a new Sellita SW300 movement which will be fitted.*

That loops us back to where I’m at with the watch project. I think no matter what, on my budget I’m going to have trouble getting the laser contractor to do a good job with the dial that I see in my mind. So I’m going to try to build an engraving tool to do a better job. This will have to be a CNC machine so this week I dropped $140 on a crappy Chinese ade micro mill which will give me some hands-on experience with the motors, drivers and software required to build a better version. The tolerances are so incredibly tight on the dial that I’ve looked back into the optical world for help. Labs which use lasers for experiments use what are called linear slides to move elements in extremely fine increments and there are quite a few of these critters floating around on Ebay. I’ve purchased two of those which will give me an X and Y motion for a miniature milling machine. They should be here sometime next week and I’ll have to see whether I can use the motors which are currently mounted or whether they’re burned out or obsolete and other solutions will have to be invented.

If the cnc machine I build works I'll be able to keep more of the production in house and keep costs down while also learning a thing or two. Like much of the rest of this project I’m also telling myself that at some point I’ll be able to do some machining for other poeple and thusly recoup some of the expenses. It may be wishful thinking but it makes me feel like more of a responsible adult.

So that’s it for the watch update. Once again, brevity has escaped me and my oversized fingers on this keyboard. Apologies.

Other life news: I got hired to play doorman at a burlesque bar in Manhattan twice a week. I’ve never worked the nightlife scene and it’s a delightful bouquet of boobs, butts and the occasional errant weiner. Just what the doctor ordered.

Till next week, be well and keep in touch,

Giles

Part III - Mostly things other than watchmaking

Oct 10