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Great 1st post, welcome to the forum.
Hi everyone,
My name is David Lowinger and this is my first post. :-) I would like to share with you my fully handmade watch project.
I am a self-taught independent watchmaker living in Germany. I started to learn about watchmaking a little over 4 years ago. I mainly used George Daniels “watchmaking” book
and various other online sources to learn how to manufacture each component of a wristwatch. I do not have an engineering background so I started from the absolute basics. (Learned how to use a lathe, mill, jeweling tool etc.)
From day one my desire was to one day be able to manufacture a wristwatch from start to finish by myself without relying on automated machinery such as CNC or EDM. Also, my plan was to manufacture
as many component of the watch in-house as I possible could. I still have a lot to learn, but I managed to design and hand manufacture the watch you see on the pictures below.
(Sorry for the bad quality images but I took them myself and I am a terrible photographer)
This timepiece is completely hand crafted. No CNC or any kind of automated machinery was used in the manufacturing process. Only a manual milling machine and two manual lathes.
The movement is my design, and it is handmade in-house. It is a seventeen (17) jewel manual winding movement based on an ETA 6498-2. I use the jewels, wheels, barrel, regulator and other components of the original movement,
but the mainplate, all of the bridges, new click, click spring, cannon pinion, hour wheel and a dozen other components are all handmade from scratch. (I am also working on a handmade balance wheel)
The rest of the components, such as the engraved dial, hands, stainless steel case, crown, buckle, leather strap and a wooden presentation box are all my designs and are handmade in-house.
The watch measures 43.00mm in diameter and 10.00mm in height, and there are sapphire crystals on both front and back.
Thank you guys for reading this post, please let me know what you think of this timepiece.
Cheers,
David
Last edited by David L.; 18th March 2018 at 14:33.
Great 1st post, welcome to the forum.
Superb work, well done. Nice looking watch too.
That's fantastic, looks great too!
"A man of little significance"
Now that's a first post! Well done. I really like the dial finish, it's like looking into a jet engine :-)
Fantastic work. I am always in awe of people with the skills to undertake precision work like this. Keep it up!
Bare skillz David.
Sir , you are to be congratulated.
To start from a no knowledge training base , then to progress through honest endeavour to this finished product is an enormous achievement, you should be very delighted and proud . Your stomach will never be empty or your back naked when you have a talent such as this .
Congratulations.
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Norbert
Really lovely work DAVID, love the dial, but for me I think the centre needs some decorative work on it, it's IMO too plain at present.
mike
Thank you very much guys, I'm really glad you like my watch.
Here are some other pictures if you are interested.
Excellent work, the dial reminds me of a jet engine, great stuff!
Thank you mike. You mean the center part of the dial? Like a decorated hour wheel?Originally Posted by seadog1408
Thank you very much!
Well done David, that is a fabulous piece of engineering.
Congratulations that really is a stunning work.
Thank you Paul, I appreciate your kind words.
As first posts go then I suppose it doesn't get much better.
Great job, it must be so satisfying to complete a project as such. I like it but that's maybe because of the back story!
Best wishes with your future efforts.
Yes David, maybe a guilloche finish?, apart from that I think everything else is perfect.
mike
Welcome to the forum,excellent work,how long did it take you to learn watch making and how long did this take to make.
I noticed this is no.00 so you intend to make some more,I’d love to do something like that but I don’t have the patience needed
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I could certainly give it a try to see how it would look with some engraving. :)
I'm also working on a closed center version, where you don't see the hour wheel at all. Although the design of that dial will be a bit different. I'll share some pictures once it's completed.
Wow, that’s very impressive! Well done and thanks for sharing this!
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Very impressive, I particularly like the dial, looks very well done and an interesting design.
Yes, this one is numbered (00) the prototype piece. Since I received quite a bit of interest for this timepiece, I'm planing on making a few more for order. Because I do everything by hand it takes around 350 hours of work to make this watch from start to finish, so the production will be extremely limited. Maximum 4 pieces per year.
Regarding how long it took me to learn watchmaking, I started a bit over 4 years ago. I didn't do it full time, but I spent as much time as I could on learning and practicing.
The development of this piece took 1 year, and it is still under development. (there are a couple of things I'm not happy with, so I'm trying to improve them)
As others have said, a great back-story, and a stunning piece of engineering.
Thanks for sharing, and I look forward to seeing more examples.
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Amazing.
My eyes were drawn to the turbine fan, and the movement plates/bridges, so neatly laid out. Thanks for showing this.
Fantastic work & a great looking watch David. Welcome to the forum & will look forward to seeing more stuff from you in the future.
Lovely, interesting design on the bridges - why did you go 'square'? The dial is well done, minimal indices that fits the style. I think a guilloche in that style would look cool, though that is another level of complexity!
Thank you very much guys, I really appreciate your support.
As I mentioned earlier the watch is still under development so I'm working on a couple of things like a stainless balance wheel, a new dial and a smaller case. I will sharing some pictures of the progress I made as soon as I can.
I chose the "square" style on the bridges because I think it matches quite well with the dial side of the watch. Straight lines on the dial, I figured it would be appropriate to have a similar style for the back as well.
Fantastic. You are very modest about your talents but I think it takes a special kind of ability to apply what you have learned and turn it into such an accomplished first watch, in terms of engineering and looks.
FWIW I like the exposed hour wheel, maybe just match it to the finish of the case in terms of polishing etc. But what do I know? I’m sure you are capable of amazing us with the next version.
How is the watch running? Are you happy with that aspect if you don’t mind me asking?
That's a fantastic effort David, congrats on bringing your hard work to fruition.
Does the watch have a name?
Lovely watch and welcome to the forum, very nice.
Really impressive work David! Please keep us updated.
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So far I had no major problem with the watch, only minor things that I take care of as soon as I discovery them. (I'm wearing the watch on a daily bases) Regarding the time keeping aspect, since I use the barrel, wheels and balance from the original ETA movement the performance is near identical to the factory one. I'm making a new stainless balance wheel though, which can affect the performance greatly, so I'll see how it will run with that.
Thank you. Well, I call it Series One. Not very original, but this is what I got so far. :-)
Looks good, as others have said it reminds me of a jet engine
Excellent work David, the design works really well. Great introduction to the forum too.
Best Regards - Peter
I'd hate to be with you when you're on your own.
Welcome to the forum and congratulations on having the kahuna's to create a complete watch by yourself.
Personally, for me, I'm not keen on the exposed wheel/cog on the dial. I hope I cause no offence because I can only imagine just how much hard work you've put into this piece.
But looking at the front, I am reminded of a De Bethune for some reason, which I hope you accept as a compliment.
Thank you Tony, I appreciate your opinion.
Regarding the dial, I know is not for everyone and that it's rather unusual, but for me the goal was to develop something that is a bit different and more importantly something that I can actually manufacture by hand. :-)
I only have very basic tools and machinery, so real guilloche and other complex techniques and designs that would require CNC were not an option for me. I mentioned in an earlier post that I'm working on a different dial layout without
the engraved lines and without the cut in the center. I'll post a couple of picture of it as soon as I manage complete it. (hopefully sometime next week I can get it done)
I would be curious to hear what you think of it.
Good god man! You've made a bloody Watch from scratch!
Change nothing - that's your original. What a great way to introduce yourself to a watch forum.
Marvellous, don't change a thing. That design is both original and so interesting.
My hat off to you sir.
Remarkable and impressive. What motivated you?
Pretty cool!
Welcome!
It's just a matter of time...
That is an amazing piece of work, so accomplished for a first go. A very original design, I like it a lot and look forward to your future pieces.
Tremendous talent there, David. I'm looking forward to seeing 01.
Congratulations David,
I echo the sentiments of the previous posts. Outstanding achievement and a cracking design into the bargain. Love the dial and the nameplate. Simple and elegant.
Well done and thanks for sharing.
Gary
Blimey! It amazes me that people have the drive to learn these skills and make something, particularly so distinctive. Genuinely well done.
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That’s a lovely looking timepiece David and I’m not going to ask the price as I know I can’t afford it :)
i love it,
Neil
Wow that looks really impressive well done
That's VERY impressive work, David.
Welcome to TZ!
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