- November 19, 2021
When it comes to mechanical watches most people think of classical precision gears and fully automatic mechanisms. Yes, although mechanical watches are small in size, in order to achieve accurate timekeeping, the inside of the watch requires over 100 small and large intricate parts assembled inside the dial.
The slightest negligence in the assembly will cause the watch to not function properly, and each part is so small that it is almost impossible to see with the naked eye. It is this kind of watch manufacturing process that is comparable to the manufacturing process of automobiles and aircraft crafts.
Components of a mechanical watch
A watch is composed of basic parts such as case, crystal, dial, bezel, strap, hands, handle, back cover and movement. The movement is the core technology of a watch. The manufacturing process of a movement includes cutting, drilling, adjusting, deburring and chamfering. Therefore, movement processing cannot be done by a simple machine tool. For example, the gears and screws of a movement are so small that they require special tools and glasses for their production and assembly, as well as small precision combination machines for joint processing.
There are also other machining processes involved in mechanical watches, including diamond setting processes, polishing processes, heat treatment processes, electroplating processes, etc. The adjustment of the watch after it has been assembled is also extremely important, as it determines the accuracy of the timekeeping. So all in all, it is an extremely complex task to complete a fine watch, both in terms of labor and combined machine tools.
Mechanical watch polishing process
Although a mechanical watch is a mechanical product, it is not just a mechanical product, it is also an artifact. The important condition for it to become an artifact is the polishing process, through the polishing of the internal parts of the movement, such as the barrel, balance wheel, escapement wheel, and other parts of the polishing process, which greatly reduces the friction of the stomach movement and improves the coordination between the parts.
The biggest role of the movement polishing is the aesthetic decorative, the common polishing process inside the watch are chamfering, chamfering the edges cut to a precise 45 °, and then mirror polishing on the cut plane, the bevel of the chamfer is very small, less than 1 mm, you can imagine that after polishing these parts will reflect the light, in addition to pattern polishing such as radial pattern, fish scale pattern, pearl pattern, Geneva pattern, and so on.
Other surface polishing processes include polishing, brushing, etc. The watch has a classic beauty and adds a different style to its appearance of the watch.
Unique vibration support system for mechanical watches
The watch is also made thanks to the invention of a unique component, the hairspring, which is able to vibrate continuously within a constant cycle, coordinating the operation between the hairspring and the balance wheel, the elastic deformation of the hairspring makes the movement of the balance wheel from rotation to reciprocation. However, the balance spring system in the oscillation of the friction, air resistance, etc., the amplitude of the oscillation will gradually recede, and finally, stop moving.
At this time, in order to make the balance spring continuously vibrate, we can wind the watch to replenish the energy of the balance spring system regularly. The pendulum in the watch will swing in a fixed direction when we are in a dynamic situation, which will drive the winding in the barrel of the movement and thus play the role of winding.
A fully automatic watch is similar to a semi-automatic watch, but the pendulum will wind the watch when we are in motion, regardless of the direction, thus reducing the trouble of winding the watch manually.
Making your Unique Mechanical Watch
The mechanical watch represents the taste and rigorous life concept that many people pursue, at the same time, behind the mechanical watch is the manufacture and assembly of hundreds of tiny precision parts and professional manual debugging, so it is better to say that it is a watch than to say that it is an artifact.
So the most basic function of a watch is gradually weakened, but people need a watch to show their taste, not only the brand and shape but also the type and color, each of which is about the personal image, forming all kinds of different reasoning, making people overwhelmed.
If you want to design a watch that is unique to you, but needs to have no ability to manufacture parts, WayKen can help you realize your ideas and bring your visual design to life.
