School Watch: Final Assembly

My school watch is complete (for now) and is ticking like a champ!

After the Geneva stripes wiped out most of my bevels, I was pretty stressed out going into the end of the week. We must have the watch and clock finished by next Thursday, and any major blemish to the surface finish would mean a lot of extra work.

The brasses we use glimmer with a rainbow sheen at certain angles, depending on how they're cut—you can see it on the center wheel and pointer recess perfectly in this photo.

I wasn't able to repolish the bevels in the time allotted, but I recut them to be evenly-sized across and between bridges. They've been finished with a 0.5 micron lapping film, which gives them a bright satin finish and means that they can be easily burnished and polished in the future if I decide to go that route.

I gave beveled my screws and gave them a turned finish, matching a turned finish that I applied to my ratchet & crown wheels, click, and geartrain wheels. The click, ratchet and crown wheel screws are polished to contrast nicely with the circular graining, and to match the polished steady pins.

There are some small flaws in the surface finishing, but it's hard to get it Patek-perfect on the first try. The bottom line is that it ticks, and it looks pretty nice doing it!

Next up, the final touches on the clock... And a big project that may consume the rest of my watchmaking curriculum and beyond. Stay tuned!