Recognizing the Grinding Process of Fine Watches

A watch should not only be accurate, but also beautiful enough. Fine watchmaking, in particular, puts a lot of effort into the polishing of the movement, a process that is considered essential in the indexing process. Polishing is a topic that cannot be avoided and is even of utmost concern to a significant number of players. After all, how well it is polished determines the aesthetics of a watch, TUDOR Royal M28500-0006and also highlights the quality of the brand to a large extent.

Watch enthusiasts can be categorized into two groups: those in the appearance society and those who plan. As the name suggests, watch enthusiasts are concerned with the style and design of the watch; on the other hand, watch planners are concerned with the number of functions and the more complicated the structure, the better. Polishing is an unavoidable topic for the conspiracy party, even the most concerned place.

Fine polishing determines the beauty of the watch.

The polishing of the center of the machine we can develop into different functionality for polishing and decorative polishing two kinds. Functional polishing is much more complicated and expensive than decorative polishing. Functional polishing is aimed at the operational and management effectiveness of the center of the watch, such as by removing burrs, matching contact surfaces,TUDOR Royal M28503-0008 and grinding the wheel and axle. In the heart, each working part has its own function to improve, and the quality of the polishing is directly related to its working and durability. Starting from the barrel all the way to the escapement wheel and balance wheel there is no exception, good or bad polishing can directly affect the movement of the heart has a smooth running process, a social polishing shoddy or defective parts will ultimately affect the smooth transmission of the moving wheel, and may even appear in the phenomenon of the heart jammed pendulum stops.

The ultimate goal of functional polishing is to reduce the friction of the movement in the working process, improve the movement's ability to prevent dust and rust, improve the degree of grooves between the various parts of the traditional system, eliminate the burrs left behind by the machine tool in the initial machining process, so as to make the movement run more stably and reliably, and thus to improve the accuracy of the watch and the service life of the movement. But what really brings beauty is decorative polishing. Common patterns include Geneva patterns, fish scale patterns, pearl patterns (there is a high degree of similarity between the first two), radial patterns, drawing, grinding, TUDOR Black Bay Chrono M79360N-0002polishing, chamfering, etc., as well as carvings commonly found on German dining tables. Of course, decorative polish is often first and foremost a functional requirement.

On the other hand, it is the decorative polish that really brings out the beauty. Common patterns include Geneva patterns, fish scale/pearl patterns, radial patterns, mirror polishing, drawing, sanding, polishing, chamfering, etc., as well as the carved patterns common to German dining tables. Of course, decorative polishing often has a functional requirement at first; decorative polishing is a way to coat the crafted heart with a coat of splendor so that it reflects beautifully in the light. Obviously, the popular aesthetic of this kind of polishing is more pleasing than the pragmatism.

Therefore, functional grinding is mainly in the small position grinding some small details, such as the surface of the center axis surface gears and other parts between the gears on the surface can not be seen; Decorative polishing is the main purpose of polishing to improve the decorative and artistic nature of the machine center, mainly in the center of the machine center plywood on the external surface.

Chamfering of machine centers

Chamfering is the most common treatment in polishing, and it also best reflects the depth of the watchmaker's efforts. The two common types of chamfer grinding are beveled chamfering and curved chamfering. Clamps, gears, jewel countersinks, screw slots, etc., are almost always in need of polishing. Almost everything that needs grinding is related to chamfering. Chamfering process is very good, can be very good to show the machine light and dark alternating heart light texture, but really can do a good job of chamfering the brand is not very common.

Brushing process

Drawing production process is the most important foundation of the watch polishing treatment process, it seems a simple, but it is also the most fully embodies the basic skills of the students, different craftsmen, different tools, different strengths, different directions, drawing effect varies greatly. Good wire drawing is pleasing to the eye, poor wire drawing is shoddy. Drawing can be divided into a variety of ways, common straight line drawing, ring drawing and so on. There are many places on the machine center that do not use traditional brushed, but not many brand companies use brushed process design as the main research and polishing teaching method of the machine center plywood.

Mirror polishing

Mirror polishing is divided into mechanical mirror polishing and chemical solution mirror polishing. Mechanical mirror polishing is the metal material for polishing (rough grinding, fine grinding) and polishing process to achieve a flat, bright mirror effect. Chemical solution mirror polishing is the use of bubbles in chemical solutions to remove oxidized skin on the surface to achieve a bright effect. When using mirror polishing methods in watches, the traditional boxwood polished mirror is generally followed.

Although the decorative polishing of the movement will not contribute much to the accuracy of the timekeeping, it is closely related to the artistic value of a watch. Polished movements are an important part of the watch factory. The look of a fine watch and the quality of its movement are carefully hand-polished. Many watch aficionados even judge the grade of a watch by whether or not the movement is finely polished. There are also some decorative polishing patterns, such as pearl pattern, radial pattern, Geneva pattern and so on. These seem to be simple but test the hands of the workers.

Geneva Pattern

The Geneva pattern became popular in the 1920s and is so common that it takes its name from the glittering surface of Lake Geneva. It is categorized into: bar, ring and radial patterns. Ring ripples are concentric stripes of equal width, radial ripples radiate outward from the center, and stripe ripples are wide vertical stripes. The first two types of ripples are not commonly used today, but the Geneva stripes often occupy large areas of the plywood and gyroscope in the center of the machine, especially through the zero-transparency back, where the automatic rotor is seen in a low-profile Geneva stripe pattern, with the red, sapphire bearings on top as the best accents.

Radial Pattern

Sunburst is a more subtle radial pattern used on small parts to straighten the curves of the radial Geneva stripes, also known as sunburst. In addition, there are plain, straight rays and rounded rays. At first glance they look like flat surfaces, but a closer look reveals a fine, even texture, often arranged on the outermost ring around the bridges and on the various connecting shafts in the movement.

Fishscale polishing

Fishscale/Pearl

Fishscale is a circular fishscale pattern, each pattern can be more uniform, layers of staggered arrangement, with a sense of beauty that can not be repeated discreetly, because of its pattern is small and broken, so we can often be used in the center of the heart of the base plate and other places that are not easy to see directly. But nowadays, it is only used in a very small part mainly used as an aid to the creation of a sense of hierarchy in the center of the machine. However, there are some experts and scholars believe that the reason why the fish scale pattern is treated this way is because it is not as good-looking as the Geneva pattern, so they put it in an inconspicuous place only to indicate that "there is polishing here", however, there are still a lot of smartwatches in our country will be placed in the development of the oscillating weight, the upper plate and other prominent positions.

Guilloche

The word "Guilloche" evolved from the French word Guillochis. It was intended to be a precise, regular, machine-made engraving process with straight lines and circular patterns. Because this kind of decoration was originally a higher craftsmanship consisting of handwork in the jewelry industry. Guilloche is somewhat like carving with a ruler. Because the machine has a rose engine and a straight cutter, these two tools can be used alone or in combination. Craftsmen use the straight cutter to carve straight lines and the rose engine to carve curves. The cutter head touches the metal surface, cuts deep, and begins to scrape. The traditional engraving process involves fixing the workpiece and moving the tool to create various patterns. In contrast, the engraving process is one in which the cutter head is immovable and the engraved piece moves according to the pattern. It is the craftsman's hand that controls the consistency of the pattern. Also, the process can theoretically create a wide variety of patterns. The most popular include basket ripples, barley grains, flat pegs, brick piles, z-lines and silk ripples. These patterns have been produced for a century.

Sharpened center gears are functionally sharpened for better gear meshing and lower wear.

The core of the Geneva seal is highly polished

Since 1886, the "Rules of Geneva", which have 12 rules for rejecting inferior products and guaranteeing the quality of Geneva movements, have imposed strict requirements on every part of the movement. The emphasis on "finishing" is ubiquitous, from functional finishes such as chamfering to purely decorative finishes such as "all visible parts, including screws, grooves, and screwed edges, must be polished free of burrs".

To purchase a watch with a serviceable finish, consider a model with the Poinçon de Genève. The Geneva Seal is the main study of the standards for the grinding of the heart, in line with the Geneva Seal of the twelve guidelines for the development of the requirements of the brand in the grinding of the heart belongs to China's high level, but can not say that they have reached a kind of extreme, can not say that there is a seal of the grinding of all other things, do not know that Dufour's watch is not a seal of the brand, and some products may be due to the lack of brand for the application of the seal of the enthusiasm, and in addition, Geneva Seal Clearly put forward the requirements of the seal to apply for national brands need to be outside of Geneva, the industry threshold is also very need to have exclusivity, so that there is a Geneva seal of polishing very good, but no seal of polishing we do not exist to a certain extent bad.

Watches drawing process

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