Uncategorized – Page 10

Alloying Purple Gold

Canadian chemistry whiz, Nigel Braun, is at it again. This time making purple gold.

Wrist-mounted Sundial

A concept piece created by Takuma Kawauchiya, the movement designer behind Grand Seiko's highly complicated Kodo movement.

Image credit Seiko Watch Corporation

Too Rare to Be Labelled a Trend

Carol Besler, reporting for the New York Times, delves into the artistry, attention to detail, and quandaries of crafting stone dials for watches.

At Groh + Ripp, there are strict handling protocols and the workshop must be spotless. "It's rare that you can eat from the floor in a workshop, but in ours, you can," Ms. Ripp said. "It's very important to work clean, because any small piece of dirt could scratch the surface. You need specialized training from the beginning of the process to the end."

Stone-dialled watches are a treat to own as well as to work on, but absolutely require an extra level of care. The unique pleasure of getting to work on one, complemented by a measured dose of healthy trepidation, is almost on par with that of enamelled timepieces.

Image credit H. Moser & Cie

Tirranna

Stuart Graff provides an inside look at one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s final pieces of architecture. A private residence in Connecticut that blends into the landscape almost as seamlessly as his most well-known piece of residential architecture, Falling Water.

ADN Abrasives

A supplier of polishing and abrasive wheels suitable for applying mirror and satin finishes to watch case and bracelet components. Their abrasive wheels are composed of reputable 3M abrasives.

A Teeny, Tiny Grandfather Clock

From the personal collection of Gerald Smith, who leant some of his pieces to the Tioga County Historical Society, in Owega, New York, for their 'From Dollhouse to Our House' exhibition.

Image credit Gerald Smith

Recomatic

Makers of high-precision lapping and finishing machines, both manually-operated and computer-controlled.

Image credit Groupe Recomatic

Apollo 8 Darkside

Omega's Darkside of the Moon Appollo 8 edition of their iconic Speedmaster adds a whimsical level of dimension to an already distinctively dimensional dial.

The laser-turned rendition of NASA’s Saturn V rocket, which has been substituted in for the small seconds hand, is finished through a 3-step process involving the application of white varnish, microablation, and laser blackening.

Image credit Omega SA

Accutron’s Fall & Rise

The name Accutron is a portmanteau of the words “accuracy” and “electronics”.
Initially built on groundbreaking technology devised and produced in America, but brought to its knees by quartz-regulated timepieces out of Japan during the Quartz Crisis, half a century later the once ailing brand has had new life breathed into it under the ownership of the Japanese watch conglomerate, Citizen.

Tools for Hire

Czech-based film props rental company, PropsCom, has a notable selection of what appear to be serviceable, old-school watchmaking tools.

Sadly, albeit understandably, their availability is exclusive to film architects, prop masters, and filmmaking professionals

Image credit PropsCom

Thoughts on Quality

Darrin Henein breaks down the pillars of quality he considers when evaluating design.

I believe that quality is the cumulative measure of our work.

A beautiful design that is not usable or useful is not good design. Aesthetics are a multiplier—they can make a good design great, but they cannot mask a poorly designed experience or product.

Blurry Standards

Marc Edwards dissects the incongruities in the way that blurring is handled across a variety of graphics applications and web browsers—and even within singular apps or families of apps, including Adobe's stalwart Photoshop and Illustrator applications.

Fracture by Fiona Krüger

The latest in Fiona Kruger's Chaos Collection of timepieces features a cracked dial, with chamfered and polished edges, realized by Kari Voutilainen's dial manufacturer, Comblémine. It is powered by the Caliber Chaos I, created for Kruger by Agenhor.

Image credit Fiona Kruger

Vibrating Tool

The master balance against which Dominique Buser and Cyrano Devanthey, of Oscillon, set the frequency of the balance wheels they use in the creation of their hand-crafted timepieces.

Image credit Oscillon

King Tides

Ron Hipschmann, of San Francisco's Exploratorium, details the cosmic forces at play in the creation of the highest tides on our planet.

From Obscurity to Eminence

Emily Yap, reporting for Options the Edge, spends a day with Rexhep Rexhepi and delves into the journey that brought him to where he is today.

Image credit Akrivia

Jordan Rodney Renaud

Jordan Renaud served as the official clockmaker of The Canadian Clock Museum. He passed away in 2024, following a bout with cancer.

A man with a gentle and meticulous spirit, I knew Jordan for many years. Amongst several tools, he helped connect me with my first watch cleaning machine, which I still have to this day.

Digital portrait based on memorial photograph of Jordan Renaud

To Set or Not to Set

Cam Wolf, reporting for GQ, digs into why some collectors opt not to set the time on their watches.

The vintage angle, in instances where replacement parts are scarce-to-non-existent, certainly holds merit. The setting works are an area where I've seen significant damage done to a watch movement that has gone too long without service. More often than not, it is the mainplate that takes the lion's share of the damage, too.