You are right

Sep 05, 2015,06:55 AM
 

it is a fulfilled dream and my baby. I did some very stupid stuff and had very stupid ideas, but as far as things turning out from stupid ideas go, this is probably the best one so far. 


here is the working video... or should be, i can't embed it, no matter how i try. 

https://youtu.be/eX-5kRXN_YU

The process, well, it went from thinking i could put a movement together from various bits of my favorite movement, the 6497/8. Well, my girlfriend quickly persuaded me otherwise - it wouldn't be my movement at all. 
So i studied some gear geometry charts ( mainly ppt brochure) and later got a copy of Watchmaking for my birthday, figured out i could make my own wheels, probably, modified my lathe for gear cutting ( i attached a dividing head and milling head from my micro mill), with the geometry figured out, i made a cad drawing of the movement and of a gear profiles - those i had cut on EDM cutter from carbide (so i can make a pinion from hardened and tempered material, all in one chucking ), measured a lot of stuff, figured out the 6497/8 escapement (which i used for escape wheel, pallet fork and hairspring).  
Then i 'just' started making all the parts, using brass for the plate and bridges, steel for pinions and axles, phosphor bronze for wheels and titanium for my cage, screws and balance wheel. My goldsmith buddy helped calculate the difference in weight beetween my new balance and the original one and then provided an 18k white gold wire to make the calculated size screws to bring up the weight. 

And amazingly, it works... 
I will be working on finishing the winding and setting (as i haven't even touched those areas yet) and the overall finish. Will keep you posted if you like smile

Ondrej

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Well, i'm pretty happy about how this turned out

 
 By: Ondrej Berkus : September 4th, 2015-12:51
Hey everyone, i hope you don't mind be posting this, but after six months of planning and working, i've finally seen this tick for the first time It is still very rough, but i will enjoy finishing it as well as i enjoyed making all the parts Thank you for...  

Happy for you

 
 By: xiaobiaomi : September 4th, 2015-13:23
Do you mind share the process with us?

Rough or Smooth

 
 By: MTF : September 4th, 2015-19:51
Ondrej Rough or Smooth: it's still your baby. Let's see how things progress. Good luck! Regards, MTF

This looks excitingly promising!

 
 By: Ornatus-Mundi : September 5th, 2015-01:03
Thank you very much for sharing this milestone with us - I guess you fulfilled yourself a dream? As for the video, I'd suggest you upload it to youtube and then share it here. Youtube offers a sharing function which creates a HTML code line you simply cop... 

You are right

 
 By: Ondrej Berkus : September 5th, 2015-06:55
it is a fulfilled dream and my baby. I did some very stupid stuff and had very stupid ideas, but as far as things turning out from stupid ideas go, this is probably the best one so far. here is the working video... or should be, i can't embed it, no matte... 

You've done what 99.9% of us cannot do

 
 By: cazalea : September 5th, 2015-12:19
Congratulations!!! Please tell us more. Cazalea

Awesome work

 
 By: Ophiuchus : September 5th, 2015-17:02
You've posted 7 times- and this is only your 7th? And you come here to show us this? Bravo sir. It may be rough- but you can always finish more. You've done more than most have now. I thought of a 6497 the second I saw this. I see I wasn't wrong. You had ... 

[OT] finishing titanium

 
 By: DonCorson : September 6th, 2015-02:12
Hi Ophiuchus, I don't have the tables with me, but 6AL 4V sounds to me like type 5 titanium. It polishes without problems, I use platinum polish. Pure titanium, type 1, is way too soft to polish, the more the titanium is alloyed the harder it gets. Have f... 

"Pretty happy" ... you master understatement...

 
 By: DonCorson : September 6th, 2015-01:42
That is amasing work Ondrej. Of course we want to see as much as you are willing to show us. I am impressed by the pure and simple design of all the parts I see. It is obvious that you have been thinking about how to make this for quite a while and have f... 

Well,

 
 By: Ondrej Berkus : September 6th, 2015-03:39
ok, i know pretty happy is an understatement, but i wasn't going to open this with saying i cried like a little girl when this thing started ticking :) Anyways, thank you all for the kind words, although there is still a whole lot of work ahead of me, i f... 

Nice, very nice.

 
 By: tick tock doctor : September 7th, 2015-06:13
Thank You for sharing, I to would love to see more. Kind regards Anthony

Here's what i could think off

 
 By: Ondrej Berkus : September 7th, 2015-09:24
that might be interesting to see. Also, thank you for fixing the video. Much obliged :) Here's my lathe i was talking about. Pretty standard lathe with two modifications - dividing plate (can be seen leftmost of the picture) and a plate to mount a millin...  

A tourbillon ... and a perpetual calendar !!!!!!

 
 By: DonCorson : September 8th, 2015-11:35
I fall off of my chair. The high priests of watchmaking barely dare to attack such stuff. Did you say you are a professional watchmaker working since ?? how many years ??? Ondrej, your work is amaising. Congratulations that your perpetual is working I kno... 

Thank you,

 
 By: Ondrej Berkus : September 9th, 2015-11:28
but, after seeing your watch building threads, i think you are the last person to fall off a chair seeing my amateur trials. I've seen what you can do, your work is amazing. I am not a watchmaker, let alone a professional one. I have been making knives fo...