Adventures in case-making.

[uchinanchu]

Not a clue what you're talking/writing about but that stuff is really cool nevertheless . . .

[Dimman]

Not a clue what you're talking/writing about but that stuff is really cool nevertheless . . .

Anything you'd like more details on?

I can do a bit more of a step-by-step if people are interested. At least how I'm going about it, which will be rather different (but also significantly cheaper) than the professionals.

[uchinanchu]

Anything you'd like more details on?

I can do a bit more of a step-by-step if people are interested. At least how I'm going about it, which will be rather different (but also significantly cheaper) than the professionals.

That would be of interest to me though hopefully it won't bore others who may be much more knowledgeable about the manufacturing of watches process. Even if not, just following what you're already doing is interesting . . .

[geoffbot]

I love stuff like this so go for it

[is that my watch]

My personal problem is keeping the bezel thin enough to match the rest of the case makes it subject to warping and deformation.

I would prefer a separate bezel, but currently can't successfully make one.

yes that was the thing with the 2209 case they wanted a very thin case to match the movement so the crystal it part of the top I suppose you could call it bezel in this instance make both parts stronger for a good look on a very thin case but yes loving the look ..

I have been messing with an old 3602 pocket watch case I am at the part of the lugs but am stuck on how best to put them on with in a tight budget....

but yours is looking great what size movement /dial is it for again ?

[is that my watch]

I can do a bit more of a step-by-step if people are interested. At least how I'm going about it, which will be rather different (but also significantly cheaper) than the professionals.

yes indeed

[Dimman]

Ok, so the first thing I do is look at available movements to use, and whether casing information is available for them.

I've accumulated a bunch of technical documents from mainstream as well as obscure movement manufacturers, but for now let's use Sellita:

http://www.sellita.ch/index.php/en/p...hniques/sw-200

On this page you have all of Sellita's movement documents necessary. And since their fitting matches certain ÉTA movements, we can use them too.

So next is deciding on a rough idea of the watch's size, and selecting the specific movement to use. The 'typical' Swiss-Powered Automatic is the 2824/SW200 so we can start with that.

So download the SW200 PDF, and have a look at it. I'll get into the specifics of how it limits the case in later posts. (I'm going to need to make some visual aids for it...)

[Dimman]

Ok, the visual aids are here.

Intended for the Peseux/ÉTA 7001, rather than the SW200 but I'll post the appropriate PDF when I get home.

Excited enough to open the package at a sushi place on they way home.








These are the rough castings cleaned up to take off the sprues and investment only. The main cases are in traditional sculptural bronze, the caseback is in sterling silver for allergy/staining/oxidation reasons (bronze isn't great on the skin). They will still need to be finished by machining for fitting crystals, crown tubes, and caseback to case, threading the screw holes, polishing the whole thing, then selective brushing, and engraving. Still lots to do. The casting is done in NYC but the rest of it I'll have to do myself or contract locally in Vancouver.

The Manufacturing Data PDF will have the dimension contraints that designers have to work with that limits what can and can't be done with design. Stay tuned.

[geoffbot]

Very cool.

[Dimman]

ETA 7001 - Manufacturing Information.PDF
Manufacturing Data for 7001


Red highlighted here is the basic dimensions of the movement.



Green highlighted here is the more detailed size and casing dimensions.

Red is the position of the stem.


This is for the dial, but everything is related. We'll get to the dial later...
The case related dial sections are the thickness, highlighted in purple, and a recess for sinking the small seconds in yellow.



This has the hand heights which affects the total height limits of the case. Red is hour and minutes, which has options for thicker dials, I'm using standard height. Blue is for the small seconds which has a fixed height.

What to do with all this in a later post.

Edit: Also pretty excited about this: