Vicknair Restorations, Vintage Watch Repair and Restoration Weblog

This installment will cover the making of a unique watch commissioned by a collector in July of 2025. It is housed in a stainless 39mm Calatrava-style case with a movement diameter of 30mm and features a central retrograde hour display and subsidiary seconds dial with hacking (stop seconds) function. It is handmade, at my bench, from design to finishing and adjusting. There is much to see, so let's get to it.

Prepping the material that will become the mainplate and the 3/4 plate...

Construction of the retrograde works was next. The central cam, as pictured, was just a placeholder part made in brass, the final part is made of O1. The screwed pivots for the star-wheel and the return rack are also simply mockups, used to verify the mechanism's geometry, with the final configuration having the pivots jeweled and supported by cocks.

These photos show the making of the springs in the above (#5) photo.

And now, back to the mainplate...

The bore for the stem is next to be machined. For this operation, I would need to clamp the mainplate while aligning the stem axis, and before cementing it in place, so I used the blank for the 3/4 plate as a clamping pad.

The pockets for the keyless works were machined on my pantograph. The toolmarks were removed with sanding sticks and sanding marks were removed with a brush and pumice powder.

The pocket for the pallet lever was machined on the mill, the banking pins were turned and their holes drilled in the uprighting drill press.

Now, let's flip the mainplate over and finish up making the parts for the retrograde works.

The star-wheel cock...

Now, the return rack cock...

Pivoting the star-wheel and the return rack...

The retrograde works in its final configuration. The keen-eyed among you will notice that the return rack spring has changed (I didn't like the look of the first one) and the minute and hour hand seats are still overly tall. They are shortened to their final length once the dial assembly is made and fit. The barrel area will also be open worked to show the guilloched barrel cover to better advantage, but I'm getting a bit ahead of myself.

Pallet Fork Bridge...

The Hacking Device...

Machining the slot and the pocket for the hacking slide in the mill. I have also opened the barrel aperture at this point.

The 3/4 Plate...

Machining the the main train pockets.

Machining for the winding train.

Cutting the balance wheel aperture.

Cutting the clearances for the winding pinion and the clutch gear with shop-made cutters.

Reaming the barrel arbor pivot hole to size.

Machining the plate to accept the balance bridge.

The Balance Bridge...

The balance bridge is made from O1 and is heat treated before final polishing.

Balance Wheel...

The balance wheel is made from 316L stainless steel. Unfortunately, I took no photos of the making of the weights. Sorry about that.

I also did not take any photos of forming the overcoil on the hairspring, because I've covered that elsewhere on this blog.

Clickspring and Ratchet Wheel...

The clickspring (and all of the other springs) are made from annealed 1095 and heat treated before finishing.

The openings that form the spokes of the ratchet wheel were machined out in a dividing head on the mill, and the individual spokes were shaped by hand to match the form of the balance bridge. The wheel was then heat treated and polished by hand.

Dial and Hands...

The hour numerals were cut on the pantograph, then the ring's OD and ID are turned on the lathe. The part is then cut to fit the dial. The numerals are filled with white lacquer and then the entire surface is polished.

The hand are made of 1095 and, except for the hubs, are entirely shaped by hand. The hubs are shaped and beveled on the mill, in the dividing head, to ensure that they are perfectly round. They are heat treated (like any other spring) then hand polished and finished in green, translucent automotive lacquer.

Turning what will be the staff and hub of the seconds hand. That drill is .007" in diameter.

Movement Finishing, Plating and Polishing...

Cutting the sunray pattern under the ratchet wheel and surrounding the pallet bridge. The barrel and barrel cover were done in the same manner.

Flat polishing steel parts (after beveling).

All train wheel spokes are cylindrically shaped and the inner rims are beveled. The spokes and bevels are polished and the face is circular grained before plating.

The exterior surface of the mainplate and 3/4 plate are frosted, all edges beveled and all interior surfaces are perlaged. The frosting is applied using fine diamond grit and liquid soap applied to the surface of a piece of glass. The part to be frosted is then lightly run over the glass in both circular (initially) and figure-eight (final) motions, until the finish is uniform. The diamond leaves a much more "sparkly" finish than does the traditional aluminum oxide. It also lasts much longer.

Here the frosting, anglage and perlage can be seen to good advantage before plating. The nameplate was made on my pantograph.

I also made this logo on the pantograph. I had initially intended to use it on the front of the movement but decided against using it at all.

Here is everything, ready for plating. I'll cover the making of the case and related items shortly. The hour markings were filled with black "Sharpie" just so that they would be visible in the photo.

I upgraded my plating equipment last year with a programmable power supply. I wish I'd done it sooner, having presets for each cleaning and plating solution is such a luxury.

Installing the jewel bearings and setting the endshake for each of the train wheels.

Barrel assembled and lubed, endshakes set, ready for assembly.

Case, Bezel and Caseback...

The case assembly is made from 316L stainless. The bezel and back have o-ring grooves machined into their mating surfaces to accept the o-ring seals. The caseback engraving was done on the pantograph.

Crown and Crown Tube...

The crown and tube are made from 316L and the crown features a 0.32 carat natural emerald cabochon.

The serrations were cut on the mill, using the dividing head and a shop-made single-point cutter. The counterbore for the seal was cut in the lathe with a shop-made cutter.