Making a Custom Watch From Scratch

 This post will cover the making of a custom watch of my own design, and when I say "making", that's exactly what I mean.  This is not the "custom watch making" that is so typical of that found on the internet, wherein one logs on to Ebay and buys a case, a dial, a set of hands and a Seiko NH35 movement, then assembles it and calls that custom watchmaking.  None of that will be found here.  What you will find is an overview of the making of a wristwatch from raw material, entirely by hand.  All work, including design, manufacture of every part, polishing, plating, all of it is done here, by me.

Starting with a supplied dimension for the case diameter and a few details, I set to work sketching numerous designs, which eventually evolved into the watch featured here.  It is a manual-wind, time-only with subsidiary seconds in a stainless Calatrava-style case of 38.5 millimeters diameter.  The dial and movement are openworked to show off the mechanical workings.  I'll let the photos tell the rest of the story...

The case and its associated parts are made from 304L (low carbon, non-magnetic) stainless steel.

Engraving the case-back on my pantograph

Making the crown, also from 304L, as well as the seal (silicone), the cutter to make the seal, and the seal retainer

I didn't stop to take a lot of photos of the construction of the dial pieces.  The chapter ring markings were cut on my pantograph, all other dial parts were made  on the lathe.

I made the "lance" style hands from 1020 steel because blued hands were specified.  First the bosses were cut, using shop-made cutters of the appropriate diameters, then the holes were drilled undersized (to be reamed later) and the material was milled to the needed thickness.  After that, it's all hand work.  The seconds hand was cut out on the pantograph and finished by hand.

The movement is based on a 1954 vintage Omega 266 which I heavily reworked.  The base plate is skeletonized, the barrel bridge is sculpted and I made a new train bridge and balance cock to replace the slabby originals.  I also beveled the inner diameter of each of the gear train wheels, as well as the inner edges of their spokes.  The mainspring barrel is skeletonized in a swept spoke pattern, as is the winding wheel.  All screws are black polished with beveled edges.  The plate and bridges are silver plated and the train components are rose gold plated, in fact, the balance wheel is the only part of the movement that remains original.

Cutting the openings in the mainplate on the lathe.  Each radius is set up and cut individually until the desired opening is complete.  The part to be cut is cemented to the aluminum work block and the glue is simply dissolved to release the part between cuts.

Cutting the barrel cover spokes.  The same pantograph pattern is used for the ratchet wheel as well.

The beveled train wheels

The main train bridge blanked

 Touching up a radius of the mainplate

The plate and bridges ready for silver plating

Silver plating the parts

Engraving the barrel cover before plating it, and the rest of the gear train, in rose gold.  The pattern is the same one used for the case-back but is used at a different ratio.

Installing the jewel bearings into the movement parts.  The endshake for each part of the train is set, and then it's on to the screws.

The movement screws all will have their heads polished absolutely flat, along with beveled edges.  There is only one practical way to ensure that the head's surface remains flat during polishing and that is by using something called a bolt tool.  This is a tool with vertical V-grooves (in which the shank of the screw is secured) and adjustment screws used to level the surface to be polished.  Below are photos of my shop-made version.

Using a flat block to underhand polish the keyless mechanism parts.

The assembled movement.  At this point the crown seal and retainer are not yet installed.

Bluing and detailing the hands came next.

The assembled watch.

 

With its grey suede strap attached. 

 

There are a lot of things that I didn't take photos of during the project but, as I said at the beginning, this is an overview, not a "how-to".