Beads and jewels


How Watch Making Has Changed

Before wristwatches became ubiquitous inmaterials like emery.
our society, pocket watches were theGemstones like garnet, rubies, sapphires
standard for personal timekeeping. Theand diamond. Garnets would be cut with
first pocket watch is thought to havediamond points into tiny disks and would
been made in Germany towards the end ofthen be set in tiny plates of gold.
the fifteenth century. Bearing a closeThe intricate process of assembly the
resemblance to the traditional clock,works required precisely made screws and
early pocket watches operated in veryother components that would often be
much the same manner as their clockplated or heat treated by hand. The
cousins.small gears were stamped from brass
A deviation from traditional clockusing very precisely made dies and
designs, pocket watches used thesprings were formed from fine spring
combination of a mainspring, hairspringwire.
and a balance wheel. This is in contrastDial faces were similarly stamped out of
to traditional clock designs that used aa base metal, enameled and the markings
swinging pendulum and counter weights.stenciled in place and the dial would be
Like today's wristwatches, pocketfired again. Once fully assembled, the
watches consist of two main components,finished watch was subjected to cold
the inner works and a metal case. Manytemperatures of around forty degrees
different metals were used for earlyFahrenheit and then exposed to higher
pocket watchcases including gold andtemperatures up to around one hundred
silver. The case was usually of a twodegrees Fahrenheit. This process was
piece clamshell design. The cases ofundoubtedly used to test the watch in
early watches were impervious to dirtdifferent temperature extremes to ensure
and moisture, which meant the watches,consistent operation.
needed a good bit regular cleaning. AsLike countless other consumer products,
time went on, other less expensivethe way in which modern wrist watches
metals were used for case worksare manufactured has undergone
including mild steel and pot metal.incredible changes since the Industrial
The inner works of the early pocketRevolution that broke during the turn of
watch contained a number of gears andtwentieth century. This important period
wheels held in place between two metalin world history ushered in entirely new
plates. The lower plate or pillar plateways to mass produce products for a
rests next to the dial while the uppergrowing world population. In every facet
plate might have come in two piecesof manufacturing there were incredible
though the best made watches utilized atechnological advances that improved
single piece upper plate. The platesefficiencies and helped reduce
were precisely drilled and bored to holdproduction costs.
the other components in the properMost of us have heard about the way
place.Henry Ford changed the way automobiles
To prevent wear of the moving parts,were built by developing the production
hard gemstones were used with the movingline assembly method. Cars would
pegs or axles. There were four wheels inconstantly roll off the Ford assembly
the works known as the barrel wheel, theline, as workers would fit various parts
first wheel, the second wheel and theto the chassis in a precise order and
third wheel. The barrel wheel is used aswithin a predetermined time.
the attachment for the mainspring.What few of us think about are the other
The motion is transmitted by thechanges that made this type
uncoiling of the spring and is regulatedmanufacturing operation possible.
by the escapement that is kept moving byCritical to the success of the mass
the combined action of the mainspringproduction line was the development of
and the hairspring providing anstandardized parts, components that are
oscillating movement. The wheel that hasnearly identical to each other.
sixty gear teeth around thePrior to the development of mass
circumference engages the escapementproduction assembly lines, most
wheel and transmits motion to the minutemechanical assemblies, including watches
hand. It also meshes into the pinion ofwere built from components that were
the center wheel that transmits motionmade individually most often by
to the hour hand.different producers. This meant that
Movement is controlled by a lever thatvery often, parts from one machine be it
is connected to the hairspring. Bya car, locomotive or sewing machine,
moving the lever to the left or thecould be not be used on another machine.
right, the tension of the hairspring isAs other watch producers adopted the
increased or reduced.practice of parts standardization and
The plates of the works were made fromintegrated quality control, the
plate stock of steel or brass and wouldreliability of wrist watches was greatly
go through a series of machiningincreased. The use of standardized
operations that would include beingcomponents meant that those parts that
placed on a pantograph machine whichsubject to wear did so in more
would exactly copy dimensions from aconsistent and predictable way,
master part to the part being machined.requiring far less maintenance and
After machining, the plates would berepair than those timepieces assembled
polished using several types of abrasiveas one of kind items.



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