OK,
Case, Check
Dial, Check
Hands, Check
Movement…. not so check.. I can’t put one of the bare non-decorated ETA movements in to this piece, I figure either geneva stripes or a spotted pattern would work nicely. Having experimented with these patterning methods, I know that I will either have to use an abrasive material impregnated tool, or something like a piece of wood charged with an abrasive like diamond paste or similar, and I do have some silicon polishing bits that should fit the bill nicely.
To do Geneva stripes the movement plates have to be held in a vice that can slide backwards and forwards in straight line, while applying pressure with the abrasive, for this there are dedicated machines available, though I don’t know if any of these are located in Australia, and I certainly couldn’t get one fast enough anyway.
I had previously experimented doing striping with a large milling machine and discovered that for the best results I needed to be able to control the pressure placed on the abrasive, milling machines don’t do this well.. A drill press would work nicely for this, but I don’t actually have one, not helpful..
I was able to jury rig up a combination of a jewellers hand piece (for drilling etc) attached using a variety of bits and pieces to a dial stamping machine, this machine has a sliding base, with a spring loaded handle to control the pressure, while my foot controls the speed of rotation.. Still not the ideal machine, but should work for one set of plates at least..
Machine of many parts
I place the plates where the dial would normally sit and do a few test stripes, but can’t make it all the way across the movement before I run out of room to move.. Unperturbed I turn the dial holding platform allowing me to do circular Cote de Geneve! with a few tests I get a pattern that looks good, and is repeated on the mainplate front and back, and the top of the bridges.
Round and round we go
Where we stop,
About here looks good
As the abrasive has ground off the rhodium plating that was coating the movement, leaving it a little messy..
All the bridges, freshly ground, plus a few spare...
A quick trip to the platers and it looks all golden and new (well mostly, theres a couple of spots that don’t look 100% but they’re mostly in spots that are not seen)
Freshly plated, ready to put back together
The movement is re-assembled and set back to ticking!
All the bits and pieces, ready to make into a watch!
Tom's Watchmaking Blog 
I have a drill press!
What is that bit you used to make the stripes? Some sort of polishing/abrasive stone?
Hi Kyle, the bit that I used to do the striping is an abrasive impregnated rubber, these are available from jewellery supply houses, as well as some dental suppliers. Some are branded such as Shofu, but all do a similar job, it is just a matter of finding one that leaves the result you want. A medium grade works better than the coarse or fine, but that can vary depending on the metal, harder metals may require a coarser compound to leave the right sort of scratches. An abrasive compound on a carrier may work as well, such as boxwood or a hard rubber.
Thank you so much for the reply! I greatly appreciate it. I am hoping to be able to do modifications such as decorating a movement as you have displayed, prelage, skeletonizing a movement and making of simple dials and hands. I would also like to know when you made the hands if they had a “collar” on the boss. I think a collar is normally used mostly on the minute hand. Or were the hands completely flat? I am dying to buy some tools to make my own hands. Ones that have the thickness and robustness of yours but I am unsure about the collar specifically at this point. I greatly appreciate any further replies!
Not a worry, glad to help where I can 🙂
On this model, there aren’t any bosses on the hands, as the hands are thick enough to friction fit on to the pipe of the cannon pinion/hour wheel. (approx 0.4mm) and the taper of the hole in the hands is quite a neat fit onto the pipes as well. On the next version I have used a pipe on the hour wheel, partly to extend the hour wheel, but also I used a thinner material for the hands so required a little more purchase.
T
That’s great to know. Thank you! I cannot wait to see what you have planned next. Make sure the process is very detailed! 😀
The press you use for the decorating is obviously not just a standard drill press. What is it exactly? Do you think this sort of decoration could be done on a regular press? The only problem I see with a regular press is that it won’t have a pivoting head or vise.
Also, do you use the same style of rubberized abrasive bits to do perlage?
Thanks again for the replies. I may have to ask you other questions (if I may) when I finally start my own projects!
Hi Kyle, The press I was using was a modified dial stamping press, but really a drill press is much more suitable, 2 things to keep in mind are that you want a fairly slow speed (under 1k rpm) and also a way of keeping everything aligned. even for the dial press I had made a jig that could locate in any hole in a plate or bridge to rotate by hand, this is not ideal, and should really have some sort of bearing type turntable for a smoother action.
The abrasive can be the same, though some experimentation is needed to find speeds of rotation and speed of feeding the plates to get the desired results..
Good Luck!
Tom