patrick_y[PuristSPro Moderator]
30598
It's not fair to complain that the brands are inconsistent when we're not consistently using the same photographer...
Feb 03, 2025,22:55 PM
A lot of the data in this article I can agree with, and a lot I don't agree with. And perhaps more importantly, a watchmaker would probably agree with some aspects of the text and disagree with some aspects of the text. Furthermore, almost all the high end brands finish the edges by hand, using the rotary tools. Your title makes it sound like this "by hand" is unusual. How do you define "by hand?" With powered tools can be by hand, and without powered tools can be by hand as well.
Let's explore three levels of brands...
JLC (lower level finishing than Blancpain) uses the same rotary tools and beveling by hand but is not polishing the beveled edge to a full mirror shine. Higher end JLC models to get the higher level anglage treatment which is polished to a shine, using powered rotary tools, files, and fine sandpapers.
Blancpain (our benchmark) uses rotary tools and sometimes files, and sometimes fine sandpapers.
Patek Philippe or Vacheron Constantin uses rotary tools, files, and fine sandpapers. The architecture of the movement is made in a way to reduce inside angles and reduced sharp points to simplify finishing. The chatter marks aren't an indication of lower quality per se. Just that anti-magnetic brass is a much harder material than German Silver or copper/beryllium materials. So the same number of hours in finishing would yield a different look on each material. Thus, a German Silver part may look more highly finished than an identical part made of brass. Geneva-based brands almost always use brass.