Tim_M
1349
To Be Clear About This
Feb 04, 2025,12:09 PM
99% of beveling that looks rounded and mirrored starts with a machine cut. This is true of Patek, Blancpain - almost all of them. I've been in these factories and at low volume - think F.P. Journe or Moser - the first pass is done by a person holding the bridge against a milling wheel. IF - a big if - there is a hand-finished second pass, it's almost always done with a felt-like tip on a drill bit. Moser's sharp outer angles are a product of cutting with a wheel under human manipulation, but there's no second pass with a buffer unless we're talking about one of the Moser minute repeaters. It's not that robots are 100% responsible when you see milling marks - not always, anyway. Hands often are involved even when a machine makes the bevel.
The remnants of the first mechanical wheel cut are the striations you see beneath the mirrored second stage. Blancpain either has an industrial process for completing the polishing stage or the human element is a final pass after the first cuts. When the first cut is the only cut, you see clear milling marks. My videos have always left open the possibility that there is a final pass with a hand drill; I've said so in many cases. That said, there is a good deal of automation in the bevels of the 1315. An example of this within the Swatch Group was the old Omega Speedy display caseback 1863. It featured a great deal of polished bevels on the chronograph components, and we know that was mass produced without hand finishing.
Best Regards,
Tim