Independents
David L. unveils his latest creation: a handmade prototype timepiece featuring a unique rectangular, lugless case and a custom regulator movement. This post offers a rare glimpse into the meticulous process of independent watchmaking, inviting the community to provide feedback on his innovative design and craftsmanship.
Hi guys,
It’s been quite a while since my last post, unfortunately I’m not very active here.
I would like to share with you my latest creation. I’m interested to hear what you think of it.
What you see on the picture is my new prototype piece that I'm making for myself. (I had this idea for a long time) Apart from a couple of ETA components I designed and hand crafted everything in-house. (Without CNC) All together I manufactured over 50 components from scratch for this timepiece. As you can see the case is a very simple but rather unusual rectangular lugless design with a rectangular movement that I developed exclusively for this watch.
It’s a time only piece with a regulator layout, hours are
displayed on the dial located at 12 position and minutes at 6 position. The case measures 45.00 x 26.00 x 9.0 mm (strap 18.00 mm wide), I
wouldn’t call it small by any means but it’s not huge either + the 9.0 mm height IMO helps to balance everything out. The installation of the crystal is pretty unusual as well (it covers the entire length of the case) and honestly not very practical, but I like how to looks and since I’m making this watch
for myself I don’t really mind. 
(I have the same case design with an enclosed
front crystal which is a lot more user friendly) Also, please ignore how the
crystal’s looks (it’s just a temporary plexi glass at the moment, and it is a bit oversized). The strap is temporary as well.
The pictures is not the best, but the mainplate has a hand hammered finish (only took about 30.000 blow with the hummer) while the rest of the components are either straight grained or polished. The movement has a three dimensional construction and the different finishes help to create contrast between components that are located at different levels. The dials are located on the top of the bridges which creates the illusion that they float over the movement. (I think it looks pretty cool) The engraving of the dials are far from being perfect and uniform, but again no CNC is used so I guess they are ok for now.
There are a number of things that I still need to address, and further improvements will be made, but for this prototype piece I think everything is decent enough, especially considering that this is a fully handmade timepiece.
I’ll try to take a couple of better quality pictures of the front and back and share those later on.
Let me know what you guys think of it.
Regards,
David
The concept of totally separating seconds from the hours/minutes is not seen so often any more. I would really like to see your movement and how you resolved the separation of the year train from the seconds wheel. I like your design and especially the three-dimensional aspect.
Unfortunately I can not offer and real advice from a technical side but I do feel from a visual side some color would add some additional depth to the dial. It could be something as simple as blue hands or more elaborate like enamel on the hour and minute sub dials where you can contrast the numeral against white or blue. But again it could be just the photo that makes it look more monotone. I any case please do visit more often to share with us. Bill
Thank you, I'm glad you like the watch. Can you please explain what you mean by separation of the year train from the seconds wheel? I'm not sure what you mean. This movement does not display seconds, only hours and minutes so there is not separation. It's a simple ETA gear train and I made a couple of additional wheels to display the hours and minutes separately.
Yeah, I guess the angle and light makes it a bit monotone, but in real life I feel there is enough depth. Actually I haven't thought about blued hands, but now that you mentioned it could look pretty good. Or maybe blue the dials.
to think you did this is quite an feat. I love the case, and although I’m not generally a fan of regulator watches, in this case, I feel, it is done coherently with the concept and the layout.=I think it is super cool and well designed. I like the hammered surface. My least favorite part, are the hands that somehow seem to crude. Also the subdials could be refined in terms of finish, but I like the open geometry. Thank you for sharing. It must be incredibly satisfying to be able to do something
I'm really glad you like it. Yeah the hands are not 100% for sure. I also wasn't enteritis happy with them so yesterday I machined two additional hands, and I managed to bend and screw up both of them. Anyhow, thank you for your input, I appreciate it and I will definitely try to improve the overall quality with time.
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