David L. Hand-Made Watch Project

David L. shares his ambitious hand-made watch project, detailing the creation of an in-house movement, case, crown, dial, hands, and buckle. This post offers a rare glimpse into the meticulous process of self-taught watchmaking, emphasizing traditional techniques without the use of CNC or automated machinery.

Hi everyone,

My name is David Lowinger and I’m a self-taught watchmaker. I would like to share my hand-made watch project with you guys.

This watch incorporates my in-house made movement, case, crown, dial, hands, buckle and soon to be completed leather strap! (I also made a wooden presentation box for it) 

I’d like to point out that the watch is my first working prototype at its testing phase, which means that none of the components received their final decorations yet. (That’s why the movement looks a bit plain). I feel that it’s also important to mention that everything is hand-made, no CNC or automated machinery of any kind was used in the making of this piece.

About the watch:

The movement is completely hand-made and it is based on an ETA 6498-2. The mainplate, all of the bridges, click and click spring, cannon pinion, hour wheel and a number of other components are all hand-made. The mainplate, three quarter plate and balance bridge are made of German silver, while the pallet bridge is Stainless steel. 
The three quarter plate that you can see on the picture isn't the final version. I'm going to cut it, because the finished movement will have a separate bridge for the barrel and the gear train. 
(That’s why there are three screws at the bottom part of the plate. Two of the three will hold the gear train bridge) 
Due to the thickness of the dial, I had to make a new cannon pinion and hour wheel as well both from Stainless steel. The hands are also my design, I manufacture them using 0.40mm thick stainless steel.

The prototype case, crown and buckle are all hand-made using (V2A) Stainless steel.
The case measures 43mm in diameter, 9.50mm in height, and it takes a 20mm wide strap. The crystal on both front and back are Sapphire. 
(No AR coating on either of them at the moment) The case is made of three parts, the top one is friction fitted to the center part, while the case back is held in position by six stainless steel screws. Both the top and case back are a bit oversized on purpose to give the case more depth. 
(This is not final, I might change that later) 

The dial is hand-made of stress released brass, while the name plate and chapter ring are stainless steel. For this prototype piece I painted the dial black, but the finished product will have a decorative black DLC coating. The dial has sixty engraved lines to represent one minute on the dial, while the chapter ring has sixty drilled holes to give the dial more of a three dimensional appearance and make time reading easier. The letters on the name plate are 0.90mm!! in height and are engraved using a manual mill and a diamond tool bit. (The engraving is not 100% yet, but at least you can still see how it’s going to look)

Sorry for the bad quality pictures, but I took them in a hurry with my phone + I’m pretty bad at photography. Anyway, I’ll try to take a couple of more decent shots in the near future, in the meantime I would really appreciate it if you’d let me know what you think of this piece.

Thank you.

David