Jack
393
Volker Vyskocil--an update......
In anticipation of the forthcoming dinner/reception in Singapore and Kuala Lampur I thought I would post some material recently received from Volker Vyskocil which is illustrative of his purpose and his view of what is destined to be his initial sextuplet birth of his timepieces. I find his expression of these pieces as "scientific instruments" quite telling. You will find this an update of progress to date as well as an illustration of some of the complexity of bringing such a project to fruition. The detail to the cardboard box as well as the wooden box is fascinating! This material may complement earlier material from Dr. Bernard Cheong. What follows are the words of Volker Vyskocil (slightly edited and with permission)....
Dear ,
Your watch and five other watches are near completion. But I can't keep
the designated date.
It take approx two more month to complete the watches and all additional
accessorys. I am very sorry about this.
But the additional time is only used to rise up equivalent value of your
purchase. I hope so!
Some examples
----
The Box
I tried to build up the most adequate box for the watch.
To realize this, I decided not to buy a ready made box.
For example the wood:
I have thought for a long which kind of wood will be the best for the box.
Most ready made boxes are made of exotic wood. It looks spectacular but
would this in line with the philosophy of the watch?
In my opinion, the watch is something like a scientifical instrument.
In history, scientifical instruments are often made of wood or were
often protected in wooden boxes. For this use, a fine grain is of interest.
I decided to use pear for the boxes because pear has a very fine grain,
was often used for fine drawing and measuring instruments and is a
classic material in the region I live..
But it looks not as spectacular as a exotic wood (In my opinion a
benefit and in more harmony with the watch).
The hinges and closures:
Ready made boxes have mostly very simple made fittings. It draw me
something away from building the watch ... but I want to have fittings
which are adequate to the watches and the Box.
So I have made the fittings by my self.
The inner of the box:
The box is lined with black velvet. 100 years ago, there was a very
strong fabric industry at the "linke Niederrhein". I have found black
velvet from this old production. I am sure, that this detail is not of
interest (excepting me) ... but I like this detail of the box.
I write this (the wood, the fittings...), because today the cabinetmaker
(he has never made boxes for watches before. His atelier is near
Cologne) bring me one of the first ready made boxes.
Please have a look at the attached picture (this box is without the
engraved silver plate. I add this later)
(The additional cardboard box is made under control of a bibliopegist by
handicapped people. It take one day to make one box. I was fascinated by
the quality of this gray cardboard when I saw it today the first time)
---
The dial:
You have bought your watch without holding the watch in your hands. You
have only seen pictures. This pictures show the first type of dials.
1 Type:
This dials were printed only. (Printed by a company.)
I was not happy with this printed dials because (in my opinion) they did
not reflect the value of the watch.
2 Type:
So I decided to bring more value into the dials by replacing the printed
numerals ("12","3","6" and the hour indices by 12,3,6,9) by appliques
made of white/yellow/rose gold.
Additional I tried to make the remaining printing by engraving and
filling them out. I have done this because I was able to do that in my
atelier. (At the moment a very important aspect because it give me the
flexibility I need to build up such small series of watches)
But engraving and filling out the engraving with lacquer was very
difficult and it never looks as good as it was only printed.
3 Type:
The only way to master this difficult was by printing the dial
(excepting the appliques!) in my workshop. To do that, I have to add the
needed equipment(printing plate, scraper mechanism, color tank, tampon)
to my milling machine and modify the program for the machine.
The printing equipment will arrival next week. (In addition, now I can
guarantee that the second dial is exactly centered)
I also decided to add appliques on all hour indices. This type of dial
is the first one I really like 
----
The movement:
The first movements were made of German Silver, galvanized with nickel.
This type of "movementdekoration" was puristic. So puristic that it look
like the finish of a Russian Poljot.
I thought for a long time if I should decorate the plates with Geneva
stripes ore something like that (because nearly every watch today show
Geneva stripes) to give them the flash that the eye will catch.
But I always asked my self if this watch must have this feature (the
same question like the dial (guilochierung), the case the box(exotic
wood)...).
It needs sometime a little bit of energy to leave the easy way. Less is
more and so the movements now show the classic frosted finish (the
finish of old English and German movements).
Nothing spectacular but in my opinion the best frame for the technical
details.
This phase of learning and experimentation eats a lot of movements. I
had not overcame this phase when I were not able to produce movements
economical.
It was a big milestone in my VA-project to build up a milling machine to
my specification.
Due to.... I was able to finance a
small machine, to buy the electronic and to build up a very good and
useful machine (because I have done the wiring, the programming, the
preparing with microscope, HF-mandrel... by my self, the price for the
machine was "only" 1/10 to 1/20 of a ready made one. But it take time to
fix up the machine. Nearly 3 month.
As written above. I try to give you the most value for your buying. But
I need a little bit more time to do that.
Thank you and with kind regards,
Volker Vyskocil
P.S.: To my shame I have to admit that I have no special clasp until
today. I can't concentrate on this detail. When the first batch of
watches will be delivered, I think I can relax and find a nice design. I
will deliver the clasp in addition.