Independents

A Relaxing Afternoon with Don Corson and Friends

- A photo essay of interesting time pieces.

    On Sunday June 14, a group of Purists welcomed a special guest in New York City - Mr. Don Corson, met up for a leisurely lunch at Le Pain Quotidien in Union Square.

    It was a great together - Don brought with him the 3 watches (succinctly named as "No. 1", "No. 2", and "No 3") that he made personally. These watches, along with their creation processes, have received a decent amount of coverage on our forum. However, seeing them and handling them in person are very pleasant treats.

    Don, who is the moderator of the AHCI and Independent forum and currently resides in Switzerland, has a very eclectic background. From our conversation, I learned that Don was born and grew up in Connecticut and New Jersey. After receiving his training in music history, he went to Europe, worked for a while on pipe organs, later received further training in engineering, and then worked on various engineering projects. A man who enjoys workings with his hands, as the watch hobby became more entrenched, he decided to make his own watches - a daunting undertaking unthinkable for many.

    The watches were made completely from scratch - movements, cases, hands, dial, everything, making them truly "in-house" creations.

    The results were a marriage of interesting designs and marvelous mechanical executions. I will let the photos do the talking.

    From left to right: No. 2 - a ladies watch Don made for his wife (yellow gold case, black MOP dial, and stingray strap). No. 1 - Don's very first creation. No. 3 - Don's latest work and his most complicated movement to date.

   

    

 

The finishing on the movements, from No.1 to No. 3, gets progressively more decorative - from the non-finished No.1 movement, to the tastefully decorated, ruthenium plated "grayed" movement found in No.3

 

No. 1. in more detail

 

The crown on No.1 is interesting...

 

No. 2 in more detail:

 

No.3 in more detail, along with a hardcover book documenting the watch making process, which is given to every buyer of No.3.

The dial has beautiful Cote de Geneve decorative pattern, the sub-dial are made of precious stone with nice looking speckles.

 

The hands are of Don's signature design.

 

 

We also saw some very interesting pieces today at the table.

 

Once again, my most sincere thanks to Jay (jaysny) for his fantastic organizing effort, and fellow Purists for coming out!

My best wishes to Don on his venture as a budding independent watch maker. We will all be waiting for his new design with bated breath.

Hope you have enjoyed the post.

 

Truly yours,

Jon (Z3)

This message has been edited by Z3 on 2009-06-20 08:53:42

Sticky off:

This message has been edited by MTF on 2009-06-26 09:06:50

Don's progress as a watchmaker is evident, a journey that a few begin and very few succeed at.

It is a tough process, taking passion, dedication and an unfailing willingness to do what it takes. In the few short years since Don has started on this path, what an amazing realization of his dream.
Those of you who admire and feel compelled when seeing a timepiece by a living watchmaker, will possibly find Don to be almost unique in his watchmaking way. Not trained at a traditional watchmaking school, allows for a certain "free thought" un-encumbered by the fixed ideas of the "watch industry". This allows for some interesting possibilities, and I think that Don will create what he wants, finding ways to execute his passion the further he goes down his chosen path.
Another triumph for the Independent Watchmakers, which is why I'm so strongly motivated by this tiny niche of the watch world.

Thanks Z3 for the excellent pictorial essay of Don's work, and congratulations to Don for taking his journey, and allowing us to share in the progress.

Warm regards,

Tim

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Also thank you Jon for being our photographer. I would like to say a few things, as I am sure Don does not want to appear shilling for his own watches. Yes, one could be bought............ still......I think. And before I say a few things, one should email Don directly for more information.

First let me discuss the number 1 watch. It is Dons personal watch, his first one, he put it in a Silver case, and the movement finishing was not the priority. It reminded me very much of a prototype I once saw of Ludwig. Olechsons watch. The case looks kind of worn, and that is how silver cases look. So it is his first creation, and not his latest products. The womens watch he confessed had to practically be taken off his wife's wrist while she was not looking. . The latest piece, the round one, is in a test case. He has been wearing it for a couple of months to insure it's accuracy and reliability. I guess you could say when you get one of Dons' watches your really getting one of HIS watches.

Also Don confessed to me that his biggest fan base seems to be his family. His wife didn't want to give up the watch lest the plane went down and she never saw it again. I do hope she felt the same about Don. His kids want watches also. But, like any great watchmaker at the beginning of his career, his babies must be sold to buy tools. I asked Don how he could let something so beautiful be sold. Don said his love is making them, when he is finished, he is more excited about the next one......... and I assume more tools.

In the past we have seen many one offs turn into many ofs. Here we have the real thing, a one off.

Thank you again Don for showing us these truly unique creations. And congratulations for achieving the ultimate, something many watchmakers and collectors could only dream of.

Thank You to all who attended.

Jay

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Thanks for sharing photos of Don's work with us. I have a lot of admiration for Don's ever-increasing skills as a watchmaker. He knows that I very much like his latest creation in particular.  I think there is something marvelous about what Don is doing.  So many of us wish we could create watches, but so few really ever try, much less succeed in this endeavor.  I'm in awe of what Don has accomplished in a relatively short time.  You can see the progression of his watchmaking skills reflected in the three pieces you've shown us in your post.

I wish I could've seen these watches in person.  PPro, and Don in particular, have opened my eyes to the incredible world of the Independents.  I wish Don all the best, and look forward to his next original creation!

Cheers,

Daos

We all wish Don's the best.

And thanks to jaysny for helping with organization of this luncheon!

Quick question for Don:  Which tool(s) do you plan on purchasing next?  And why this tool(s)?

Cheers,
Anthony

First on the list is a milling machine.  What I have now is a better toy.  The necessary qualities for the new unit are accuracy and stiffness.  As the prices of complete units are just astronomical I am assembling a unit from portions bought around the world.
Second on the list is a larger lathe so casemaking will be easier.
Third on the list is a tool sharpening machine to be able to accurately and repeatably make cutting tools.
It is possible to do good work with sub-par machines, but not easy or terribly satisfying.
These machines will bring me up to the level of professional quality at the rate of approx. one machine pro watch sold.
Don

 

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Thanks for the report, Jon.

 

Some PuristS may know that Don is self-funding his hobby (Yes - he has a day job as well as being PPro moderator) by selling watches after Nos. 1 & 2 that obviously belong to Mrs Corson and Don.

As he is a moderator, Don would not "sell" his watches personally on our website but he stil needs equipment and raw material to continue.  So, Mr PuristSPro (our anonymous website person) will sell the watch for him.

Check out the listing in our Market Place:  click here

Please communicate with Mr PuristSPro directly, if interested in purchase, separate from this discussion thread and off-line. 

 

Regards,

MTF

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Great Report Jon, and impressive watches Don!

It's a pleasure to see we have someone who actually makes their own watches. I've been considering attending some crash-course two full day seminars about how to assemble wristwatches where they give you very basic ETA movements and ask you to assemble/disassemble them; but making your own watches is really taking it to the next level.

Best of luck Don!

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Instead of the course, another excellent option is to buy up a few old Seikos (the 63xx series for example), a few basic tools and have a go yourself.

There are pdfs available of the (dis)assembly process for these movements.

This way you don't have to wait for a spare 2 days. A little benchspace and good lighting and you can spend a few hours at a time.

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Looks like a lot of fun. I think I know some of the folks who were present, judging by the watches on the table.

- SJX

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Congrats to Don for his unique style.

Fr.Xavier

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Great to see all your watches together, Don.

 

nt