Stories From My Portfolio • Along the way

Welcome to my first blog post. As I was setting up the website, I came across a lot of photos from my journey from the first day in the watchmaking school to finishing my first watch. I thought I'd be appropriate to start off my blog by sharing some of these photos. They all tell a story of me becoming an independent watchmaker. This is the first post of the series called Stories From My Portfolio.

First things first.

The picture above shows the first tool I made in the Finnish School of Watchmaking. It's called the "file cleaner." During the first few months, we filed a lot. I mean A LOT. While this was a handy tool, it was the first step in crafting and finishing metal. The straight sanding finish is accompanied by engravings of my initials and the year. And yes, it did rip my heart out that they are not centered correctly; thank you for asking.

Moon obsession.

Above is a photo of a gear we made for the first prototype (yes, there were many) of the moonphase complication built on top of the ETA 6497 movement. I vividly remember being incredibly proud of the cutter I made to cut the teeth. While this particular gear design didn't end up in the final module, it was still an essential step on the way. In the picture, the gear is being filed to the correct height.

The JE logo.

Obviously, I needed a logo to keep company with my name on the dial. The picture above is THE original drawing of the logo. I drew it during a technical drawing class in watchmaking school. So all those classes definitely were not in vain. As for the logo, it's just an extended design on my initials. Clean and straightforward, just the way I like it. And to those who say it reminds you of the Jaeger Lecoultre logo, I don't know what you are talking about...

The first prototype of the dial.

Getting my hands on the first pad-printed dial was one of the more exciting moments during my watchmaking journey. It was surreal to see my own name on the dial, and it gave me hope that maybe one day I would be able to finish the watch. The original prototype of the dial never made it to a functioning watch, and as you can see, it has seen a lot of prototyping use since. For those doubting the resilience of the fine silvering on the dial, I can assure you that it is very durable. While rugged and scratched, the dial is still in one piece, and I will cherish it for the rest of my life.

Pile of error.

Trial and error, they say. Rather error and error. Different suppliers, different materials, different designs, different dimensions and you get the point. I never thought making the case would be easy, but I thought that maybe I didn't have to be wrong quite so many times. I understand that it's part of the process and after the learning curve became less steep, the process was pretty smooth. 

The hairspring.

In Finland we have this thing called perkele. And then in the Finnish Watchmaking School they have this thing called the hairspring. Put those together and you get an experience of a lifetime. Making a hairspring from the blank pictured above is one of the most demanding tasks watchmakers need to master. Kidding aside, I kind of enjoyed the process and it wasn't THAT difficult. But during the third year of our studies, we spent a lot of time bent over these things. I never took a photo of the finished hairspring. I guess I was too excited. Or I didn't wanna see the damn thing ever. Can't remember which one it was.

← Back to Blog