Several different finishing techniques are applied in the N1 watch to create the details that make the big picture. From the large brushed surfaces of the case to the most miniature screw heads on the movement, each hand-finished part adds to the elegant aesthetics of the watch. While laborsome, finishing pieces by hand is entirely worth it.
Hand Hammering.Hand-hammering is a time-consuming process where a hardened steel stick is used to hammer small pits on the surface of the bridge. One bridge contains thousands of those tiny pits giving it a lively and perfectly random finish. The rugged hand-hammered surface of the bridge is a perfect counterparty to the perfectly polished bevels.
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Beveling.Beveling is one of the most essential finishes in watch movements. It's not only the bevel itself but polishing it to a flawless mirror finish. Beveling is the most fun part of finishing the movement and I like to take my time with it. I use traditional methods: filing to create the bevel and peck wood sticks for polishing. A relatively thick three-quarter plate bridge offers a chance for big bevels still leaving enough height from the bottom of the movement. The smooth bevels are contrasted by the hand-hammered bridge and sanded edges.
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Polishing.
There are multiple ways to polish metal. Quicker methods include polishing machines with adequate polishing disks. Often micromotors with dedicated supplies are used to polish smaller parts of the movement, such as the bevels. I prefer the old-school way of diamond paste and peck wood stick. It's a multi-stage process where finer and finer diamond pasts are applied to the surface with the wooden stick. The last shining is made with the finest paste applied with a piece of gentian wood. The infamous black polish used primarily in screw heads is achieved using a special tool with a diamond paste and a tin plate. Fine sanding papers can also be used but the result a slighly rounded surface on the screw head. The flat surface achieved with a tin plate is often considered the "correct" method but at the end of the day, it's a matter of preference.
Tempering.
When you heat steel, the surface changes colour. In watchmaking, the most well-known tempering color for finishing is blue. It's often seen in screws in high-end watches. The goldish tempering colour is seen in many parts of my watches. I discovered the beauty of this colour while I was studying in the Finnish School of Watchmaking. During the first year of my watchmaking studies, I was servicing an early 20th century clock. Mostly it was business as usual but the mainplate screws were in a rough condition. With my teacher, we decided that I would polish them and give them a nice finish by bluing them. I polished the screws and set the oven at 290 degrees and put the screws in. After a while, I went to see if they were done but they were not. Instead of the desired 290 degrees, they had only reached a temperature of around 240 degrees. However, the color at that specific temperature was beautiful. The steel screws looked like they were made out of caramel. In that moment I decided that I wanted to use the same tempering color on screws for my watch. However, as it turned out, they didn’t look that special with smaller screws. This apparent failure gave me an idea to make the hour markers and hands from steel and temper them to this caramelized goldish color. This colour was applied to other steel pieces in the watch, as well as seen above in the set bridge finished with grain sanding.
