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I do not see why you think cheaper precision milling is going to create an environment where making a watch requires a fraction of the effort. In order for that

by dfc 14y ago

I do not see why you think cheaper precision milling is going to create an environment where making a watch requires a fraction of the effort. In order for that to be the case the biggest impediment to making a watch would be the cost of production. Do you think its relatively effortless to understand and modify a basic watch design? Do you think "traditional assembly at home" is going to be easy? I think "being knowledgeable" in watchmaking is a prerequisite for an amateur to personalize the movements to any extent. I highly doubt that many people are going to download watch designs and go nuts and add 5 or 10 new complications that they have always wanted on a watch but could never afford.

aleyan 14y ago
I was thinking more along the lines of customizing the watch face for the amateurs. Downloading the movement probably isn't required as completed movements should be available for purchase. For experts, yes, they should be able to customize their movements and go nuts. My original post all comes down to lowering the barrier to entry, making existing things possible with less effort, and increasing the iteration speed for very hard and experimental things. PS. Of course you have to be "knowledgeable" in watch making to pull any of this off. The "without being knowledge" in the original post referred to me commenting on the topic without any specialized knowledge rather than the hypothetical amateur doing things willy-nilly.
- dfc 14y ago
  I apologize if I am misreading your comment. Are you equating changing the size of the minute hand and/or other face customizations with watchmaking?
  - rscale 14y ago
    I feel like he's describing this: http://www.bamfordwatchdepartment.com/customiser.cfm http://www.bamfordwatchdepartment.com/customiser.cfm but I could also be misreading the comment.
    - dfc 14y ago
      That is what I was thinking (afraid of). That's like saying I am a kernel developer because I edited a kernel error message for grammar.
bri3d 14y ago
While I don't think cheaper precision milling will ever build an environment where making a watch is a whole lot easier, I do think it's already driving an environment where building a mid-volume independent mechanical watch company is much cheaper. I don't think we'll see individuals CNCing movements they download online anytime in the near future, especially due to the skill and practice required to simply assemble a movement even once it's designed and machined. However, the falling price of commercial-scale high-precision CNC is already causing changes in the industry. Comparatively small brands like NOMOS are able to bring manufacturing in-house without raising their cost to hand-machined levels - a move which can be attributed directly to cheaper precision milling. Swatch's ability to phase-out ETA ébauche sales and the growing popularity of Asian clone-movements as well as Sellita's production ramp-up can be attributed directly to cheaper precision milling as well. I suspect that horological innovation will increase in the next few years as smaller companies are able to manufacture interesting movements at scale without charging the hand-made costs that independent watchmakers and haute horology brands have demanded in the past, and the ETA phase-out leads manufacturers to consider in-house production over ébauche purchase.
- dfc 14y ago
  "I don't think we'll see individuals CNCing movements they download online anytime in the near future, especially due to the skill and practice required to simply assemble a movement even once it's designed and machined." This was precisely my point, i thought the OP drastically underestimated the skill and knowledge required to understand how a watch works, modify it and put together the new improved DIY version. However it seems that the OP thinks personalizing a watchface makes you a watchmaker.

by dfc 14y ago

aleyan 14y ago

I was thinking more along the lines of customizing the watch face for the amateurs. Downloading the movement probably isn't required as completed movements should be available for purchase. For experts, yes, they should be able to customize their movements and go nuts. My original post all comes down to lowering the barrier to entry, making existing things possible with less effort, and increasing the iteration speed for very hard and experimental things. PS. Of course you have to be "knowledgeable" in watch making to pull any of this off. The "without being knowledge" in the original post referred to me commenting on the topic without any specialized knowledge rather than the hypothetical amateur doing things willy-nilly.

dfc 14y ago
I apologize if I am misreading your comment. Are you equating changing the size of the minute hand and/or other face customizations with watchmaking?
- rscale 14y ago
  I feel like he's describing this: http://www.bamfordwatchdepartment.com/customiser.cfm http://www.bamfordwatchdepartment.com/customiser.cfm but I could also be misreading the comment.
  - dfc 14y ago
    That is what I was thinking (afraid of). That's like saying I am a kernel developer because I edited a kernel error message for grammar.

bri3d 14y ago

While I don't think cheaper precision milling will ever build an environment where making a watch is a whole lot easier, I do think it's already driving an environment where building a mid-volume independent mechanical watch company is much cheaper. I don't think we'll see individuals CNCing movements they download online anytime in the near future, especially due to the skill and practice required to simply assemble a movement even once it's designed and machined. However, the falling price of commercial-scale high-precision CNC is already causing changes in the industry. Comparatively small brands like NOMOS are able to bring manufacturing in-house without raising their cost to hand-machined levels - a move which can be attributed directly to cheaper precision milling. Swatch's ability to phase-out ETA ébauche sales and the growing popularity of Asian clone-movements as well as Sellita's production ramp-up can be attributed directly to cheaper precision milling as well. I suspect that horological innovation will increase in the next few years as smaller companies are able to manufacture interesting movements at scale without charging the hand-made costs that independent watchmakers and haute horology brands have demanded in the past, and the ETA phase-out leads manufacturers to consider in-house production over ébauche purchase.

dfc 14y ago
"I don't think we'll see individuals CNCing movements they download online anytime in the near future, especially due to the skill and practice required to simply assemble a movement even once it's designed and machined." This was precisely my point, i thought the OP drastically underestimated the skill and knowledge required to understand how a watch works, modify it and put together the new improved DIY version. However it seems that the OP thinks personalizing a watchface makes you a watchmaker.