Prototypes

[Angrybear]

Hi All,

New member here so please be gentle. Being new I feel the need to contribute in some way, but don't have much expertise to offer. So I thought I would post some photos of watch prototypes I make in my free time. Please be aware these ae thrown together from what I have available. They are incomplete and effectively just thrown together to see if a concept works for me. Hence there will be missing hands, unfinished dials, scratches and dust! The brand name is one that my partner and I came up with one night and is just something to fill space on the dial!

Anyway, caring is sharing so here we go...

 

[Angrybear]

[spectre6000]

Are you thinking of launching a microbrand? What are these prototypes of/for?

[Angrybear]

For my own amusement. If I come up with something Im really happy with I will produce it properly, but not planning on anything more than a few watches for friends and family. I can't afford to start up a micro brand, although one day that might be the dream.

[Angrybear]

I should mention when I say production I mean by myself! For example the first watch will probably be made from etched/engraved sterling silver with enamel infill. I should hopefully have a pad printer setup by Christmas. Cases are bought pre made and adapted using basic hand tools. Pretty much just stuff that anyone on this forum can do at home.

[Klassiker]

Thanks for sharing! I like all three, with the first a clear favourite. Not something this forum member can do at home!

[Angrybear]

1 hour ago, Klassiker said:

Thanks for sharing! I like all three, with the first a clear favourite. Not something this forum member can do at home!

Thats very kind of you to say, it has made my day. Apart from my long suffering partner I've never showed anyone my work before.

[spectre6000]

How are you making things? Dials, hands, etc. What are you doing to modify cases? Very interested.

[Angrybear]

3 hours ago, spectre6000 said:

How are you making things? Dials, hands, etc. What are you doing to modify cases? Very interested.

Dials are made from small sheets (50mm x50mm) of sterling silver purchased from cousins. I use 0.3mm thickness so I can add paint etc without it becoming to thick. Dials are marked out and cut with a jewellers saw. I use sterling silver because it’s quite soft so I can dome it slightly if I want. I also create negative relief dials and silver is the right colour for a lot of my designs. After this I attach dial feet appropriate to the movement I’ll be using. 
All dial designs are created in Inkscape. I then decide how I will recreate this for the watch. The first watch I posted (I jokingly call it ‘decotime’) is a negative relief dial, so I print it onto water slide decal paper, and apply this to the silver dial. The decal is then protected with numerous coats of acrylic lacquer, which is flatted and polished after it’s fully cured. 

[Angrybear]

If I decide I really like a design and decide to turn it into a proper watch I will do the dial differently. Using the first watch as an example the silver dial will now be made from 0.5mm sterling silver. This will be acid etched leaving the numbers and the rings behind. The outer ring will be filled with black enamel, and the inner ring will be made from a grey polymer clay. 

[Angrybear]

Cases and hands are harder to make big changes to. I generally start with a case that is the right dimensions and will fit the movement I want to use. If I find a case I really love that my movement will not fit I will change the movement I’m using. The first watch I posted I wanted a vintage look for but didn’t have a 36mm vintage case. So I took a modern case and sanded the bezel to have a flatter profile that worked better with the acrylic crystal I fitted. I then filed the lugs and softened the sharp edges of the case with sand paper. I then went crazy with the polisher! 
Hands are simply a case of finding ones that are roughly what you are looking for, making slight shape changes with a file, painting and reluming. 

[Angrybear]

Sorry everyone for the numerous posts. I’m currently away from home and writing this from my phone. Everything is done at home from my ‘maker space’

its a complete disorganised mess at the moment I’m afraid. 

[Klassiker]

Very impressive! You sell yourself short.

[Marc]

2 hours ago, Angrybear said:

its a complete disorganised mess

you have a highly covetable disorganised mess!!

[Angrybear]

Thank you all for the kind words.

Klassiker - I spent many a happy Sylvester in Munich. It was quite a shock coming from London! Munich is a truly beautiful city.

[Klassiker]

18 hours ago, Angrybear said:

It was quite a shock coming from London!

Yeah, but London is a proper city. Munich is called the "Millionendorf", a village with a million inhabitants, which seems about the Goldilocks size. London, like Berlin, has much more vitality, but I'd rather live here. I still miss the UK (though less and less in the past few years). I spend my New Year's Eve cooking and watching the Hootenanny on the BBC!

[spectre6000]

Interesting... Millionendorf. Leave it to ze chermanz to come up with a word like that. Wittgenstein and all that; language and vocabulary opening new avenues of thought. I used to live in Dallas (pop ca. 9MM), and moved to Denver (pop ca. 1.5MM) a decade or so ago. The destination aspect may have something to do with it (people just want to be here rather than resigning to living here due to a job or something), but I haven't found anything in terms of amenities, commercial opportunities, etc. lacking. Meanwhile, in Dallas it took a good hour to get from pretty much any point A to any point B due to traffic, whereas here we live up in the mountains to the west without any distractions from the city (aside from tourists driving/biking through), but can be anywhere in only 45 minutes with a good 20-25 of that just being getting from the mountains down to the flats. I'm sure there are other manifestations of this, but I haven't finished my coffee yet.

[Angrybear]

Just finishing a 41mm version of decotime, thought you might like to see how roughly cut my dials actually are! 
But I have found a much better and quicker alternative to spray lacquer and you can see the results here. Creates a lovely shine. 

[Angrybear]

I’m also working on the new 41mm case. Wanted opinions on whether the bezel is too high? I like the profile but think it needs to be half a millimetre lower. I’m trying to really show off the high dome acrylic crystal. 

[Angrybear]

Shiny new dial waiting to be fitted to its shiny new sellita sw200. I know the sw200 has a date complication, but it makes more sense for me to buy these as I can use them in projects with date windows if necessary. 

[Angrybear]

More progress

[Angrybear]

Bomber in the gun sight! A bit of fun? Or a bit naff......

Let me know. 

[Angrybear]

[dadistic]

That airplane is great!

How the heck did you make that?

Edited November 17, 2021 by dadistic
typo

[Angrybear]

18 hours ago, dadistic said:

That airplane is great!

How the heck did you make that?

I wish I could take credit for it. I’m a bit of a watch part hoarder and bought it thinking it would be fun for a future project. Well turns out this is the fun future project! If I remember correctly it came from a company in Switzerland.