Watch Academy day in Biel

[jdm]

Background
Everything began when a fellow member submitted this picture to identify the logo on it.

I took up the monumental task of rotating the picture to let Google pics do its job, and the result was Cimier, a Swiss maker based in Biel with an history dating back to 1924. It’s also a name that pops up occasionally on this forum, so I got more curious and navigated their website a bit. I must says that I really like most of their pieces, but what I was really intrigued about is their Watch Academy initiative, which is an one-day session for you to assemble your own ETA (Unitas) 6497 watch from their Petite Seconds collection, of course under the guidance of an expert watchmaker.
For these watches the manufactures uses ETA’s Elaboré grade, that sports a specially selected balance plus decoration. That seemed as a great opportunity to get close and personal with the Swiss watch industry right in the heart of the region, we set a date at the beginning of the summer, for which I waited patiently until last Saturday, when finally I showed up (being just 10 minutes late) at their modern facilities in Biel (Kanton Bern), near to the multi-purpose Tissot Arena.

It goes without saying that travelling in Switzerland is always such a pleasant experience that I almost regret to not have done more often in earlier times. To all effects the country is totally integrated with the rest of Europe, and going around is so easy. All the people I’ve interacted with were incredibly hospital and helpful, the infrastructure is second to none, and with a perfect June weather going around these beautiful town, driving in an idyllic landscape is nothing less than a fine pleasure. As you arrive to the airport you realize that you’re in Switzerland when the only decoration in an otherwise bland, poorly lighted, long hallway with concrete walls is... a sponsored clock!

Let’s go back to the subject of this report. The day starts with coffee and some chat with the company management in a hall that also serves as a display of their historical pieces. There you’re introduced to the history of the brand which reached a massive production volume of simple pin pallet movements and complete watches around the time the industry was liberalized (for decades each maker was allowed to make only one mov.t type, weird isn’t ?). These movements are conventionally called Roskpof from their inventor, now to give you an idea of my knowledge of vintage horlogerie, I didn’t even knew that! These sport few jewels, and bridges consist of bent thin metal sheet, which I find just brilliant. However they also produced “affordable complication” mov.ts on the same base platform, again something I was totally unaware of.

With the coming of the quartz era, despite their attempts to move into new technology as a mov.t make  they like the rest of the industry entered a deep crisis and had to eventually to close doors. Fast forward to our days and we have the brand under a new dynamic management to relaunch it, with their Watch Academy as an important part of this strategy.

Getting ready
In line with the personalisation trend of today, the first task for the student is to select some parts that will make your watch, so many different dials, hands and straps are presented for to juxtapose and chose from.

Consider that a version on steroids of the “build your own 6947 watch” trend that recently also Mark Lovick had nicely covered.

Toolset
Now for the working bench and toolset. As you can see in the pictures a choice was made not to use an unnecessarily expensive professional benches, but simply to place a “raiser” on the top of a standard desk, although I think both pieces have been custom made anyway. With an adjustable chair that lets you work with you forearms fully supported for a steady hands operation. You also gain a lot of “real estate” to keep extra tools or storage. A brilliant solution which I will replicate in my next to be bench!

The tool set provided is very basic but perfectly adequate for the task at hand. The black mini chest of drawers is, I believe, a bespoken Bergeon kit which provides “Aluminium ergonomic” drivers, these offer an excellent handling thanks to their “synthetic rubber” handle. In the drawers there are also all the parts needed, organized by function, plus a set of oil cups and oilers. (quiz: spot the aliens below)

However the student doesn't have to do any oiling, as the movements comes  assembled and lubricated from ETA, and have been just took apart for the Academy. I loved the detail of a ridged base on the right to keep tools in place, and being made of a softer material is surely better than the cheap version I got. We were given two SS tweezers (excellent quality, not Dumont), a N. 2 to pick and position movement parts, and a wider tips one for the hands. On this subject I asked Pierre if he liked brass tweezers, to which he said he never used them. Thanks to his good touch he’s not worried about micro scratches, but what I appreciated more is his remark that in watchmaking many things are actually a matter of personal preference. That is a concept we all should agree with.
Another thing I liked is that no pegwood was provided, instead a long triangular stick with a chamois lined edge on a side and a sliding clear cover. That works great to push and keep bridges in place without any danger of leaving marks, or as Pierre pointed out, microscopic wood particles around. Only for smaller parts a plastic stick replaced the traditional material.
We were also given finger coats and blue Rodico, but I didn’t use it at all, so can't tell if it’s any better than the green one. At that point with the briefing given and a bottle of S.Pellegrino sparkling water we were ready to go!

Assembly
There aren’t many different ways to put together a 6497 but to be at least spiritually prepared I had watched Mark’s relevant lessons over dinner the evening before. The task is made easier as the main plate comes with the keyless already in place. I certainly understand the point of this simplification, as dealing with small wire springs is not exactly pleasant for beginners, even with plenty of spares ready to make up for losses. All the steps and parts are explained first on the projection screen, the pace is relaxed with plenty of time given for each building stage. I quickly meet my only issue of the day with the alignment of the pivots to the train bridge.

Not willing to force anything I asked our friendly watchmaker assistant Dominique to help, she touched the wheels a tiny bit, pressed a bit harder and in place it went! Then (very) few parts later we came to the balance assembly, which is the other part that the Academy prefers to have installed by themselves for obvious reasons, well I think that’s fair enough. Not willing to give up on that part of the fiddling experience I had the bright idea of asking Pierre for a damaged balance assembly. Just like in any watchmaker shop nothing is ever thrown away so he just reached into a drawer to get one. Placing the balance was easy but the hairspring was in real bad shape with a coil went over the end stud arm or something like that. That much I could untangle by myself, but then the evil in me took over and I called Pierre and Dominique to consult on the grave matter. In reality I was challenging them to my nightmare: hairspring manipulation, but without making any fuss Pierre (below) proceeded to correct the hairspring with the balance in place and the “wrong” tweezers. I could only see his rapid touches here and there and pronto the devilish metal strip was back in a shape good enough to get the watch “running strong”, to borrow a typical definition of dodgy watch sellers.

We didn’t go past that accomplishment, as the time came for the “aperif rich” break, now if one wanted to dare into public drunken watchmaking he would had the perfect chance, as we were treated with the finest italian Pinot Nero. The afternoon part was about about installing dial, hands, casing and strap. A excellent caliber-specific holder is provided to work dial-side, note to myself, I should get a lathe and make some for Seiko! To make it easier a luxury hands press with no less than four shafts is also provided

which I scornfully refused to use. I was later complimented for my dexterity with the pen type hands tool, nice ego stroking there.

By the way, the plastic blower that you see above was the only Bergeon tool that I wouldn't want even free. Heavy and inefficient, would likely break if dropped. Pierre and I agreed that the cheap rubber ones are just fine.

The complication
I haven't mentioned that so far, but my special treat for the session was to assemble a watch having Cimier’s own complication for the 6497, an unique automatic modification which powers the aptly named Bigmatic 16 ½. The idea of a large pocket movement worn on the wrist and not needing daily  winding was attracting to me and worth the price difference. The elaboration allows an efficient uni-directional winding, is brilliantly designed and perfectly executed, requiring only two milling and drilling passes to the barrel bridge to insert the posts, and five main additional parts, including the large rotating weight. The added height is really minimal, and the visual result very attractive.

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Wrapping up
Casing (crystal and gaskets are already fitted, as they are delivered so from the supplier) and installing the crocodile strap complemented by a signed deployant clasp concludes the practical session. As expected everything fitted precisely, and the the friendly help received from Pierre and Dominique made the time really fly.  However no mechanical watch work is complete without a final timegrapher check, I’m not sure about the others but my unit didn't require any regulation and was good to go in all the main positions.

It was then time to box the watches, get presented with our certificates, take the mandatory wrist shot and have a farewell toast all together! The other three forearms pictured belong to two young brothers and their dad which came for a family watchmaking time, that's a great horological bonding and memories building idea!

The long summer day was concluded with a stroll downtown (unfortunately there wasn’t enough time to visit the Omega museum), where I captured this

Grand piano street musician under the railway bridge… only possible in Switzerland I guess!

[Tmuir]

Thanks for posting that, I enjoyed the read.

I wish I could get across there and do the same, looks like it was a day well spent.

[frenchie]

Great write up!!! Thank you!

I will be adding this to my next trip to Europe, a small detour to Switzerland sounds like a brilliant idea!