Visiting a Watchmaking School in Le Locle Switzerland KHWCC Part 1

[@russelldold4827]

Just a note of thanks for this series of visits with some of the men we rightly admire. Also for the opportunity to see some of the equipment and rare historical pieces they have surrounded themselves with over the course of their respective pursuits of excellence. Its easy to lose sight of the very simple tools with which the pioneers of watchmaking made their masterpieces, when we see what modern technologies are capable of. Very humbling!

[@DeanDK]

Thanks so much Russell, I’m glad you enjoying them. Yeah it’s so cool to see and hear them talk about their passions, and see amazing tools, machines and learn processes. 👍🏼😁

[@PaulGatenby]

Excellent video... Mr Korpela would be definitely someone i would have liked to work with... A very commonsense approach to watchmaking and the use of machine tools. I'm looking forward to Part 2. Thank you.

[@DeanDK]

Yeah me too! He does have amazing short courses I hope that I can do in the future. Yeah great philosophy to watchmaking and teaching!

[@JP-ik3hr]

Great video and great attitude by the teacher. Allowing students to utilise their own talents, interests and methods of learning to get the most out of his guidance instead of expecting them to follow a rigid way of doing things is a very nice sounding environment to learn in.

[@DeanDK]

Yeah I think that’s what is appealing, he is such a great guy with a practical approach to watchmaking and teaching ! And such a great environment.

[@Bartyron]

Nice interview and what a nice guy! A good teacher no doubt.

[@DeanDK]

Cheers Bartyron, yeha I would love to learn from there

[@aquilifergroup]

Wow. Thank you for filming this.

[@DeanDK]

Glad you like this mini series 😁

[@popeyewatch]

Fantastic interview! I would definitrly feel like a child in a toy srore if I step into this facility. Thank you for sharing.

[@DeanDK]

Hahah! That’s I’m glad to hear, because I definitely was! 😁 thanks for watching and commenting

[@geoffreylotz3661]

For me, with a son who may just end up studying as a watchmaker, this was a fascinating video, Dean. Many thanks for sharing your trip, mate. Nicely put together video, your time and effort much appreciated.

[@DeanDK]

Thanks so much Geoffrey, that would be very cool! I wish I was exposed to many different professions from around the world when I was younger, so I want to be able to provide some of that for watchmaking( because I’m trying to get there haha)

[@geoffreylotz3661]

@@DeanDK I've seen most of your videos and I'm impressed with what you've done. I'm a marine engineer and I'm moving into watchmaking as my retirement gig. I've successfully restored a busted up old 1960's bedside alarm clock to within 5 minutes time loss overnight and now I'm beginning to get the tools together to start on watches. I'm planning to do the BHI course as well but I also want to end up making watches with my own brand and name on. Out here in South Africa we have no postal service and so getting things is difficult and our currency is weak so very expensive too....but we shall overcome. Keep it up, Dean. Many thanks.

[@Emilmarch]

Thank you and that gentleman for this video. He really was humble and shared his knowledge. I am following these series with great excitement.

[@TheVIndings]

Beautiful tools, and i love the video ... i have a Schaublin 102 myself, and its a joy to work on :)

[@DeanDK]

Schaublin 102 😍😍😍 that awesome 😁

[@shs1415]

I've been following Henrik's blog for years and love what he posts. Thanks for sharing your visit. It's great to see the school in person and hear Henrik discuss some of what they're doing. A worthwhile alternative for tool sharpening is the Glendo Accufinish machines. They aren't necessarily the cheapest machines on the market, however, they are significantly cheaper than many of the alternatives, and they provide easily repeatable grinding and sharpening of tools. I have laps all the way up to ceramic and cast iron laps that I can charge with diamond compound down to 0.5 microns. I picked it up originally in order to sharpen my guilloché cutters, but it's also amazing for lathe tools. You can get by without machines like these, but they really do speed up your sharpening times, and give you repeatable results. Less of a concern when turning with hand gravers, but you really notice it once you start turning off the tool post.

[@DeanDK]

That’s so awesome! Thanks for sharing that machineI hadn’t heard of it before. It looks really good, I wish I knew about this before! 😁👍🏼

[@shs1415]

@@DeanDK They are the same company that produce the GRS tooling. The Accufinish was designed for machine shops. I've had mine for around 12 years, and it's indispensable. Oh, and I'm always happy to share tools you should buy for the shop ;) Once I finish moving into my new shop I'll do a tour of more things to buy.

[@SwitzerlandInsider]

all the best on your journey!! looks great :-)

[@DeanDK]

Thank you 😁

[@douglasskinner]

You're very lucky! As I mentioned I took a class from Henrik last August in Cincinnati.

[@DeanDK]

I was so lucky, Henrik really took his time explains things to me. That’s so cool, I wish I could do a short course in the future

[@parkornunruanwatchmaker]

next time you find someone for help to take VDO to zoom in , Thank you for sharing I love this VDO

[@DeanDK]

Thanks for watching and the tip for next time. Appreciate your support.

[@shipmate3577]

This was great

[@EvilUnderTone]

I'm a poor clockmaker/watchmaker. I'd kill for a Schaublin lathe. My friend Mark has the full schaublin setup. It's gorgeous. If I could I'd wear the lathe on my other wrist! So expensive though. Oh well I'll stick with my prehistoric Boley. Very interesting thank you :)

[@internettrihard2955]

Cool. Are you self taught? You make your own pieces?

[@styx4947]

the jig bore is not suited for milling because it's head stock is mobile and spring loaded, therefore stability is controlled by your hand. The miller to it's left is controlled by screw adjusting the height of the table, this means it has less play as you raise it against the cutter. A human elbow/shoulder will "wobble" because the flesh, tendon, cartilage is elastic.

[@StEvUgnIn]

1:05 I grew up in front of this manufacture lol

[@cfauvel]

MAN I want to hurry up and retire so I come here to learn EVERYTHING...starting from the tool making... Can you take courses JUST in the summer? Being from Florida most of my life, the thought of spending winter in Europe scares the heck out of me....LOL

[@newbernwatchmaker3604]

A $15,000 bench grinder!

[@DeanDK]

Hahaha yeah, good old Agathon, she is a bit of a gold digger 🤣😁

[@igorcabrera8123]

Great material! How does the pantograh engraves, laser or drill?

[@Bartyron]

It has a spindle and all the old pantographs us a tiny graver bit.

[@DeanDK]

Yes exactly as Bartyron explained. Thanks for watching and commenting guys, sorry I was little late to respond Igor, but glad Bartyron gave you a good answer 😁👍🏼

[@BIGWIGGLE223]

I couldn't agree more with his view on safety!! This is the problem here in the States with manufacturing now and a big part of why we are losing jobs to countries where safety is the individuals responsibility and not so much the company's responsibility. Safety has become such an obsession in manufacturing here that companies are finding it cheaper to pay someone in China to do the same job at half the price and without all the costs of putting guards all over the machinery. Which also means they can buy older, cheaper, machines that are only outdated here bc they aren't up-to-date with current safety protocols. This is all bc companies here can be bankrupt by a single moron that lacked the common sense to keep his hand out of the machine that can literally crush steel with hundreds of tons of force.

[@DeanDK]

I completely understand big wiggle. It’s definitely a struggle to deal with all the red tape and try and be competitive.

[@BIGWIGGLE223]

Love your videos btw!!