Sunday 16 February 2014

Making a hand

At some point in it's long life this watch lost all of  it's hands. Some research indicated that I had a minute hand in the correct style in my parts box. The hour hand had to be made.


I started with sheet brass. The hole for the cannon/hour wheel is always the starting point of any hand. Below, you can see the basic design has been scribed with the hole as reference.

Rough milling- 


 Basic shaping-


 All shaping done, polishing not done yet-

Brass is much softer than tempered steel. This makes filing and sanding much easier. But therein lies the problem. It is also much easier to remove too much material and bend the hand. I have a renewed respect for those who make hands out of gold!