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Allnew2me
·I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself. I am a new member and also the chief watchmaker at the storied firm of Breakem & Flingem Watchmakers Ltd. I have held this position for almost two years and have advanced strongly in the teachings of the founders.
Mr. Breakem, as the original founder, specializes in pallet and balance arbor pivots, banking pins, regulator pins, and the occasional hairspring when the job requires it. Although not his specialty, he is also quite masterful in the category of very delicate and impossible-to-replace hands of all styles. He generally damages beyond repair, resulting in the parts he works on to be always costly in nature but at least, well often, replaceable, adding much valuable experience to his already impressive skills. The rare exception is of course finished and polished screws, which are quite difficult to break, limiting his work with these to mostly living up to his shop nickname of “Ol’ Screwscratcher”
His work with crystals is not as it used to be, owing to the proliferation of acrylic and sapphire crystals being more common these days and much more difficult to completely destroy. Though he is often heard stating quite emphatically, "That'll polish out just fine!" or “We outta Polywatch again?”
Mr. Flingem on the other hand is quite experienced in the smaller parts found in a fine quality mechanical watch. His consistent and masterful handling of such parts such as, any and all screws, click springs, canon pinions, and also hands, jewels and even the odd dial washer or an entire castle wheel fall easily to his masterful touch. To give you an indication of his abilities he is still looking for a Waltham barrel bridge from a couple of years ago. His specialty or strength is of course the Incabloc spring, in which he is second to none at sending into low sub orbital flight, but with no planned or possible military-assisted recovery anywhere in sight. He will never admit it, but I personally believe that balance endstones are his favorite. He often enthusiastically marvels at the way “they have that lovely reddish sparkle in flight!”
When Mr. Breakem begins a watch service it almost always results in a lesser workload for Mr. Flingem, as the parts worked on no longer hold the importance once held before service, and as a result are now finished and in no need of any further service. Any subsequent attention by Mr. Flingem is seen as merely a practice session. They do however, look, in the words of Mr Breakem "Real purty all piled up" in a small glass bowl. Now, if Mr. Flingem gets to the watch first then the situation is entirely another matter, as a part no longer present denies Mr. Breakem of practicing his fine-honed craft in any regard, often reducing his daily task to searching the vast supply catalogs in search of a replacement for the detailed work of Mr. Flingem.
Recognizing that such hard-won skills are possibly not the best of practices and in a noble effort to spare future employees of a similar fate, Mr. Flingem has developed and has established himself as the forerunner and foremost practitioner of the emerging craft, with quite the following by the way, of underwater watchmaking, in an effort to measurably limit the trajectory and distance of errant parts. The great advantage of course is allowing Mr. Breakem a continued strong employment as well as a major reduction in the time spent daily on his knees with a magnet. His progress in this fascinating new direction will be featured in a forthcoming NAWCC journal treatise
I have learned and continue to learn from these old-school masters and am eagerly looking forward to some day in the future when they have ceased operations, and when I am free of their influence so I might complete a watch service in the manner that justifies to my wife my continued watch tool purchases.
Mr. Breakem, as the original founder, specializes in pallet and balance arbor pivots, banking pins, regulator pins, and the occasional hairspring when the job requires it. Although not his specialty, he is also quite masterful in the category of very delicate and impossible-to-replace hands of all styles. He generally damages beyond repair, resulting in the parts he works on to be always costly in nature but at least, well often, replaceable, adding much valuable experience to his already impressive skills. The rare exception is of course finished and polished screws, which are quite difficult to break, limiting his work with these to mostly living up to his shop nickname of “Ol’ Screwscratcher”
His work with crystals is not as it used to be, owing to the proliferation of acrylic and sapphire crystals being more common these days and much more difficult to completely destroy. Though he is often heard stating quite emphatically, "That'll polish out just fine!" or “We outta Polywatch again?”
Mr. Flingem on the other hand is quite experienced in the smaller parts found in a fine quality mechanical watch. His consistent and masterful handling of such parts such as, any and all screws, click springs, canon pinions, and also hands, jewels and even the odd dial washer or an entire castle wheel fall easily to his masterful touch. To give you an indication of his abilities he is still looking for a Waltham barrel bridge from a couple of years ago. His specialty or strength is of course the Incabloc spring, in which he is second to none at sending into low sub orbital flight, but with no planned or possible military-assisted recovery anywhere in sight. He will never admit it, but I personally believe that balance endstones are his favorite. He often enthusiastically marvels at the way “they have that lovely reddish sparkle in flight!”
When Mr. Breakem begins a watch service it almost always results in a lesser workload for Mr. Flingem, as the parts worked on no longer hold the importance once held before service, and as a result are now finished and in no need of any further service. Any subsequent attention by Mr. Flingem is seen as merely a practice session. They do however, look, in the words of Mr Breakem "Real purty all piled up" in a small glass bowl. Now, if Mr. Flingem gets to the watch first then the situation is entirely another matter, as a part no longer present denies Mr. Breakem of practicing his fine-honed craft in any regard, often reducing his daily task to searching the vast supply catalogs in search of a replacement for the detailed work of Mr. Flingem.
Recognizing that such hard-won skills are possibly not the best of practices and in a noble effort to spare future employees of a similar fate, Mr. Flingem has developed and has established himself as the forerunner and foremost practitioner of the emerging craft, with quite the following by the way, of underwater watchmaking, in an effort to measurably limit the trajectory and distance of errant parts. The great advantage of course is allowing Mr. Breakem a continued strong employment as well as a major reduction in the time spent daily on his knees with a magnet. His progress in this fascinating new direction will be featured in a forthcoming NAWCC journal treatise
I have learned and continue to learn from these old-school masters and am eagerly looking forward to some day in the future when they have ceased operations, and when I am free of their influence so I might complete a watch service in the manner that justifies to my wife my continued watch tool purchases.
