How Custom Watches Are Created

Various watch parts: pallets, gears, balance wheel, etc.

“Society of Saxon Watchmaking Art” in Glashütte and its director Rolf Lang, who worked for many years as curator of the Mathematical-Physical Salon in Dresden, gave me important impulses for my development. There I learned a great deal and discovered traditional craft techniques that seemed almost lost. As the idea evolved, so did my watchmaking workshop and its tools.

First Wristwatch Project

Finely handcrafted watch parts, ivory bridges, gears, gold screws, balance wheel.

This movement is not yet finished. The idea for the project arose after my visit to Glashütte in 2009, a small town that is the center of the German watch industry, where I was impressed by the elegant forms and delicate mechanics of wristwatches. I very much wanted to try creating something similar myself.

The “Society of Saxon Watchmaking Art” in Glashütte provided another impetus, allowing me to continue developing. In my workshop, the first industrial machines appeared.

Wristwatch sketch.

I designed my first movement myself, though not without the help and advice of experienced watchmakers. I followed the Glashütte tradition: a three-quarter plate, sunburst finishing, and jewels set in screwed chatons.

Sketch of a wristwatch movement.

After a year, I was already able to handcraft the first parts for this movement. Various materials were used in their production. The plates, barrel, some screws, and gears were made of ivory. The chatons, as well as certain screws, were made of 22-carat gold. A sunburst finish was applied to the steel barrel and crown wheels. The pinions, some bridges, gears, and screws were also made of steel. The chronometer wheel (Ø 9.4 mm) was made of steel according to my own design. This was entirely handwork using needle files and fine saws. First, I divided the gear into five equal sections by marking radial lines along the circumference; then I shaped the spokes by eye under the microscope. The teeth were milled using a dividing head on a Schaublin lathe with a cutter of my own making.

Gear blanks made of ivory and wood, with a coin for size comparison. Ivory gear wheel, photographed under a microscope.

Joint Project with the Watch Manufacture Lang & Heyne in Dresden

Elegant wristwatch movement, mammoth ivory plate, sunburst finish, blued screws, black polishing.

In 2011, Mr. Marco Lang, member of the AHCI, son of Rolf Lang and owner of the Lang & Heyne manufacture, asked whether I could imagine that one day there would be an ivory watch based on the “Alexander Babel project” in collaboration with Lang & Heyne. In March 2012, one piece was already completed, and a few weeks later, at the opening of the watch salon “Hartding 1903,” the first such watch was presented.