tempocalypse
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Black polished GO components
I'm always looking to learn more about the innards of these complicated machines. I heard it said that black polishing is one of the most exemplary forms of movement finishing. I am wondering which components are given this treatment in a Glashutte Original. I believe the screws are black polished prior to heat blueing and the GO website claims the swan necks are as well.
This brings me to my GO Panograph; I am still relatively new to very high end pieces but parts like that curved piece (right above the balance) providing tension to the pivoting train that engages the chronograph clutch, the top surface of the column wheel and the top of the bridge over the chronograph train (bottom left of picture) all seem to have an extremely high level of polish similar to the swan neck (to my eyes at least). I was under the impression that large components with black polishing is very very rare. I'm not experienced enough to be able to tell if these are merely well polished parts or if they are indeed examples of the celebrated black polishing technique, I would appreciate it if anyone could illuminate on this. Certainly the surfaces looked flawless under my loupe (don't know the magnification, its not that high and was designed for examining camera sensors)
Black polished GO components
I'm always looking to learn more about the innards of these complicated machines. I heard it said that black polishing is one of the most exemplary forms of movement finishing. I am wondering which components are given this treatment in a Glashutte Origin...
Wait until you try your hand at it!
I once spent twenty minutes polishing a piece of metal inside a watch. Doing constant figure 8 loops on a sandpaper block. Note, this was not technically black polish, as it was performed on a sandpaper block rather than on a tin metal block as required t...
I think any watchmaker who makes the mistake of letting me try such a thing would...
.. subsequently accuse me of working to actively destroy valuable components :p I do get that black polishing of large components take a very long time, I've seen descriptions of balance bridges having been polished for 8 or 12 hours. Hence why I am curio...
I'll check with my colleague, Don C . . .
. . . and Our Man in Glashütte. There might be a different terminology used in German watchmaking. Cordially, Art
Thank you so much! ...
... I really appreciate it! The terminology I found on the Manufactory section of the website used "Tin Flat Polishing". The copy is below. However they only made references to the swan neck, the regulator, screws, and sound springs. No mention of Column ...
Our Man in Glashütte . . .
. . . has replied! "Hi Art, Thank you for your question. Yes, tin polishing is also called “black polishing” and it is typical for traditional watchmaking art with a high approach (but not just used from Glashütte Original). It leads to a perfectly polish...
Thanks Art! ...
... thats quite helpful. Of course I never expected the anglage on the bridges to be black polished. My curiosity was most piqued by that jewel cap on the chronograph bridge. That said I think the response suggests that apart from the swan neck and regula...
Black polish
Black polish is very time intensive work and if it is done on any parts it will most certainly be mentioned by the manufacturer in the movement description. If they don't say anything in their sales/marketing material I would assume that it is not black p...
Thing is GO's descriptions...
...are quite perfunctory on their website. For instance the reference to swan necks being black polished is only within that one section within the manufactory section of the site. However, none of the movement descriptions even within the individual cali...
Thanks for clarifying the matter, Don. My sense . . .
. . . is that there may be a linguistic aspect to this as well, although one would hope the terminology used in watchmaking would be consistently interpreted across national borders. Art
An annotated and detailed answer from Glashutte...
We've already had a response from Art's contact in Glashutte but I suppose the specifics can sometimes get lost in passing on a message. As mentioned earlier I had emailed a picture of the movement with the specific parts I was curious about to GO and I r...