Here at Minuteman we were sure people would be interested in knowing just what goes into building a Minuteman watch. So I asked the guys in the shop to share their recipe so to speak. =)
I am sure many of you wonder just what goes into build a watch. Well in our case I can tell you we are doing as much as we can to insure the watches are as they should be.
I asked the guys in the shop to share their recipe so to speak for building one of our Minuteman watches. The info below is from one of the watchmakers at the Quincy IL shop that's currently building out our MM03 and MM04 models.
Well first we started out by taking all he movements and lubricating the date jumper and ran it through all 31 days twice with the quick set. We then looked at all the dials we used with a 10 power loop using the 15 minute method meaning we inspected the dial one quarter at a time. After we selected only the best dials we put them on the freshly lubricated movements.We carefully put on the hour and made sure it was perfectly lined up with the 12 marker as the date switch needs to be at midnight. We then pulled the crown out to position two to move the hour hand. We moved the hour hand to exactly nine then put on the minute hand exactly on 12. We checked to be sure they formed a perfect 90 degree angle. After this we moved the hands 48 hours to be sure the date switches exactly at midnight. When we installed the second hand we made sure it hit the second markers on the last ten seconds of the dial. The cases were all cleaned prior of installing the movement. We fully inspected the dial and crystal before installing the movement under 10 power loop. While cutting the stem we used 17.65 millimeters as the length. We finished every stem off on the power hone to make the ends smooth to prevent cross threading with the crown. Once the stem was cut to the correct length we used green lock tight to be sure the crowns will not come back off. Fomblin grease was used on the back gasket as well as the crown and tube gasket. We also used Fomblin grease to lubricate the case back threads and crown threads. This is to prevent seizing and to promote smooth action when using the crown. All case backs were screwed on tightly. Once assembled the watch was dry tested which performed both a vacuum and pressure test. If it passed a receipt was printed out to show it did.
After it passed the dry test we performed a wet vacuum test. We watched carefully for any bubbles that indicated a leak. If it did not have a leak it moved on to the final pressure test but the strongest one. We put it in the wet pressure tester and put it up to 30 bar. It was left in there for 5 minutes. We placed the watches on the Revelator after the pressure test. This machine reveals moisture it heats the watch up then cools it way down to make the crystal foggy if even a bit of water got in. Through this entire process we used a check list in which a watchmaker signed off on. Most tests and items were checked and signed by at least two watchmakers. Every watch ran a 48 hour running test and kept excellent time.
I am sure many of you wonder just what goes into build a watch. Well in our case I can tell you we are doing as much as we can to insure the watches are as they should be.
I asked the guys in the shop to share their recipe so to speak for building one of our Minuteman watches. The info below is from one of the watchmakers at the Quincy IL shop that's currently building out our MM03 and MM04 models.
Well first we started out by taking all he movements and lubricating the date jumper and ran it through all 31 days twice with the quick set. We then looked at all the dials we used with a 10 power loop using the 15 minute method meaning we inspected the dial one quarter at a time. After we selected only the best dials we put them on the freshly lubricated movements.We carefully put on the hour and made sure it was perfectly lined up with the 12 marker as the date switch needs to be at midnight. We then pulled the crown out to position two to move the hour hand. We moved the hour hand to exactly nine then put on the minute hand exactly on 12. We checked to be sure they formed a perfect 90 degree angle. After this we moved the hands 48 hours to be sure the date switches exactly at midnight. When we installed the second hand we made sure it hit the second markers on the last ten seconds of the dial. The cases were all cleaned prior of installing the movement. We fully inspected the dial and crystal before installing the movement under 10 power loop. While cutting the stem we used 17.65 millimeters as the length. We finished every stem off on the power hone to make the ends smooth to prevent cross threading with the crown. Once the stem was cut to the correct length we used green lock tight to be sure the crowns will not come back off. Fomblin grease was used on the back gasket as well as the crown and tube gasket. We also used Fomblin grease to lubricate the case back threads and crown threads. This is to prevent seizing and to promote smooth action when using the crown. All case backs were screwed on tightly. Once assembled the watch was dry tested which performed both a vacuum and pressure test. If it passed a receipt was printed out to show it did.
After it passed the dry test we performed a wet vacuum test. We watched carefully for any bubbles that indicated a leak. If it did not have a leak it moved on to the final pressure test but the strongest one. We put it in the wet pressure tester and put it up to 30 bar. It was left in there for 5 minutes. We placed the watches on the Revelator after the pressure test. This machine reveals moisture it heats the watch up then cools it way down to make the crystal foggy if even a bit of water got in. Through this entire process we used a check list in which a watchmaker signed off on. Most tests and items were checked and signed by at least two watchmakers. Every watch ran a 48 hour running test and kept excellent time.