Jewelry Engraving Info 101

[jlseymour]

Found this web site, Good study on jewelry engraving 101.
Enjoy
JL Seymour




http://www.timezone.com/library/comarticles/comarticles0034

 

[monk]

very nice to read and look at-- thanx.

 

[sdcoxx]

NICE READ....
Thanks for sharing...
Stephen

 

[pilkguns]

Interesting read, it's always amazing to me see engravers who are stuck in myths and misconceptions of the past. I guess thats true for any endeavor though. Seems like a nice guy though, someone should invite him to join this forum. I think he could learn more in 10,000 posts here than the 10,000 hour apprenticeship he had to undergo, although thats maybe not fair since he said most of it was for machine engraving. Certainly there are number of folks here on this forum who can execute much better and faster and have been engraving 24 months or less.

 

[Dmitry Martinov]

I confused a little bit that doing engraving the belt was not removed from watches.

 

[pilkguns]

I confused a little bit that doing engraving the belt was not removed from watches.

Dmitry, the watchband is really not necessary to remove to fit into the vise as you see. It's basically a time thing. No need to take time to remove something that is not going to be in your way. This was obviously a quick two letter engraving job so there was not a lot of money to be made doing extra work. More important than the watchband, is whether or not the watchback should have been engraved while still on the watch. There is of course some debate in watchmaking circles whether or not watches should be engraved like this, all assembled, as opposed to removing the back and engraving only it. There are those who say the vibrations from the negraving can damage the movement inside the watch, and I suppose you could argue the about the delicacy/robustness of the watch internals. But again, its different if you are engraving $50 watches, or $5000 watches as to the degree of care that must be taken versus the risk of it being damaged while in your care.

 

[Dmitry Martinov]

pilkguns in my opinion this is now good if engraver value how accurate job must be done according with watch price, it doesn't matter what is the cost of watches 5.000$ or 50$.

 

[Sam]

More important than the watchband, is whether or not the watchback should have been engraved while still on the watch. There is of course some debate in watchmaking circles whether or not watches should be engraved like this, all assembled, as opposed to removing the back and engraving only it. There are those who say the vibrations from the negraving can damage the movement inside the watch, and I suppose you could argue the about the delicacy/robustness of the watch internals.

As an inexperienced watchmaker I'm certainly no authority, but after having worked with the incredibly minute and delicate parts in mechanical watch movements, my instincts tell me that subjecting a watch to vibration produced by pneumatic handpieces or hammer & chisel is not in the watch's best interest. I know of a couple of watchmakers here (Bill Tokyo and Tim Wells) and maybe they can comment.

 

[Shanna Moran]

Watch Engraving

I am not a watchmaker either, although both my father and grandfather are/were. Pneumatic tools and/or hammer chisel are definitely not recommended for intact mechanical or automatic watches. Quartz movements are safer, but for all our watch engraving we remove the back for engraving. We do lots of pantograph and hand engraving on watch backs.

 

[Dmitry Martinov]

I talked with one watchsmith I know, and he also said that it better to revove back side of watches and it's better to hold the plate in plastic vices to avoid any magnetic problems. Sounds logic for me, but will be interesting to hear masters opinion.
Shanna Moran Can we see some images of your engravings?

 

[Powderhorn]

Jewelyy 101

Sam and the others; are right when you say that you should remove the back. As an old school watchmaker, and watch repair, if i had to send a watch for engraving, I would only send the back, or if requested the case, and keep the movement in a safe place. I had a bad experience with one Hamilton pocket watch, in that when it came back, had to put in a new balance staff, and replace 2 of the jewels that were cracked. i dont know it it was the post office, or the engraver who did it, I had to eat abt 30 $ in the repairs. PS in 1970's prices

 

[Mike Cirelli]

I always remove the the back to engrave even if I'm machine engraving. If you don't you run the risk of damaging the case, crystal, or stem and crown. I can't think of many reasons why anyone would do that just to save a couple minutes. If the crystal is fancy or the mvt. is expensive the aggravation if damaged is much greater than the couple minutes it would have taken to remove the back.

 

[Bill Tokyo]

Remove the back

I agree with Powderhorn and am also a watchmaker. Remove the back. It will only take you a few minutes, and it will keep you from possibly causing damage to the watch. they are really quite delicate mechanisms.

Bill