My favorite time gages to build, by far, are skeletonized watches and clocks. Although difficult and time consuming to produce, the amount of detail a sculpted movement and dial can contain makes up for the challenges they pose.
The art of watch skeletonization is the advanced craft of removing non-essential metal from a watch dial and movement, transforming it into an intricate work of art that reveals its inner workings. It demands skill and knowledge to preserve functionality while creating beautiful designs through delicate and meticulous cutting, filing, and hand finishing or engraving. My goal in skeletonizing a movement is not just to reveal the gears, levers and springs that are at the heart of how a watch measures time, but to do so in pleasing and unique ways by showcasing the mechanics as art through incorporating motifs, scenery or repeated patterns into the overall design.
The process of skeletonizing starts with sketching and refining a design on paper, then copying that design onto the dial, plates, bridges or even the gears and levers of the movement.
Next, the sketched pattern is cut out with great care using a miniature watchmaker’s saw. Tooling marks left over by the saw blade are then filed smooth with needle files. It is these hours of filing that give the cutout curves their final shape. Next, tiny chisels for metal, called gravers, are employed in carving out or engraving more detailed designs into the skeletonized parts. The skeletonization truly starts changing dramatically during this step. Depending on which would better bring out and enhance the way light reflects off the work, the last step is the surface finishing. This may be a brushed effect, a polished look, or the light etching of a pattern. A further option that can enhance a skeletonization is the chemical alteration of the base metal itself, be it through the process of silvering, electroplating, anodization and/or oxidation.
I hope that you enjoy the following photographs of some of the skeletonizations I have done so far.
