Independents

Ophiuchus
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Yes- shinkansen would work.

Yeah, I knew I'd have to make a day trip to Tokyo, probably take the shinkansen.
It would be worth it, though, definitely. That is faster than I remember it being!

People who either are making a watch, or have made a watch, and do it this way,
probably think similarly. I say this as I am still finalizing my own design, to be done
with no CNC. It's just a matter of finding the time- life for me now is very rigored, with
little time for making my own watch. It will probably be a couple more years until I am
settled enough that I can truly set up a proper shop and do it.

So my thinking on the matter is as you described it- I would want to bring something
before those who came before me, and yet still be able to impress them. I think that,
no doubt, Breguet would not be impressed with something I churned out on a CNC.

The only chance I'd have is if I did it the way he did, and it's one heck of a stretch to still
think someone alive could impress him, let alone me. Those of us who study the technical
history too know precisely how skilled the old ones were at the top- so shooting for
impressing a dead man, even as a mental challenge to focus your work, is one hell of a task!
Near impossible, really. I think only a couple people alive could do it.

There is a lot of good tech brings us. But I think, if you are a single watchmaker, not a
huge multimillion dollar company, and you really love the craft, there must be no other
way for others in your trade to truly see you as skilled unless you stick to the old ways-
at least in the beginning. People respect Dufour, and respected Daniels, for precisely
that kind of approach, among other things.

Remember- many, many people can machine a watch plate with a CNC. They may not
know how to make jewels, or do springing work, so they cannot make a watch. There
are a lot of people out there I've met that want to do it. But no one else I've met really
wanted to do it the old way.

They all saw CNC enabling their dreams- great. Wonderful! I wish them success.

But, my dream is to see if I can really do it the way they did in the old days.

I am not on Kikuno dono's level. But I think I get the way he thinks about it.
I think anyone really serious about doing it this way probably thinks the same way.

Thoughts?

-O

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