July 2021 // Cornehl Watches
What takes your breath away?
Do you belong to those people that want to live as long as possible and therefor reduce the risk in their life? Or do you enjoy life and feel every moment & every breath? Or even both?
This quote can help to think about it:
“Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take, but by the moments that take our breath away. “ *
When I observe a tow-year-old child, I can see that several times a day it is so astonished, surprised, and happy that it shouts it out loud because otherwise it hardly can breathe in that wonderful moment. In opposite to that, I need to sit down and think before I recall such a beautiful moment in my live. Fortunately, after some time I remember it.
I realized when I people grow older, they less and less let themselves be surprised by a moment. They probably try to defend themselves from bad surprise. Maybe they had too many of them in their life. They tend to try not to be surprised any more in the same way as they were as a child.
Me too. I do not want this bad surprise anymore. So, I try to stay calm and thing: “I knew it! … It’s normal! … Nothing special! … That’s life! And this definitely helps to survive. But it also makes every special and beautiful moment in your life normal and nothing special.
As I’m sitting down to write this article and thing about the special moments in my last week, I find quite some very nice moments that took away my breath.
A beautiful summer day with my wife …
… a great time with a good friend in the black forest …
… and of cause the job that I do: watches. My Caliber SC100 – when it runns for the first time …
… and vintage watch restauration: last week, a Glashutte school pocket watch from 1890
Take some time, as you read this and think: that where the moments of the last week that took my breath away?
*Variously attributed to Vicki Corona, Philip James Bailey, George Carlin, Kevin Bisch, Will Smith, Hilary Cooper, Maya Angelou
Regulator – Cote de Geneve
While our watches are all affordable, the top of the line model is the Regulator SC1. Though based on a Unitas 6498, the movement has been significantly reworked aesthetically. With the bridges being replaced by a single three-quarter plate in the German (though historically English) style.
The 3/4 plate have a Cote de Geneve finish, and both the ratchet wheels are finished with solarisation. While the screws are blued and jewels sit in gold chatons, giving it a traditional look.
Other details have also been modified, including the winding click that has been replaced with an elongated spring.
And of course the time display has been customised regulator-style, separating the hours and minutes into individual axes. Notably, the sub-dial for the seconds at six has been enlarged, being inspired by antique precision timepieces.
Assembling of a movement
We have started a series of live-videos of the work in our workshop. We will show more details of the work of a watchmaker in our atelier like how to make wheels and other components, perlage grinding, making the balace wheel, polishing srews and so on. Please follow us on youtube to see more videos to come.
