GBW News & Articles
All the lastest news,
stories and articles
BHI Exams and the WOSTEP course
I now have experience with both the BHI’s (British Horological Institute) qualifications and the WOSTEP (Watches of Switzerland Training and Education Programme) course and so I can talk about the differences. The BHI reinvented its qualification structure in 2011. They offer 3 major qualifications that are taken in sequence: The Diploma in Clock and Watch […]
Global Luxury Watch and UK Watch Repair Market
I have put together this report to provide a brief overview of the state of the global luxury watch market, identify the popular brands and demonstrate the current size of the UK watch repair market. The Swiss luxury watch industry is extremely secretive and figures and data are never directly provided by the watchmaking brands […]
Making my First Watch
I have talked before about some watch designs that I’ve been thinking about for my first watch. See the article here. Since writing this article I have also managed to finish my first British watch. Read the article here. Originally I was going to make an ambitious regulator layout with retrograde hands, although once I […]
BHI Practical Exam: Cock and Plate (Part 3)
This is the final part of the series into the cock and plate exam that forms part of the BHI’s 2nd year exams. The 1st part is here where I do some planning, make the screw and the arbor, and the 2nd part is here where I make/mess up the plate. Under the new exams […]
BHI Practical Exam: Cock and Plate (Part 2)
This is the second part describing the process to create the Cock and Plate assembly. You can see the 1st part here. The first part seemed to have gone well. Perhaps it wouldn’t be wrong to say it went at least 80% as well as I could have hoped. By far the biggest problem I […]
BHI Practical Exam: Cock and Plate (Part 1)
The 2nd year of the British Horological Institute (BHI) exams includes a practical exam where the candidate must make a Cock and Plate assembly for a carriage clock. This article will be split over 3 parts. This first part will focus on the preparation prior to getting started and then look at the making of […]
How to Clean a Watch Battery Leak
Watch batteries used in quartz watches, specifically Silver Oxide cells, often leak. (click here to learn more about watch batteries) The electrolyte used in a Silver Oxide watch battery is highly alkaline and corrosive and so when a battery leaks inside a watch it can be catastrophic for the movement. In a combined survey of […]
January 2014 Update
The website is just a little over a year old, I thought that I’d give an update. As I write this, the site has: 28 published posts containing 35,000 words and 400 images I was actually beating myself up for not having done more this year, but after seeing the tally of the work – […]
Watch Batteries
The vast majority of watches on the market and in everyday use are battery-powered quartz watches. The batteries are called either watch batteries or button cells, while the larger lithium powered batteries are sometimes called coin cells. Despite many advantages of the quartz watch when compared to a solely mechanical timepiece, such as being; cheaper […]
How to Poise a Balance Wheel
If the balance wheel’s weight is not correctly distributed, then you will end up with a heavy spot, or an unpoised balance wheel. When a watch is in either the dial up or down position, the balance wheel will be horizontal and therefore the effect of any uneven weight will be virtually negated. However if […]