The most accurate ruler

 

As many of you know, we love manufacturing. Over the last 8 years (It's been that long, crazy!) we have learned a lot by focusing on making watches. However, 3 or 4 years ago, parallel precision sectors, like the medical, space, semiconductor and high-end scientific instrumentation sectors, started to become curious about our capabilities. Specifically in handling complex, highly precise and very small parts. This interest was big enough to spin-out a separate business called NH Micro. If you've been following along our newsletter and journey, you might have heard of NH Micro before - in short, watchmakers making parts for other sectors. ANSTO is the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation. It's the leading research body for nuclear science. Between a particle accelerator called a synchrotron located in Melbourne, and a nuclear research reactor in Lucas Heights, south of Sydney, ANSTO employs 1300 people. Over the last 2 years ANSTO has been one of NH Micro's key clients - They use NH Micro to help manufacture very precise parts and assemblies for their research applications, and often come to us when their internal workshops, and usual vendors tell them it cannot be done. Just last week we shipped off a very complex and highly demanding project to the synchrotron in Melbourne. Currently they are building, in layman's terms, a new sensor for their particle accelerator. One of the main features of this new upgrade is that the sensor has to be able to move incredibly accurately. https://www.ansto.gov.au/x-ray-fluorescence-nanoprobe-beamline

In fact so accurately that for us, dealing in microns every day, we cannot fathom how precise this device will be. Our machines in the workshop regularly work in the micron and sub micron range. This is hard to visualise, but you can try by taking a sheet of paper, dividing the thickness of it 100 times, and you will be left with something 1 micron thick. Now, ANSTO's new device will be positioning around 300 times more accurately than that divided piece of paper. 3 Nanometers. Some more perspective. Dust that you find around the house is usually in the order of 10-20 Microns, a red blood cell is around 8 microns in diameter, the wavelength of red light is around 0.7 microns (700 nanometers), the diameter of a SARS-CoV-2 virus is around 100 nanometers (coronavirus!) and ANSTO's new device is still operating at accuracies smaller than that scale, at 3 nanometers... Just amazing. Where NH Micro fits in, is in the manufacture of the motion and metrology components of this new device. Last year we built the motion platform that actually moves in these absolutely tiny increments (Photos will be coming of this, but they are still under an embargo), and just last week we manufactured the "ruler" that measures how far this motion stage has moved. In more detail, we really manufactured the holder, that holds 3 separate rulers to measure the devices displacement. The design of this "ruler holder" was completed by a team of incredibly talented engineers at ANSTO, and we were given the task to manufacture and assemble each component.

The challenge? Everything metallic was to be made from a very special material called invar. Invar is an Iron-nickel alloy that has an incredibly small coefficient of thermal expansion. In fact, it's used widely when you really don't want things to grow or move when they heat up and cool down. At ANSTO, they are keeping their environment incredibly well controlled, but even still, fractions of a kelvin can drastically alter the performance of your measurement. The tricky part about invar is that it is quite difficult to machine. It's sort of like machining bubble-gum mixed with sand. It wears out tools, and machining geometry to tight tolerances is not trivial. Not to mention, it's egregiously expensive! Mistakes are costly! Between our Kern Micro HD 5 axis milling machine, our Makino u32j wire EDM, as well as countless hand tools and measuring tools, we were able to manufacture this one-off "ruler holder". This frame holds 3 laser interferometers, which bounce light off a surface and measure the change in displacement of the object that they are pointing at. The whole project took over 1 month in the workshop, and around 4 months overall, between waiting for material, tools and the like.

What's vital in projects like these is that we are able to handle the entire scope of work, "soup to nuts". Many workshops globally are able to mill Invar, or wire cut it, or put together components, or measure them accurately, but very few places have the key competency to do all of the above - especially in Australia. In fact, without our watchmaking knowledge, heritage, and expertise, even if we had all the machines, we would not be able to complete a project like this one. Manufacturing these ultra-complex assemblies is an engineering miracle in itself. It's been a long road to get to this point, many failures, lots of learning and teaching opportunities, but in the end, we are happy to be able to offer our services to the Australian government, people and industry. Long live Manufactured in Australia! Josh

Would you pay $500 for a slice of wagyu?

 

If you have three and a half hours to kill, here is a suggestion. A Deutche Welle documentary titled "Twenty Japanese businesses making the most expensive products." A match made in heaven: Deutche Welle's masterful cinematography and objectivity showcasing the Japanese pursuit for perfection. And no, the documentary has very little to do with money or price; and everything to do with craftsmanship, patience and time. The Japanese say that it takes 3 years to learn how put a piece of eel meat on a skewer. And a lifetime to learn how to grill it to perfection. A bar of ink takes four years to cure. Made exactly the same way as it has been for the past 400 years, by the same maker. The same level of attention to detail and pride goes into a hand made iron kettle to boil water for ceremonial tea, hand made master chef's knives, and katanas. Our NH55 Timascus project - a watch where we make the entire case, dial, hands, and 80% of the internal components in our own workshop, started as an attempt to showcase our ability to make watches, in Australia, specifically for the Louis Vuitton competition.  A year and a half later, the series of 16 watches is just about to be completed. Those who follow us on Instagram have an opportunity to see first hand how complex and exciting this project is. Yet as we shape Timascus, Timascus is shaping us. We are learning not just about how to make a parts more precise and more beautiful, but also about us; ultimately, about our contribution to the world of bespoke horology. This is both painful and exciting at the same time; the same feeling of a marathon runner batting the last few kilometres of the race. There is nothing to worry about - the feedback is great and support overwhelming. Yet with the every new watch assembled, we are wondering what the NH55 owner is going to look like? A watch enthusiast who already has two dozen Swiss top end watches looking for something unique and different; a local supporter who may find the watch so tempting that he will be ready to sacrifice two or three other watches just to get his hands on it; or perhaps, an overseas buyer who only invests in Independent makers. Or - just someone who will simply fall in love with the beauty of Timascus and say - I'll have it. The truth is: we really don't know who our 'typical' buyer is, nor if such a category of buyer even exists. A number of visitors to our shop who saw the first few NH55 assembled asked "Are you happy?" The answer is - yes. I am personally, as well as the rest of the team. We are happy because the watch does represent what we wanted and intended it to: it represents us. It represents our ability to shape the Timascus to our absolute best ability, at this point in time. Above all, we are happy that the project has demonstrated how serious we are about making watches. Josh's Instagram post from last night sums it up very well: How many watches will be sold, and at what price they are going to be sold is really irrelevant. We focus on perfection. I strongly suggest that you watch this short clip here: https://www.instagram.com/p/C5UbwnePHbW/

Astron - The radiance of the early morning sky

 

Today we are introducing two newly arrived Seiko Astron. Both watches are limited edition (1,200 pieces worldwide) and are black titanium, fitted on a bracelet. Although they share the same concept—a purple star dial with gold hands and indices—they are essentially two different watches. The first one, SSH145J, is made for a nerd. A buyer who wants to squeeze the last feature out of the 5X53 calibre movement. And the list of features is simply astonishing: Overcharge prevention function, power save function, perpetual calendar to February 28, 2100, world time function (39 time zones), dual-time function, day display, power reserve indicator, time transfer function (switching between the main-dial and sub-dial), GPS signal reception function (time zone adjustment, automatic time adjustment, manual time adjustment), satellite acquisition status display function, reception result display function, DST (Daylight Saving Time), function to prevent the GPS signal reception (in-flight mode), automatic hand position alignment function. On the other hand, SSJ021J is a Japanese businessman’s watch. Austerity, simplicity, and elegance. A minimalist dial that focuses the wearer’s attention on the most important reason why a watch is worn, the time itself. Having the two sitting on my bench next to each other, I am hard-pressed to make a final call. Would I want an Astron with all the bells and whistles that only an Astron can offer? Or an Astron that simply tells the time within 1 second over 100,000 years?

42.7mm Limited Edition Astron SSH145J Boutique price: $4,250

41.2mm Limited Edition Astron SSJ021J Boutique price: $3,450

I don't pay for love

 

As a subscriber to my newsletter, you know I don't beat around the bush. I tell it how it is. Many of you appreciate straightforwardness and are mature and smart enough to tell the difference between marketing fluff and a genuine opinion. Let me get straight to it: I have a problem. A big problem which does not even have a solution.  You see, I have no problem talking about watches. Even less, pulling them apart to their last components, undertaking complex repairs and adjusting them to perfection. I can also tell you why you should invest in a certain watch, why a certain design is timeless while sharing my excitement of their internal and external beauty.  However when it comes to one particular brand and maker, I struggle. I feel extremely uncomfortable to talk about the brand. I am not exaggerating: even the thought of writing, causes me physical discomfort and real physical pain. That brand is Nicholas Hacko Watchmaker. It's simple: it is not my job to talk about myself. That is rude. Inappropriate. Obnoxious. On the other hand, finding anyone else capable of telling you the NH story is impossible. There is absolutely no one out there willing and able to share the NH excitement in an objective, unbiased, professional way. To tell you the truth: how difficult the journey of independence really is; how difficult it is to build a complex mechanism expected to perform flawlessly for decades to come; the sacrifice, tears, sleepless nights, countless hours behind the bench- and ultimate rejoice seeing a watch assembled and ticking. Literally the miracle of new life. Let's not be unkind and generalise: not all influencers, bloggers, journalists and even sales people out there are purely motivated by money. On the other hand, none of them will talk about me- or any other brand- for free. They talk nicely about watches because they are paid to talk nicely about watches. I don't pay for love. And even if I would, the love I would get from them and service they would render in exchange would be rather humiliating: no kissing.  The only other option, apart from self promotion would be withdrawal to complete anonymity. To make watches for a handful of true watch enthusiasts, to take my name off the dial, shut down all communication and like a monk, devote my life to horology. As pure and purist that might sound, it would be nothing more than an admission of self defeat and a betrayal to those who are yet to discover the NH brand. I choose self promotion. I choose pain rather than humiliation of telling my story to those, who like Chinese whisperers would then retell it distorted, blinded by their ignorance and jealousy.  No one can tell a watchmakers story other than a watchmaker himself. Allow me to highlight just a couple of reasons why you should invest in a MK2. Last year, during the Geneva watch manufacturing exhibition, EPHJ, I took the opportunity to show our titanium guilloche dial for the MK2 to Kari Voutilainen. He was impressed. If a Nicholas Hacko watch is good enough for Kari Voutilainen, it's good enough for you too. Josh and his small team make complex engineering components that not just go into space, but are "crucial-to-mission". If NH can be trusted by space engineers, it can be trusted by you. For the past few months, I have had five MK2 watches sitting on my desk, on public display. Without exception, every person who is into watches and appreciates the beauty was visibly impressed by the perfection of the colourful dials and the feathered hands. There, I said it: perfection. Not perfection that comes from Switzerland, or Japan, or Germany, but perfection attained in a country with no horological manufacturing tradition.  If it is perfect for me, it's surely perfect for you. This is the the story you need to know. For an Australian watch enthusiast, wearing an Australian watch made by a real watchmaker is a privilege. I invite you to join us on an exciting journey which has just begun.  Thank you for being my ambassador, I am proud of you.

Photograph by Vaughan Pearce.

MK2 - 40mm case size 316L steel - Anti-reflective sapphire crystal glass - Titanium Guilloché dial, with Grade 5 Titanium hands and applied numerals - Soprod M100 automatic movement - Water resistant to 10atm Price: $7,900 A small quantity of MK2 watches have been assembled and are in stock, ready for immediate delivery.

Off to space! Update from the workshop

 Yesterday was very exciting- we are in space!

A local Australian company launched a metaphorical "bus" to space. On the bus were payloads from many other tangential Australian space companies, including Spiral Blue, who we mentioned a few weeks ago. Another company that we do some critical hardware manufacture for is called Valiant Space. Valiant is a young company in Brisbane, manufacturing in-space non toxic space propulsion systems. In short, ultra small rocket engines. These rocket motors are responsible for steering the bus in space. Without them, It's safe to say that the mission would be very... directionless...

NH Micro has been working with Valiant for over 3 years, producing valve components for their rocket motors. The valves control the flow of liquid into the combustion zone. They are tight tolerance, highly critical components- parts that we are leveraging our experience in watch manufacturing to help parallel precision industries attain their precision goals. We love making space parts, especially when they are actually deployed in space.

If you'd like to have a look at the launch, here is a short video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foP7bSjtffM

Manufactured in Australia, by your very own watchmaker. 

Josh

Update from the workshop:

 

Last week we delivered a project to ANSTO, Australia's Nuclear, Science and Technology Organisation. Specifically to the Synchrotron in Melbourne. The Synchrotron is Australia's most advanced platform for performing scientific experiments with X-rays and high energy particles. For a small company like ours to be approached by a very large, prestigious government organisation is an honour, and I can tell you for free that working with these engineers often makes watchmaking look like Lego Duplo!

The project we helped with was for the manufacture of some ferrite shields. Ferrite is ceramic material primarily composed of Fe2O3. It's very abrasive to cut, and also very hard, being much harder than steel, closer to other ceramics, like aluminium oxide (think dinner plates). Because of these factors, as well as the difficulty in managing the abrasive dust that gets generated through the process, Ferrite is very challenging to machine.

Our approach was to grind the parts in our Kern Micro HD. We used electroplated diamond tools, which allowed us to create all the necessary shapes in the material. One of my favorite things about working with ANSTO is seeing where the parts actually end up. These ferrite shields are going inside a massive instrument currently being assembled in Japan. Jonathan, from the engineering team at ANSTO kindly provided these photos. Absolutely amazing!

Josh.

Update from the workshop

 

This week we had a flurry of activity in our Brookvale workshop. Our Kern Micro HD had it's first field-service upgrade. It's difficult to describe how complex and engineered this milling machine is, but I'll give it a shot. The Micro HD has at least 7 discrete, but interconnected systems. The control/software, kinematic structure, pneumatics, hydraulics, tool changer, cooling circuit and measurement systems. Each of these systems operate in harmony with each other. They talk to each other, give feedback to each other, influence how and when they need to be switched on, off or change. The easiest analogy is the human body. Just like a person, the Micro HD has a skeleton, nerves, a brain, muscles, a digestive system and so on. This week, we did some major work on updating most of these systems, and introducing new features. This happens very rarely for machines in the field. The higher the complexity of these systems, the greater the risk that an update or upgrade could degrade the stability of the system. So, for most machines in the world, they never receive "upgrades". They leave the factory in a stable condition, and you hope that nothing changes in the life of the machine. Because of this risk, we had to get the top guy at Kern to come and install these options. Enter Alex Stauder, the Head of Applications at Kern. With 23 years of experience (Kern is his first and only job!), he has worked in nearly every department. From actually building the machines, to building the software, to tweaking processes for customers. Alex flew in from Germany to install and upgrade our machine, and there was no better person to handle the task!

Our upgrade wasn't mechanical, in fact not one screw on the machine had to change. Our upgrade was deeply rooted in the software of the machine. It's really difficult to describe what the upgrade was in words- the best way is to show you: Here is a video of what our milling machine can now do. https://www.instagram.com/p/C2gQ7soPz6g/ Our 5 axis machine became a 6 axis machine. The rotating tool you see in the video, with the yellow tape attached to it, usually spins at 42 thousand revolutions a minute. This is amazing for using tools that are meant to rotate, but it's binary. Either the spindle is spinning, or it's not. With this upgrade, we now have complete control of the direction that the spindle is facing at all times. So, instead of rotating super super fast while moving, we can now rotate incredibly precisely while moving!

The big benefit for us is yet to come. A lot of testing and trials are coming soon, but if you let your imagination roam, I'm sure you can see in which direction we are heading! Josh

Happy 18th!

 

The other day we were delighted to receive a very special watch. This customer bought a Rebelde K-Pilot in October 2014. He bought the watch for his grandson’s 18th birthday. The only catch, the grandson was still in primary school, a mere 8 years of age. So the watch - still in its original plastic, still with an unopened envelope containing the receipt and warranty details - was put away safely, in preparation for the birthday. Talk about prepared! The customer gave us a call about a week before coming in; ‘This is my story, should I have the watch overhauled before I give it to him?’ To which we answered, yes, absolutely. I know some of you may be asking, why would you have a watch serviced that has literally never been worn? The answer is actually quite simple. Evaporation. Pretty much any oil may be subject to evaporation, and this certainly includes watch lubrication. There is actually a test to determine exactly how much oil is being lost to evaporation called the Noack volatility test. However the amount of lubrication inside a watch on the best of days is of miniscule quantity. An easier way, is to wait for a customer to bring in a watch that has not been worn for 10 years or thereabouts. Then, you can take these photos.

Above, we can see what the third wheel upper pivot-in-jewel looked like upon receiving the watch. Note the length of the steel pivot protruding from the ruby bearing. Below we can see what it looks like now and, more importantly, what it would have looked like when it was first assembled and sold. No, it hasn't sunk into the jewel, the lubricant coincidentally is red. But you can clearly see how much lubricant is present. Around half way up the 'dish' of the jewel and almost at the rounded tip of the pivot.

Of course, the watch would have worked perfectly fine if he just gave it to his grandson. Likely for a year or two. But the frictional wear within the movement is exponential once the lubricant disappears. Every 5-6 years for a service is a good guess based on different kinds of wear and conditions the watch may be subject to. But that number is really from the last service. Not from when you got sick and tired of your MoonSwatch and decided to put back on your real-deal birth year 90s Tritium dial Moonwatch after it’s been sitting in the sock drawer for a few years. Lack of wear certainly extends the timer, but not by much. After 7 years you’re hurting your watch. Come in before it hurts you back (financially that is…).

Update from the workshop

 

If you thought temperature was a problem in our Brookvale workshop… As many of you know, our workshop in Brookvale has been manufacturing parts for what we call “parallel precision industries”. The medical, scientific, semi conductor, quantum computing, optics/photonics and space sectors. This year we plan on opening the doors on even more projects that we’ve been working on. Last week we talked about how temperature is a leading influence in precision, and how controlling and measuring it’s effects is critical. Today we pivot and talk about outer space, and it’s complex relationship with temperature. In space applications, temperature has an entirely different way of working than what we are used to. Here on earth, temperature moves from hot to cold mainly through means of convection. In very simple terms, the air around hot things sucks heat away, the air molecules heat up, move around, and dump their heat into cooler things. The air molecules around us are actually doing the hard work in transferring energy from hot places to cold places. Energy (or heat) can also be transmitted in other ways. Radiation/emission is another way that heat moves. Instead of air molecules moving the heat around, Infrared radiation is emitted from hot things outwards. A good example of that is how even on a cold windy day, you can still “feel” the heat off of a glowing furnace when you open the door. Or even how stage lighting can make performers sweat on stage! In space there is no air. Space is a near-vacuum, there is no atmosphere like there is down here, and for our temperature problem, this causes issues. Bizarrely, because space is so empty, it’s also (generally) really really cold. In “outer space” beyond our solar system and in the middle of nowhere, temperatures can plummet down to -270degrees, that’s just a few degrees above “absolute zero”. In more practical scenarios, like in low earth orbit, temperatures can fluctuate a lot. On one hand you have the intense vacuum of space pulling temperatures down to -150 degrees, and in direct sunlight, facing the sun, temperatures can soar above 150 degrees! The reason behind these extremes is tied to what we mentioned earlier about convection, and air molecules transferring heat. Because energy doesn’t have any medium to move through in outer space, the only way available for heat to transfer from one place to another is through radiation, or emission. The sun is constantly radiating it’s energy outwards, and objects in it’s direct line of sight feel the full force of this emission. However, objects that are in the “shadow” cast by planets, or clouds of gas, or meteor belts are exposed to… Nothing. This makes heat an incredibly challenging thing to manage in space. Imagine you have a heat source, something like a computer chip on a satellite. You can’t just put a PC fan next to it, like you would with a normal computer, there is nothing for the fan to push! Instead, to manage the heat generated by the chip, you have to construct very elaborate heat sinks that draw the heat away from one area, and “emit” it outwards to another area. Emission from a source is a complex thing to figure out, the material properties, the surface finish, the surface area, all contribute to an efficiency number - but generally you can expect that less than 5% of the heat is transferred via emission compared to convection in atmosphere. Suddenly, your computer chip that you can pump 100’s of watts of power into, and extract all the waste heat with a PC cooling fan, burns up in a fraction of a second in space, where the heat has nearly nowhere to go. But why is any of this relevant? Well, in the last few years, we have been manufacturing countless parts for these systems in satellites that are currently orbiting over us! The parts are usually very tightly toleranced, need careful attention for surface finish (mirrors are the best!) and are made in tricky materials like copper. The example of a computer chip in space is an easy one to follow, but is also a legitimate use-case. Often satellites have to beam their data down to earth for it to be processed. Low earth orbit satellites only have a few hours per day where they can beam down their information, as they pass over their ground stations, which means that often they are sitting in orbit just waiting, rather than doing useful work. Local, Sydney-based company Spiral Blue, manufacture extremely specialised computers that manage this issue of heat so that these satellites can process their data, either images, or data from sensors while in orbit! This greatly increases the efficiency and reduces the cost of operating a satellite. Our small claim to fame is that we help Spiral Blue manufacture their heat-management system - a challenge, but nothing a small group of horologists on the Northern beaches couldn’t take on.

Copper machined to mirror finish, NH Micro (c). Josh Link to Spiral Blue: https://www.spiralblue.space/