Master Watchmaking (Complete Course) - The Chicago School of Watchmaking Paperback – October 14, 2023

In the mid 1950's, the Chicago School of Watchmaking offered a course called "Master Watchmaking." It consisted of a binder of 700+ pages of lessons that trained individuals to acquire the necessary technical skills to work as master watchmakers and master repairers of watches. This course is now available to the general public in its entirety, as a facsimile softcover edition featuring the original 35 lessons as well as the 58-page "Tools and Materials of the Trade" section, all in one book. This manual is extraordinarily technical in nature. If you have seen the Bulova School of Watchmaking book, you will likely appreciate the extent to which this manual goes far beyond the Bulova book in terms of detail. This Chicago Master Watchmaker Course was truly intended to bring a layperson into the trade and give them the training necessary to work at the master watchmaker level.Being a facsimile, this book is essentially a scan of the original 700+ page manual from 1952. The scanned pages are second generation copies of the original and are in black and white. The book is a large 8x10 size.The 35 lessons within the manual contain hundreds of photographs and technical diagrams to accompany the specific skills being taught.The lessons are as follows:Tools and Materials of the Trade Lesson 1 Fundamental Principles, Equipment, CasingLesson 2 Crowns, Stems, Sleeves, and BowsLesson 3 Fitting Watch Crystals and Watch Attachments for Practice and ProfitLesson 4 Nomenclature and Sizes of WatchesLesson 5 Mainspring in WatchesLesson 6 Motor & Jeweled BarrelsLesson 7 Selecting the MainspringLesson 8 Assembling WatchesLesson 9 Winding and Setting MechanismsLesson 10 Cleaning WatchesLesson 11 Timing, Rating and RegulationLesson 12 Factory Set Train JewelsLesson 13 Factory Balance Hole Jewels and Roller JewelsLesson 14 Friction JewelingLesson 15 Replacing Factory Balance StaffsLesson 16 Truing Balance WheelsLesson 17 Poising Balance WheelsLesson 18 Truing HairspringsLesson 19 Colleting HairspringsLesson 20 The Overcoil HairspringLesson 21 Principles of the Lever EscapementLesson 22 Principles of the Lever Escapement (con’t)Lesson 23 Types of EscapementsLesson 24 Drawing the Lever EscapementLesson 25 Drawing the Lever Escapement (con’t)Lesson 26 Matching the EscapementLesson 27 Tools – Hardening & TemperingLesson 28 The LatheLesson 29 Lathe WorkLesson 30 Lathe Work (con’t)Lesson 31 Lathe Work (con’t)Lesson 32 - Part 1 Fitting Hairsprings to WatchesLesson 32 - Part 2 Modern Shop MethodsLesson 33 Electronic Timing Machines – Watch MasterLesson 34 Electronic Timing Machines – Time-O-GraphLesson 35 Problems and SolutionsIf you are new to the trade or simply interested in adding more reference books to your watchmaking library, this course has long been admired by horology enthusiasts as one of the courses worth acquiring, due to it's detailed technical discussions not easily available in other watchmaking manuals. Read more