In all low-value watch parts, the ‘running movement’ rough bill is also counted as one kind, and ‘white billet’ is another name in the watch industry. Today’s worth has plummeted, and the watch “master” has no interest in it. Only apprentices in workshops outside the city can do such rough work. The connection between the movement and the ‘finished watch’ is borne by the watch ‘masters’. They have worked hard to make the insiders gradually feel and understand the fruits of the watch reform, and they have also become the leader in watch manufacturing. The ‘self-supporting portal’ workshops or watchmakers who co-produced them, as well as the ‘single-owner households’ of watches and clocks scattered outside Geneva and producing and selling at home, worked for these ‘businessmen’. Since then, they have obtained a formal title ‘watchmaker’, which is equivalent to the ‘first-class’ master watchmaker.

   There are many suppliers of ‘first-level’ watchmakers, many of which are ‘movement’ providers. The craftsmen who specialize in ‘movement’ have many different titles, and they can’t be separated from them. ‘Coresmith’ is probably the most accurate name. They are always present in the watch manufacturing industry. There are also many people in the ‘Clockworker’ who are also engaged in the trading activities of watch parts themselves. They became the second ‘logistics center’ in the watch manufacturing industry of that era and the division of work. Their business activities are closely linked to the ‘watchmaker’ of the ‘first level’, but in the watch industry with a strict hierarchy, it belongs to the next level below the former. Opportunities often arise in the process of trading. When the “mover maker” sells the raw materials necessary for watchmaking to “apprentices” and workers, they often commission them to process the parts they need. The clock households scattered in rural villages and towns are not subject to the rules and regulations of the ‘guild’ of watches and clocks, and are willing to entertain themselves in this job, although the pay is very modest. This income is still very helpful to the heavily burdened rural areas.

   The names of ‘movement makers’ began to appear, but they were not really ‘movers’ with master qualifications. There is also a common name ‘white embryo maker’, because the brass they use is not always a normal yellow, but often pale and mixed copper. The ‘white embryo’ includes the bracket splint and all the fixed parts in the case, which are mainly composed of three parts: the main splint, the bridge splint and the balance splint, and all the bolts that fix each splint and the bracket. The large classical ‘bridge splint’ was subsequently replaced by several small independent splints, as well as a ‘flat barrel’ barrel, and the other was a ‘sesame chain’ wrapped around a ‘half-cone’ wheel The clockwork system reserves and releases kinetic energy during rotation in the forward and reverse directions. Of course, the big and small gears related to this are also essential.

   Why is it called ‘white embryo’, because this is only a fairly rough primary product, the file is poor, and there is no polishing at all. One thing to point out in particular is that the ‘white embryo’ has never been fitted with an ‘escapement’, which is the ‘clock correction device’ of a clock. It is only in Geneva that watchmakers have processed the second part of the ‘white embryo’ for a second time, with high-precision grinding and high-brightness polishing. In short, what we call today is the ‘final completion’ of a clock Craft work. Nowadays, if one mentions a finely crafted fine watch, one can understand more deeply how important the delicate craftsmanship of Geneva artisans is to turn gold into stone! Although expelled from Geneva, the “caliber” craftsmen still occupy “half of the country” in the watch manufacturing industry, and stand against the watchmakers in the city. The two sides have their respective positions and each has its own place, forming a win-win situation. (Text / picture watch home think time)

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