Exam results 2017! Watchmaking with the BHI

Hi Rob

Nice work on that rack tail👍

I agree that the notes for the second and third years are a bit heavy going. I think there is some reading around the subject as well so, not that easy to work through. I'm fairly happy with them but there is a lot there.

The examples they give you for D1 seem well within reach but, I'll find out in a few months (!) - that'll be on site at Upton Hall.

Luckily, I'm working on a 955.112 next week so it'll be good preparation for D4. That'll be on site at the same time as D1 and I thought 6 hours seemed a very long time. On the other hand, I suppose they don't want you to fail because it started to go wrong and you panicked. I'd prefer this in my own workshop as the pressure would be less but am hoping it doesn't get to me on the day. They have top Witschi testers plus cleaning machines on site just like mine so, that'll help. I'm full of admiration for you trying to do the course with jars in an ultrasonic as it must make life pretty hard.

So, my concern is D5 (even though I've been making things all my life but not at this scale) and yours is D6. I am probably too worried about this as, likely so are you but that's not a bad thing. At least we'll be over prepared if anything. For D6, I'm using Designview on Windows as it seems adequate for the 2D drafting - I think it used to come on two 1.44 floppy disks.... I use it at work to draw quick things so, I'm used to it. Anyway, the course work is only 25% of the total and the rest is the exam - it's still not clear if I use CAD in the exam or do it by hand.

Again, I'm impressed that you got someone to do the invigilating (what, there was no justice of the peace with free time 😁). It was easier for me to go to UK as it would have given me some issues to set it up locally. Good luck moving forward.

Cheers, Chris

It's been an age since I wrote anything here as I've been pretty busy so, thought it might be nice to bring the thread up to date:

My exams are in a month's time but the work is spread from now until the end of June. You work on them in this order:

Unit D6: Drawing Clock/Watch Escapements
a. The course work exam arrived a week or so ago and it looks like it's about a days work. I have started it and it's to draw the pallet fork/balance roller interaction. They give you the basic geometry with the pallet fork centered and you have to draw it resting against one banking pin with the balance roller in the correct orientation. It's not really to prove that you can draw but more that you can understand how the parts are working together. This is only 25% of the total mark for this unit as I suppose you could get someone else to do it. I'm doing this in CAD.
b. I sit a 3 hour exam on 17th May at Upton Hall. You can take the explanation booklet of how the escapement geometry is defined so it's not all memory. I'm expecting something slightly simpler in that time but, we'll see. I'm doing this manually with an A3 drawing board as if you want to use CAD, you need to bring your own A3 printer....

Unit D1: Theory of Clock and Watch Servicing
I sit this 3 hour exam on 17th May at Upton Hall. Not much to say on this really as I'm re-reading the notes and just thinking about what is likely to be asked.I suspect this varies from something such as "draw a mainspring in it's relaxed condition" to "calculate the periodic time of a pendulum and the gearing of each wheel in this clock". I feel it shouldn't be an issue as I think I have good knowledge of how a watch works.

Unit D4: Servicing and Correcting Faults in a Quartz Watch
I attended a course at the BHI in March and it was useful but it was with a Ronda 1015 calibre and I'd have preferred an ETA 955. Anyway, that's not a major issue and now that ETA will only supply movements to you if you are running full time courses in your institution, I suspect it'll be a Ronda in the exam. They are just not as nice as an ETA.
The examiner will introduce faults such as a broken stem, dirt in the jewels, bent stop lever (the stop lever usually contacts part of the circuit when the crown is pulled out to ground it and stop the stepper motor). You're expected to analyse the faults, strip the movement, clean, adjust or replace parts, oil and re-test. I'm expecting a cased movement so, it'll also include water resistance testing.
I sit this 6 hour exam on 18th May at Upton Hall. 6 hours seems a very long time for this but allowing for queuing for the testers and cleaning machine and the strange environment, it seems it can be a bit of a push. I'm not allowed to take my own quartz tester as I'd need to leave it because they will all give slightly different results.
To be honest, I have found it very difficult to work at Upton Hall. Not because they don't have the equipment or the conditions are particularly bad but, I'm not used to it and where the various tools are. I'm also used to working in my own room with my own tools and without disruptions. I'll take a lot of my own tools with me including my microscope but, there is a limit to what you can reasonably take. I am not looking forward to this or the next one because of that.

Unit D15: Servicing and Correcting Faults in a Manual Winding Watch Movement
On the mechanical course, they use an ETA 6497 but again because of the latest moves by Swatch, I'm expecting a clone in the exam and it's likely to be an Alpina AL-435. Both have ETACHRON adjustment and here is no real difference unless they are using the new Novodiac shock system in the Alpina. I've not seen this particular shock system up close but, it looks like the KIF or many Russian systems so it should not be an issue for anyone.
The examiner will introduce faults such as a broken stem, dirt in the jewels, excessive end shake in a wheel, deformed hairspring and so on - the list can be huge, obviously. You're expected to analyse the faults and so on in the same way as the quartz exam.
I sit this 7 hour exam on 19th May at Upton Hall. Again, this seems like a huge amount of time but, bear in mind my comments above...

Unit D5: Constructing Clock and Watch Components
This is performed in early June and I have confidence in this now I've spent more time with my lathe, files and so on. It's all done at home and you're given three weeks to construct some parts. I'll explain a little more closer to the time.

Unit D14: The Practical Servicing of Quartz and Mechanical Watches
This, in my opinion, is the most important of them all. It shows the sort of work that you'll be doing in your own workshop for the customer.

It's not easy to get an assessor but, I've been very lucky to have that help from an MBHI who is interested in bringing people on - many are not or just don't have the time. The submission is to be six mechanical and four quartz with a minimum series of faults introduced and they need to be complete for the end of June. I work on them in my workshop, submit them and receive feedback plus a pass/fail mark. They have to be full services and not just a partial job. I submitted five cased movements to my assessor last month to get his initial feedback and he has been excellent at helping me. It's always a bit worrying to show your work to anyone else in case the comments come back in an unfavourable manner - anyone can call themselves a Watchmaker and you don't need any qualifications or to have attended any course to say that, however, I think to get this feedback can only improve your ways of working and processes.

I gave my assessor five mechanical watches and spread them over the years and types - essentially, you don't need to do this and can just supply for example, six ETA 6497 (manual wind, no complications) and four ETA 955 (quartz with central second and date complication). These can all be brand new and you can introduce some faults and correct them. You can leave any mechanical complications (central seconds, date, automatic mechanism etc) to the second year of the course as this year is to get you through the basics but, I thought it best to submit the sort of movements I intend to work on. I chose the following, going back in time:

1. A cased ETA 6498, circa 2014 - manual wind with no complications - cased in generic case. This was brand new a few years ago but I use it to try various things out so it's not perfect now. This watch has Incabloc shock protection and ETACHRON which is a nice system for adjusting the hairspring.
2. A cased ETA 2892-2, circa 2000. This is an Oris with display back and is in quite nice condition. This watch also has Incabloc and ETACHRON and has central seconds, date and automatic mechanism. The Omega 1120 is based on this but I baulked at submitting one of those.
3. A cased Poljot 2614.2H, probably 1990s - manual wind and date and has a different shock protection (manufacturer specific). I put this in as it's very different to the ETAs and Omegas. A bit agricultural as well.
4. A cased Omega 601 "Admiralty" manual from the 1960s. This is typical of the sixties Omegas and has similarities to the 550 series (561, 565 etc). Incabloc but again no clever hairspring system. Central seconds complication.
5. A cased Omega 354 automatic from the 1950s. This is the most complex of any that I submitted and is also the oldest. Incabloc and no trick hairspring system with a central seconds and an automatic system. This is a bumper and really employs a lot of old technology but, I do work on these. I thought I might regret putting this in as it has some acceptable wear and is a trickier movement to assemble and oil correctly but, it wasn't the case.

My Assessor had a long chat with me after spending time reviewing every watch. His list of checks is comprehensive - everything from water resistance of the case to end shake of the balance and so on. It really is huge and I am making it very clear that, although he is a working watchmaker, he has spent a significant time on these reviews for which, I am very grateful. So, after going through the huge list, he went through his comments on my watches and they were very small which pleased me enormously.

Primarily, some of his requirements are slightly different to the BHI instructors and this may be because he is more involved nowadays than they are. I adjusted some of my greasing, for example in the keyless works to be that shown by the BHI instructor but, he would like a little more grease there and that's fine as he's spent the time to review them so, he sets the standard. The great thing is that he was happy with all the movement adjustments so, I just need a few tweaks to meet his way of working in one or two places. What he is saying is very similar to what I was doing before the BHI courses and I thought it best to change rather than risk any issues. I used to base a lot of oiling/greasing on discussions with Al and it appears that if I'd continued in that vein, I would have kept my assessor happier. Ah well, everyone has a slightly different way of working.

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All coming together and I'm feeling happy with the way it's going to the extent that I have now started taking some work on. Not much as I don't need to but I have a few happy customers already😁.I now need to learn how to run a small business but I'll enlist my wife's help with that.😉

Just a general note here as I know I've gone on a lot but my feelings about this change in direction are that if you can put the effort in and spend a lot of time at the bench, it's a rewarding job to do and you can build the knowledge as you go. I would certainly not try to put anyone off who has the desire to change to be a watchmaker and would recommend people try it if they think it's for them - I know there are a few people already doing that. There is an issue with spare parts at the moment and a lot of people will be interested to see how that works out however, there is certainly room for further watchmakers in the world based on the many enquiries I've already had and bearing in mind I'm not advertising....

Cheers, Chris

Hi Chris,

Thank you for this interesting update! I am happy to see you are close to this end of these courses, and I am confident you will be soon a qualified watchmaker!

May I ask you to elaborate a little more about the differences between Al and you before / the BHI standards? I have read these standards online and would be interested to have some developments on this topics.

And thanks for is really nice thread!

Thanks for the good wishes. I'll try and put something up later, Francois. These are small variations and, to be absolutely honest, if you ask ten Watchmakers, you'll probably get four opinions! At least we all agree on oil types as we don't need to open an oil war...

Cheers, Chris

Having said that we all agree on oils.....

My instructor uses Moebius 8300 grease on the keyless works as he likes the way it disappears but, it's hard to see (well it would be if it has disappeared😁) and even harder to photograph. I used to use a blue coloured grease, Moebius 9504 in this area - you'll see it in the Omega service instructions for, say, an 1120. Now Moebius 8300 is clear and he uses far less than I have in the past. What this means is I don't have any photos from the last year where the grease is easily visible for comparison as I've used 8300 so, the next watch I do, I'll make some pictures using 9504 of the two situations. Al will probably put a picture showing the amount of grease he uses in comparison to the picture below so, that will be of interest to you and I believe he has a similar attitude to my BHI assessor.

I'm not sure but, my assessor may use another grease so, perhaps my comment about oil wars was not a good one. Anyway, we all agree on 9010, HP1300 and so on but auto barrel grease is likely to be another point of contention. Let's not go into that! This is what the BHI lubrication guide says and it's available on the internet:

Keyless work:-
When correctly lubricated, there should only be a small amount of grease visible on the specific points mentioned below. If there is any additional grease, then the mechanism has been over lubricated.
1. Stem:-The square winding pinion bearing surface, the end pivot, the setting lever groove, and the main plate bearing surface are greased.
2. Clutch wheel and winding pinion:- The yoke groove and the teeth on wheel and pinion are greased.
3. Setting lever and spring:- The screw of the setting lever in the main plate and the setting lever spring at the contact point with the lever post are greased.
4. Yoke and spring:- The yoke post in the main plate and the contact point of the yoke and spring are greased.

I'm sure you're doing all of those points. I think the big difference here is the definition of "small amount of grease". I'll get some photos but, where you see a ridge of grease here on the setting lever spring in blue, my instructor would define that as far too much. He does not grease the spring cut-outs at all and just applies a "blob" of grease with a medium sized oiler to the non working side of the post when it's assembled allowing the grease to work it's way around the post. You see nothing at all then especially with 8300.



This is not really hurting anything so a little more here is a good thing in many people's opinions. Like I say, everyone has their preferred way and you set a standard and work to that, as long as it's defensible. This is similar to when I learnt to drive and I questioned why we were changing gear so early rather than letting the engine reach a higher rpm and putting it in a better position when I selected the next highest gear - his response "when you've got your own car, do it your way but until then, we follow mine!". You'll never get definitive agreement on anything in the watchmaking world so, you listen to everyone and either "play to your audience" (stolen from a friend) or go your own way.

Now, on a quartz which I'm mainly doing at the moment, they often use an oil here so even less to see....

Cheers, Chris

Only 4? I would expect at least 15 opinions from 10 watchmakers! 😀

Anyway, here some photos I want to show from a very recent service - this is way too much!



The idea is not to use so much that the oil or grease goes beyond where it's needed. In the watch above, the grease was carried from the winding pinion to the parts underneath the barrel bridge:



Removing the plate that covers a couple of the gears there, you can see the grease on the underside:



And it's on those gears as well:



The problem is that those gears are lubricated with oil, and with that heavier grease getting in there it adds drag. In this case it would potentially reduce the efficiency of the automatic winding.

As for the grease I use, Omega says 9504, so that's what I use. I've used Molykote DX as well, and it works fine, and the product above is likely a Rolex style graphite grease (I dislike these as they are hard on cleaning solutions). As long as the setting parts work well and don't wear prematurely this is an area where the specifics of the lubricant selected are not critical. Many of the tech guides used to just use D5 or HP1300 here, so an oil rather than a grease.

The blue grease doesn't disappear like some others do (like Molykote does for example) but that also means it has to be applied very neatly, or you will see great blobs of blue sticking out like a sore thumb.

Keeping your oiling neat and tidy is always a good thing, and I do plan to make a thread about oiling as part of the tips I want to pass along...I just have to get fitted for my asbestos suit before I post that one. 😉

Cheers, Al

I already object to your use of asbestos! Why not PBI fibre?😁😁😁

As they say on Twitter, I think, #fire resistant war# in anticipation of #oil war#.😉

Thanks Al, good example there of some overgreasing.

Cheers, Chris

Many thanks to both of you!

Maybe watchmaker's are like Troskysts - 3 of them discussing with each other could conduct to four political parties... But what you both say sounds logical and it is experience founded. Helpful enough for me as I do not plan to open a watchmaking school - or to create a political party.

Well I was going to say Kaowool suit, but I didn't think many would be familiar with these types of refractory fibers...but I do agree that asbestos is not ideal. I did enough remediation projects to know how much of a pain in the arse it is to deal with. 😀

Great write ups these.
I too am a bhi member and recently completed the basic mechanical watch course. Suppose I'm lucky as I live 20 mins away from Upton hall.
Course was great and John who ran the course a good laugh.
I'd highly recommend it, obviously not at your level but enjoyed and it gave me a lot of knowledge and confidence.
Desperately trying to find time to book on the chrono course now.

Good to hear you enjoyed the course. John is a great instructor and keeps it all interesting. I suppose being only 20 minutes away, you didn't stay for the evenings in the local pub but they're another good part of it😉.

Let us know how you get on with the chrono course - they don't run many of them and I think they are hard to get on.

Cheers, Chris

I can get on the course it's just fitting it in with work as I work in a school and it's schools holidays which do me.
Indeed I went back to have dinner a couple of times in the pub, foods amazing as you know. Lamb curry. Yum.
Course I was on a guy flew in from Singapore. That's how well respected it is.

Hi Chris,

Just found this forum and interesting post whilst googling for tips on the upcoming BHI exams.

I was on the same D4 exam practice course as you in March. I see above that you mentioned that you're not taking your own Quartz tester to the exam because you don't want to leave it. I emailed Maxine shortly after the course and she contacted the chief examiner, who then said I could take my own tester and I do not have to leave it.

I was just wondering if you also contacted Maxine and were told something different?

Regards

Ray

Hi Ray

Nice to hear from you and I hope work is going well. We'll have to get a beer, or two, in.

It was John on the course who said we couldn't take our own tester and I never thought to question that so, I'll get in touch with Maxine. It'd make life easier it has to be said.

How is your preparation coming along? All fine I suspect👍

Cheers, Chris

To be honest Chris I think I'm most worried about the D1 theory exam.

I'm desperately trying to cram as much information in my head as possible but there is so much to try and retain. The sample exams in the notes require a lot of sketches to be drawn in a relative short amount of time which is worrying. I suppose my problem is that half of the exam will be on clocks and I'm only really interested in watches.

I bought myself the Ronda movement we used on the course to practice on for D4 but I'm still hoping for an ETA

Maybe it's just because I haven't sat an exam for twenty years but I'm panicking a bit. I'll certainly need that beer after it anyway!

Ray

I’m not looking forward to the clock questions either. As I remember from the sample exam I saw, there were 5 sections and each was worth 20 points:

1. Clock parts, actions and history
2. Watch parts, actions and history
3. Escapements
4. Tools care and how to use them
5. Twenty questions on various fields – could be about anything horological.

So, if there is a lot of chiming and striking mechanism questions in 1, I will struggle to get the names right for all the parts but can roughly explain what they do as I rebuilt one striking clock. According to the syllabus, we could be asked about the history of clock development (long case etc) and that is really not of much interest to me either.

Like you, for item 2, I have confidence and this should not be an issue.

For 3, I’d expect questions on recoil, dead-beat and club tooth lever. If you’ve managed to get through those D6 lessons and they made some sense, you’ll be fine here. I hope they don’t ask questions on grasshopper, cylindrical escapements and so on as I’ve never seen those ones. Mind you, drawing by hand each escapement in its various phases will be tough in a short time.

For 4, you’ll likely be fine as the questions I’ve seen (like how to dress a screwdriver) are stuff you do regularly.

For 5, I have no idea what they’ll ask and don’t expect to be able to answer all the clock questions.

I’d concentrate on numbers 2 to 5 if I were you and just some clock basics.

Are you D6 on Wednesday morning and D1 in the afternoon? If so, seems like a few beers would be a good idea after that!

I’m D4 (quartz) on Thursday and D15 (mechanical) on Friday so a busy few days. I don’t mind the quartz Ronda now but have only worked on half a dozen different quartz calibers. In terms of mechanical, I must be above 20 different calibers so if I fail that, it’ll be because I work sloppily on the day.🙄

Will send you a private mail with my telephone number as well. I’m at the B&B just down the road.

Cheers, Chris

So, a very busy couple of weeks but the exams on site are done for the moment...

I sat "Drawing escapements (D6)" on Wednesday morning and I'm not the only one who was nervous.You sit the exam in a large hall and there were probably 12 people on that one, all except one drawing by hand. Different exams for the clock and watch people and I think about 6 or 8 on the watch side. The invigilators were very relaxed and that helped to settle some of us down.

The drawing was a lever escapement - just the fork end with pallets and the escape wheel. You're allowed to take in the notes for this as constructing the escapement is not easy based on the geometry you're given. It's worth 75% of the marks as the coursework is worth the other 25%. The coursework was the other end of the fork with the balance wheel so between the two, you've drawn virtually the whole escapement. This certainly proves that you have some knowledge of how escapements are working and the notes I was reading last year definitely clarified some aspects that I didn't have clear in my mind previously so, very useful.

You can't take a photo of the drawing and neither keep the exam question but, as the entries for the course work were over some time ago, here's a detail of one stab at my course work drawing (that I did with CAD... just to make my life hard). All those points indicated are how the escapement is constructed and you'll see the ruby pin on the roller is just entering the fork end as the balance swings anti-clockwise. There is a fair amount of work in this but, if you've ever wondered what "guard pin shake" is, for example, then drawing this would make it clear. Anyone who thinks the banking pins look a bit small - I'd agree.



This one went fine and I finished with time to spare and was happy with the final drawing which was a relief as I've not sat a theory exam since 1983....

Off to lunch after that and then sitting "Theory (D1)" in the afternoon. Will add some about that a little later...

Cheers, Chris

After Wednesday morning, I was feeling confident about the afternoon theory although I was beginning to wish I'd bought the first year course as now I've seen the notes, they are far better and you can answer in the way the examiner is expecting. Having just bought years 2 and 3 and read around the subject, I wasn't certain that I'd covered all the clock aspects well enough. Ah well, too late to do anything about that with 20 minutes to go...

About 15 people making this exam and it's in 5 parts - the first four sections comprise a main question worth about 12-14% and a few other smaller questions worth the remaining 6-8%. The fifth section is 20 short questions each worth one percent. You need to answer every section and can't cherry pick so, no way to hide a lack of knowledge of one topic. I remember how we used to be told at school "read all the questions and then concentrate on the ones you can answer well" before writing anything. I was going to follow that, honestly, but on the day just worked page by page and played it by ear.🤦

First page, Section A, is clocks and not one I was looking forward to as the topic is huge so the questions can be on anything. I think I've got a reasonable knowledge of clock mechanisms and escapements but trying to explain a Westminster chimes clock train is really difficult. Main question was to explain the actions of the striking train in a "counting/locking plate" design as the hour approaches so, activation, run to warning and striking. Just brilliant! I had this very clear in my mind and, I think, explained it well. Sub questions involved train count and pendulum length and no issues.

Turned over and it's the watch section and I can hardly remember what was there. Certainly questions on how the Incabloc shock system worked and, I think, something about keyless works but I seemed to have done it on auto pilot as this is more my area. All fine.

Third page was Section C and about escapements. As we'd just drawn a lever, this was on the dead beat escapement and I've drawn that a few times so, have a good understanding of it. Just an extension of the recoil escapement really and I've got a couple of those so think I gave a good explanation of how the escapement works with plenty of free hand drawings. As a note, to pass this course, you need to be able to make free hand sketches with some semblance of scale in order to get your point across. I do this every day at work so, not an issue for me but, on one sketch I had more drop indicated than any escapement in history....

Fourth page, Section D, tools and processes. Definitely a question about heat treatments and one about using various tools - for example, "explain types of screwdrivers and their uses". Easy answer: "I have shiny ones, dull ones and some in a nice coppery colour. I use these to prise off case backs and lever things"😁😁. I'm pretty sure I didn't write enough here but made some good pictures of how screwdrivers fit the screw heads and various types of tweezers. Anyway, happy with that and onto the last short questions.

These short questions are wide ranging and there were a couple of answers I made that I wasn't happy with afterwards but there's only a limited space to write for this section so, you can't go on and on like I'm doing here... Finished with about 20 minutes to spare so, they were generous with the time.

Can't see any issues with these two exams and am hoping for some good marks. Both cover wide ranging topics - for the escapement drawing, you're expected to be able to draw recoil, dead beat and lever escapements and for the theory, the questions could be on anything from types of material to involute gear forms to water resistance of a watch case. It's not learning by rote either as they are mainly looking to see your comprehension of each topic so, I've got a lot of respect for people who pass these well.

Finished Wednesday feeling very good and spent a few hours in the pub with the guys.😉 Actually, that was true of Tuesday night as well and, come to think of it, Thursday. Everyone on the exams pulled together and there was a very good atmosphere of support when it was not going so well for any of us.

Thursday would be the first practical exam - "D4, servicing a quartz watch". More on that later....

Cheers, Chris

I hope it goes well for you. If nothing else it is reassuring that it is demanding as it gives the whole thing a bit of pondus