– How do vintage watches have such incredible tolerances?

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I see vintage watches repaired. When the case is opened the movements are so well-designed and engineered, with gear teeth cut to the 0.1 MM level and thin, perfect jewels. How is such mechanical precision possible from decades ago?

In: Engineering

12 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

you are just underestimating how well humans can make precise parts. 0.1mm is easily visible by eye. people make lenses by hand to tolerances in the 10s of nanometers. we have had machining equipment that can hold single digit µm tolerances for over 100 years. in addition to this many of those watch parts were custom fitted to that watch and had tolerances adjusted to fit that exact watch

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