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
We’ve had Vernier calipers for almost 400 years and working micrometers for well over 150. Measuring to 100 micron precision isn’t particularly new. For context, that’s a pretty standard normal-tight tolerance in modern machining. If needed, I can specify an order of magnitude tighter without too much guff from my machinist.
What has changed is how manual and iterative the process is to achieve that level of precision. We’ve replaced hours of skilled labor with seconds of automated machining.
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