“Five years ago, I was afraid to touch a Swiss-type machine, but I’ve always wanted to work with them and make the parts – I just didn’t think I could do it,” Weiss explained. “Then, out of necessity with us wanting to move the business and realizing I’d have to find new workers – during the COVID-19 pandemic – I realized that being able to work alone would be very valuable. And Swiss-type turning technology today is at a level where I can do that because our volume and product mix are not huge. I saw that I could really capitalize on using really good equipment like the Tornos SwissNano and Swiss DT 26 to make our parts – and that it wouldn’t be such a huge undertaking if I could program the machines properly.”

That’s where Tornos’ application expertise made a world of difference. “We don’t make high volume parts and we don’t make particularly expensive parts. But for me as a watchmaker, coming from the technical side and being able to make the parts in our own workshop and learn all about it, that’s the exciting part,” Weiss explained. “Time will tell whether this all becomes financially rewarding, but it’s been good enough to support the machine purchases – including the Tornos SwissNano in 2018 and a Tornos Swiss DT 26 last summer – so far. It’s just me running the machines now to make our parts so I’m focusing heavily on using the best technology possible – like the bar feeder on both of our Tornos Swiss-type machines so that I can just program the machine, turn it on, and it can run unattended through the night. 

This allows me to just focus on making and assembling watches while the machines are working hard.” To make all that happen – right-sizing his workforce, insourcing an ever-expanding array of watch components, and optimal use of his own time – Weiss turned to Tornos for the technology and in-depth training to make himself a Swiss-type lathe programmer and operator. While he uses his SwissNano to make, for example, sliding pinions – the component that interacts with the watch’s setting wheels of the watch to enable the crown to be turned to move the hands on the watch – he uses his new Swiss DT 26 to produce the watch crown, the small knob that sits on the side of the watch case and allows adjustment of the time displayed.