A talented self-taught watchmaker with big plans for the future.
Contests fuel healthy competition. The search for young talents is not an easy task in any craft field, but the watchmaiking niche stands apart in this sense. Too few, too complex, too long - compared to the same architecture or design, where you only need to submit drawings or 3-D models of your projects.
Unlike a designer, a watchmaker must provide the jury with a completely finished product: a watch that he invented and made himself. In fact just one сontest is functioning annually nowdays, founded and patronized by Francois-Paul Journe.
The Journe Young Talent Competition has been in existence since 2015 – over the past time it has allowed such promising watchmakers as Rémy Cools, Cyril Brivet-Naudot, Théo Auffret, Anton Sukhanov to emerge.
Last year, the top prize (20 000 CHF) was won by a talented self-taught watchmaker from Warsaw, Maciej Miśnik. We spoke with him about what inspired him to create the pocket marine chronometer, how he plans to dispose of his winnings, and what he plans to do in the near future.
Hello, Maciej! Most independent watchmakers start their careers with a personal story. Please share with us yours.
I was born in Kołobrzeg on December 24, 1991. In 2010, I started my studies at the Gdańsk University of Technology at the Faculty of Technical Physics and Applied Mathematics. I passed my bachelor's degree in physics in February 2014 and my Ph.D. in physics in September 2021. Watchmaking has been in my life since childhood.
When I was about two years old, I destroyed a cuckoo clock. I started my professional work at the Institute of Tele and Radiotechnology in Warsaw in 2012, and after seven years, I decided to set up my watchmaking workshop.
Unfortunately, due to covid, my business fell apart after two years. On September 2019, I made my first watch. It was a wristwatch in a silver rectangular case. Now I am working on the next watch, and I hope it will be my profession forever.
Maciej Miśnik at his workplace.
As in marine deck chronometers, a pivoted detent escapement was used. Oscillation frequency of the balance wheel is 2 Hz. It is well known that detent escapement has good friction properties but it is not shock resistant. Thats why Misnik did a pocket watch instead of a wristwatch.
Your current achievements are the result of tireless practice. Have you ever thought about getting a specialized education - is training alone enough for a talented self-taught watchmaker?
Difficult question. I dream about a professional watchmaking school like WOSTEP, but unfortunately, it is too expensive for me. I had two weeks of classes in FPJ. These two weeks were wonderful. I learned a lot.
I have a doctoral degree in Physics and worked in the Institute for seven years, so I have an extensive background. It is enough, together with books, practice, and what is most important - an open mind.
How did you come up with putting a marine chronometer in a pocket watch?
My father is a mariner. In my childhood, my father showed me a warship. Since that time, I have had a sentiment toward marine instruments. It is my inspiration.
What technical difficulties did you encounter? How long did the work on the model take?
For my last piece, I spent over 1000 hours. The most difficult, of course, is precision, especially distances between wheels, but I enjoy taking on the challenge.
Maciej Miśnik’s pocket watch with tourbillon and detent escapement: F.P.Journe Young Talent Competition Award 2022
Inspired by marine chronometers, Miśnik’s pocket watch features a brass case, with contrasting silver pendant and bow. Components were made in his own workshop, on basic lathes, milling machines, and using hand tools. The watch took about 8 months and 1,000 hours of work to build, as Miśnik opted to not use a CNC technology at all to make the watch.
How many parts does the movement consist of? Did you manufacture all the parts yourself and how did you decorated them?
It has over 100 parts and over 200 components. For them I used raw metals. No elements have been electro painted or plated. Only the hands and three screws were thermally oxidized to blue. Every part was finished by hand. In my workshop were not made: the watch chain, glass, 18 ruby bearings, balance hairspring, 2 mainsprings and 28 of 40 screws. I did not engrave the signature; it was made by a professional engraver.
How will you manage the grant?
I plan to spend this grant on the necessary tools, machines, and materials for my workshop. I bought three milling machines, a pivot polishing machine, a lathe, and a lot of equipment for machines. Tools, especially high-grade, are expensive.
In most tourbillon watches the cage stops with the escapement wheel. In Miśnik’s case a hairspring absorbs the vibrations, similar to solutions proposed for example by Derek Pratt, Karol Roman etc. The balance wheel is equipped with a Breguet-overcoil spring. There is no regulator on the hairspring due to chronometric properties. Two screws on the balance wheel maintain regulation of the oscillation period. Other screws are used to poise the balance wheel. The tourbillon cage is also poised, by a silver counterweight.
When are you planning to create a wristwatch?
I made one three years ago. Currently, I am working on a wristwatch with turbillion for a client. I hope it will be ready in September this year.
Have you received an offer to sell your pocket watch or an invitation to cooperate with major manufacturers after winning the grant?
I got some offers to sell my watch, but it got an award in the competition, so I would like to keep it. I am still waiting for a manufacturer/brand to contact me. I am waiting.
What does "independent watchmaker" mean to you?
For me, independence means freedom. In the case of watchmaking, freedom for me means being able to produce every part at my own workshop. At the moment, I am semi-independent - I have to buy jewels, mainsprings, hairsprings, glass, and sometimes something else.
Diameter: without hinge and lock, 4.9 cm / with hinge and lock, 5.2 cm
Height: 7.1 cm Depth: without screws, 1.55 cm / with screws, 1.67 cm
Weight: with key and chain, 112.2 g / without key and chain, 100.2 g
Would you like to cooperate with other independent watchmakers and artisans in the future, as Kari Voutilainen does, for example?
Of course, but the question is whether they want to.
What do you strive for in the future?
In the future, I would like to set up my own manufacture and produce fine watches. Not so much, maybe a few pieces per year. Nowadays, I can make only one watch per year.