Décalibre
The Watchmaker's Journal
Guides, analyses and reference articles on Haute Horlogerie — technical books, escapements, finishing, movement design, learning the craft.
Hub — Training & career
Becoming a watchmaker: CAP, salaries, schools, career change
All our reference guides to understand the craft, choose a training path and change career — France & Switzerland.
Open the hub →Authoritative guides & deep dives
Hub — Learning watchmaking online
- How to learn watchmaking online
The four realistic pathways, a step-by-step study plan and the starter bench.
- Online watchmaking course: curriculum and how it works
Units, interactive simulators, quizzes, final exam and certificates.
- Watchmaking for beginners: your first ten hours
What to study first, and the mistakes that cost movements.
Guide
The reference books to learn watchmaking: the modern watchmaker's guide
From Reymondin to Daniels, from Pellaton to Vermot and Guillaume: the reference library to build your technical culture.
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How to design a movement? From Vermot's Treatise to Guillaume's Invar alloys
Sizing gear trains, bridges and balance-spring: what French-language watchmaking engineering teaches the modern watchmaker.
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Mastering the escapement in watchmaking: the lessons of James Pellaton
Pellaton's Course on the Escapement, unpacked and compared with modern high-frequency movements.
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The finishing guide in Haute Horlogerie: from theory to Giulio Papi's techniques
Anglage, perlage, Côtes de Genève, black polish: the real hand-work documented by Sermier & Papi.
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Learning mechanical watch repair: which manuals should a beginner pick?
Reymondin, Jendritzki, Berner: the beginner's three pillars, and where to buy them safely.
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Becoming a watchmaker: the career-change and CAP Horlogerie guide
CAP, BMA, AFPA, WOSTEP, ETVJ: the official pathways, the reference schools and how to prepare online.
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Understanding independent manufactures: the collector's guide
F.P. Journe, Voutilainen, Greubel Forsey, De Bethune: a map of auteur watchmaking and the criteria of a true manufacture.
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F.P. Journe: Résonance, Souscription and modern chronometry
Twin-balance resonance, tourbillon with remontoir d'égalité, rose-gold movements: decoding the Journe school.
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Kari Voutilainen and the revival of anglage
Direct-impulse escapement, calibre 28, Comblémine: anatomy of an auteur manufacture in Val-de-Travers.
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CAP Horlogerie: Morteau, Porrentruy, Le Locle — preparing the entrance exam
Overview of French and Swiss schools, entrance exams, dexterity tests and how to prepare.
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Reading a movement spec sheet: the collector's vocabulary
Frequency, jewels, escapements, hairsprings, finishing, certifications: the working glossary to decode a movement.
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All articles
34 articles of 39
Théorie & Réglage·Technique·Intermédiaire
How to regulate your watch's accuracy without fear
Adjusting a mechanical movement's gain or loss via the regulator index and balance-spring: the method, the touch, and the precautions.
Théorie & Réglage·Matériaux·Avancé
The secret of watches that fear neither heat nor cold
Invar, Elinvar and Charles-Édouard Guillaume: how these alloys neutralised the effect of temperature on the balance-spring — and earned a Nobel Prize.
Échappement·Technique·Débutant
The Swiss lever escapement: the "tick-tock" explained simply
The role of the mainspring barrel, ruby pallets, entry and exit impulses: understanding why the Swiss lever escapement is the beating heart of the modern watch.
Finissage & Décoration·Décoration·Débutant
Watch decoration: when a movement becomes a work of art
Perlage, Côtes de Genève, hand-bevelling: the Haute Horlogerie finishes that turn a mechanical movement into a piece of fine goldsmithing.
Échappement·Technique·Avancé
George Daniels' coaxial escapement: a modern revolution
Rolling friction and the end of continuous lubrication: how George Daniels shook up the rules of the Swiss lever escapement.
Rouage & Transmission·Technique·Débutant
A watch's gear train: how energy travels
From the mainspring barrel to the escape wheel: the journey of energy through a mechanical movement, and the involute gear-tooth geometry that makes it possible.
Échappement·Pratique·Avancé
The meticulous work on the escapement: a surgeon's touch
Ruby pallets, shellac, warming pan: the surgical gesture that separates the amateur from the professional watch restorer.
Théorie & Réglage·Technique·Intermédiaire
Isochronism: why does a watch keep the beat?
Amplitude, mainspring, balance-spring: the physical principle that guarantees a watch stays precise throughout its power reserve.
Échappement·Technique·Intermédiaire
Our grandfathers' pocket watches: the cylinder escapement
Resting friction, escape wheel and hollow arbor: a dive into the mechanism that made watches affordable in the 19th century.
Outillage & Pratique·Pratique·Débutant
Where to start? The ideal toolbox for the beginner watchmaker
0.80/1.20/1.50 mm screwdrivers, tweezers, loupe, blower, movement holder: the five essential tools to start out properly.