Saito Katuo is one of the few watchmakers who are able to assemble the 1.98 mm high cal. 6899A, a skeletonised, ultra-thin, hand-wound movement.
Comparison of the pallet fork from the cal. 6899 and a regular mechanical movement
The movement is slightly slimmer than a 500 yen coin but Saito-san makes it look easy.
The bridges, by the way, are hand-engraved by an in-house team of engravers, including contemporary master craftsman, Terui-san.
One of the most interesting steps in the assembly is the manual adjustment of bridges. The tolerances of the parts in this movement are unusually fine, so everything has to fit perfectly, especially the gear train. As a result, sometimes bridges have to be reshaped by bending them.
This message has been edited by SJX on 2011-02-06 06:02:45