Introducing David Lowinger and The Watch He Taught Himself to Make

From scratch, the traditional way.

Hailing from Chemnitz, a town in Saxony about 90 minutes from Glashütte, David Lowinger is a self-taught watchmaker who began his education four years ago. He completed his first watch, without the aid of a CNC machine, relying instead on old fashioned methods, namely a manual milling machine and lathes.

Mr Lowinger, who is a real estate analyst by training, manufactures over 45 components of the watch from scratch, including the crown, dial, hands, buckle, case and much of the movement.

While made in-house, the movement construction is based on the Unitas 6498-2. The production process requires over 350 hours of work and as a result, Mr Lowinger only produces four watches a year, each made to order. While the watch still has a basic appearance and finish, it’s a strong and promising start for a one-man operation.

Made of stainless steel, the case is simple in form, measuring 43mm in diameter and 9.5mm in height. All three parts of the case – bezel, case body and back – were made using a manual milling machine in which each part was drilled out from a piece of stainless steel and polished to a satin finish.

Mr Lowinger makes most of the movement in-house, including crucial bits like the main plate, bridges, winding click, click spring, cannon pinion and hour wheel. The main plate, barrel and train bridges are untreated German silver while the pallet fork bridge is stainless steel.

The main plate has been hand-pearled, the ratchet wheel has a Glashütte-style spiral polish while the bridges are finished with circular graining, giving it an almost industrial appearance.

The dial of the watch is modern and minimalist. It’s been engraved with lines in place of indices and coated in DLC.

The raw dial

It also features an exposed hour wheel, a stainless-steel chapter ring and engraved logo plate. Its syringe hands are also manufactured in-house and hand-polished to a mirror finish.