Off Hours

Off Hours

By Chris Manning & Jon EdwardsBusinessTechnologyArtsCareersDesign
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Off Hours episodes

  • Kamado Joe in the Snow

    Jon and Chris discuss the tribulations of baking the world’s best chocolate chip cookies, as well as a new method Chris is experimenting with to rapidly prototype watch dials.

    • The World’s Best Chocolate Chip Cookie According to The Food Lab
    • Valrhona Chocolate Makers of the chocolate Jon used in his cookies
    • Bon Appétit Chocolate Chip Cookie Chris’ favourite chocolate chip cookie recipe
    • Cookie in a Cookie The chocolate chip portion of this double-stuffed cookie on its own is the usual go-to recipe around Jon’s house
    • Skillet Cookie Because, of course, Chris has barbecued chocolate chip cookies
    • Blackmagic Design Pocket Cinema Camera 4K The video camera Chris has been crafting a custom, battery pack handle for
    • Canon Battery Pack
    • Canon 5D Mark II
    • 18650 Cell Chris’ handle will be able to hold 4x 18650 rechargeable battery cells
    • Chris’ YouTube Channel
    • DJI Osmo Action Camera A new action camera that serves up fitting competition for GoPro
    • GoPro
    • Mac Pro The yet-to-be-officially-released new Mac Pro from Apple has the potential to be a video-editing powerhouse
    • DJI Mavic 2 Pro
    • Cedric Johner on The Watches TV
    • Heat Transfer Paper A product Chris has been experimenting with to prototype dials for his watches
      • 36 min
    • Stuck on Runways

      Chris and Jon continue discussing Chris’ month of travel. This episode they discuss Makers Central and the Santa Fe Symposium.

      • Birmingham Jewellery Quarter
      • Makers Central Chris recently exhibited at Makers Central with his good friend, Rich Loen
      • Loen Design
      • Vectric Vectric helped make it possible for Rich & Chris to showcase at Makers Central
      • CNC Mill Kit The kit that Rich based his new puck carving mill off of
      • MAKE Magazine & Maker Faire Shutting Down
      • Dale Dougherty Founder of MAKE
      • NSNorth A conference Jon attended while Chris was on the other side of the pond
      • Ken Kocienda One of the few names on the original iPhone patent, creator of the iOS keyboard, & one of the key individuals behind WebKit, Ken was the keynote speaker at this year’s NSNorth
      • Creative Selection Written by Ken Kocienda
      • Developing for a Niche Jon’s talk from NSNorth 2016
      • May-Li Khoe The keynote speaker at NSNorth the year that Jon was a speaker, like Ken, May-Li was a key contributor to several key Apple technologies
      • Leonardo da Vinci – Royal Collection Trust Chris was able to catch a part of the 500th anniversary exhibition of da Vinci’s work, from the Queen’s collection, while in the UK
      • Codex Leicester A collection of scientific inquiries, by da Vinci, acquired by Bill Gates in 1994
      • Drawing in Silverpoint
      • 500 Years of Genius Leonardo da Vinci exhibit at the Museum of Science & Technology in Ottawa
      • Staffordshire Hoard Chris also spent some time taking in the Staffordshire Hoard while in Birmingham
      • Frank Cooper
      • Stoke-on-Trent Museums
      • Birmingham City University
      • Santa Fe Symposium Chris attended this year’s Sante Fe Symposium, along with Frank Cooper & many other prominent players in the jewellery making world
      • Graceland
      • Eddie Bell
      • Saul Bell Design Award
      • Rio Grande
      • Santa Fe Symposium Papers Archive
      • The Goldsmiths’ Company Jewellery Materials Congress Chris will be speaking at the Goldsmiths’ Congress in the UK this summer
      • Grant MacDonald London
      • Teresa Frye Founder of TechForm, Teresa will be speaking about platinum at the Goldsmiths’ Congress
      • Dr. Ulrich Klotz Head of material testing & precious metals research at FEM, in Germany, Ulrich will also be speaking on platinum at the Goldsmiths’ Congress
      • Damiano Zito CEO of Progold, in Italy, Damiano will be giving a presentation on selective laser melting using precious metals at the Goldsmiths’ Congress
        • 48 min
      • Flying Cap Jewels

        Chris has returned from a month of travel. He and Jon discuss the day/date and automatic course he took at the British Horological Institute.

        • BHI Short Courses Chris recently attended another short course at the British Horological Institute
        • Seth Kennedy Antiquarian watchmaker Seth Kennedy
        • Cousins A horological supply house in the UK
        • ETA 6497 Assembly of an ETA 6497 pocket watch caliber
        • ETA 2836-2 One of the watch calibers Chris worked with on this trip to the BHI
        • Seiko 7S26 The other caliber Chris worked with on this trip to the BHI
        • Tissot Powermatic 80 An inexpensive Tissot containing one of ETA’s newer, free-sprung calibers (the C07.111) that is otherwise very similar in construction to the ETA 2836-2
        • Eterna 39 Chris is basing his watches on variants of Eterna’s caliber 39
        • Romain Gauthier Screw heads with a cruel twist
        • Witschi Dry Tester Witschi makes a range of waterproof testing equipement that can evaluate the seal integrity of a watch case without using water
        • Waterproof Tester A basic wet tester for evaluating the water resistance of a watch case
        • Seiko Magic Lever A video overview of how the winding system in a Seiko watch operates
        • TAG Heuer 1887 One of the few “Swiss” watch calibers that employ Seiko’s Magic Lever style winding system, based heavily on Seiko’s 6S37 chronograph caliber
        • Atmos Clock
        • Atmos for the Wrist The patent for the late Steven Phillips’ temperature responsive “Eternal Winding System”
        • Eternal Winding System An archived version of the official webpage for the late Steven Phillips’ “Eternal Winding System”

          • —

          • Sisyphus Mini Chris recently backed the Sisyphus Mini kit
            • 43 min
          • Watchmaking – Benches

            Chris and Jon continue their discussion of George Daniels’ book Watchmaking. In this episode they discuss work benches.

            • Watchmaking by George Daniels
            • Phone Posture An article about the toll that craning our necks has on our spines

              • Archer Watches
              • California Closets
              • Economical Watchmaking Bench Popular in jewellery shops, an appropriate height bench for watch work
              • Adjustable Height Watchmaking Bench A high-end watchmaking bench with electronic height adjustment & padded arm rests
              • IKEA Standing Desks
              • Motorized Table Lift Kit from Lee Valley
              • Jarvis Standing Desk The standing desk frame that Chris is considering basing his watchmaking bench off of
              • Portable Bench Top A simple, budget friendly watchmakers bench that can be put on top of any standard height desk or table, akin to the elevated bench top used by Daniels & Roger W. Smith
              • R.W. Smith Studio Watchmakers at the benches in Roger W. Smith’s studio on the Isle of Man

                • George Daniels’ workbench

                • Plier Rack Jon uses a towel rack/drawer pull like this to keep pliers & similar tools organized & close at hand
                • Jewellers Work Bench The style of bench Chris referenced, useful for catching filings & swarf while making components
                  • 21 min
                • Watchmaking – Floor to Ceiling

                  Chris and Jon begin a series discussing George Daniels’ book Watchmaking.

                  • Watchmaking by George Daniels—the only reference book you need to build a watch from the raw materials
                  • Canadian Horological Institute With its massive floor to ceiling windows, the building that originally housed the CHI is still standing across from the St. James Cathedral in Toronto
                  • 5500K Light Bulbs
                  • Eye Strain Tips from the Mayo Clinic for reducing eye strain
                  • Light Cabinet A multi-temperature light box for colour assessment
                  • Hue Bulbs Philips Hue smart bulbs offer a range of colours that you can program or alter on a whim
                  • Lutron Caseta Smart Light Switches Chris is switching over to Lutron smart switches to control his lights
                  • Flow Psychologist & researcher, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, on the mental state of flow
                  • Radiant Floor Heating System
                  • Radiant Ceiling
                  • Precitrame Manufacturer of high precision CNC equipment used in watchmaking & other industries
                  • Linoleum Flooring Jon settled on Forbo’s Laguna Marmoleum Real 3238 linoleum flooring for the last few watchmaking spaces he’s had a hand in creating
                  • Watchmaker’s Parts Tray The tray that inspired the linoleum colour choice Jon settled on
                  • Air Quality & Cognitive Function An in-depth study on the correlation between cognitive function & carbon dioxide along with other variables such as ventilation and VOC exposure
                  • Air Quality & Productivity A study on the impact of air pollution on productivity
                  • CO2 & Decision Making A study on the direct effects that elevated carbon dioxide has on decision making
                  • Awair 2 An air quality monitor Jon picked up last year
                    • 39 min
                  • Burn Quite Nicely

                    Chris and Jon talk about a unique balance wheel, resin-based 3D printers, and wireless earbuds. If you’re in Birmingham, UK on May 11 or 12, 2019 be sure to drop by Makers Central and say hi to Chris.

                    This episode of Off Hours was made possible in part
                    thanks to the Santa Fe Symposium

                    Learn more at www.santafesymposium.org

                    • Frodsham Double Impulse Chronometer There was a blunder last episode & the Frodsham dial was errantly referred to as enamel when it is ceramic, thankfully we were more on the ball back in Episode 14
                    • The Watchnerd Many thanks to The Watchnerd for graciously pointing out our Frodsham gaffe
                    • Soldering Iron Bluing Last episode, Jon mentioned he had experimented in the past with bluing steel using a soldering iron, turns out Nicholas Hacko, in Australia, has fabricated an interesting soldering iron accessory for bluing small screws
                    • Another Take on Bluing with a Soldering Iron Inspired by Nicholas Hacko’s soldering iron jig, Instagram user, 3hands_studio, from South Korea, developed the concept further with his own soldering iron jig
                    • Akrivia Bluing This promotional video for Akrivia shows Rexhep using a bluing tray, akin to the one Clickspring has published a video & plans for

                    • Winnerl Chronometer A finely finished timepiece with a unique, cupped balance wheel, crafted by Bernhard Zwinz, based on a marine chronometer by Joseph Thaddeus Winnerl
                    • Philippe Dufour
                    • Greubel Forsey
                    • Stefan Kudoke

                    • Makex M-Jewelry The 3D printer that Chris is currently using
                    • Peopoly Moai A new, SLA printer with heated chamber that Chris is considering upgrading to
                    • Jack Row A pen maker based in the United Kingdom
                    • Form 3L Formlabs recently announced the Form 3 & massive new Form 3L

                    • Powerbeats Pro New wireless earbuds from Beats built on the same technology as Apple’s Airpods, a little bulkier, but with longer battery life & some degree of passive noise cancellation
                    • AirPods The battery life on Chris’ Airpods ain’t what it used to be
                    • BeatsX A tethered set of earbuds from Beats also built on the same underlying tech as Apple’s Airpods, with longer battery life & passive noise cancellation
                    • Sony WCH500 Nothing to write home about, reliable Bluetooth headphones Jon uses around the house that boast a battery life long enough it’s not something you really have to think about
                    • S530 Bluetooth Earbud A Bluetooth earbud so inexpensive & unobtrusively small you can always have one on you & not worry for a second about losing it or putting it through the wash, Jon nearly always has one close at hand to listen to audiobooks & podcasts
                    • X1T Bluetooth Earbud Another relatively inexpensive earbud Jon has tried, bulkier than the S530, it’s one upside is its ability to skip forward by double clicking on the earbud
                    • Overcast Jon & Chris’ podcast player of choice

                    • Makers Central Chris will be exhibiting at Makers Central with Rich Loen on May 11 & 12th 2019
                    • Rich Loen
                      • 51 min
                    • Flat Polished Blued Screw

                      Blued screws, blued indices, blued hands. Steel isn’t the only thing that’s blue in this episode. Chris and Jon chat about tempering steel, Baselworld 2019, and Swiss customs.

                      This episode of Off Hours was made possible in part
                      thanks to the Santa Fe Symposium

                      Learn more at www.santafesymposium.org

                      • Frodsham Chronometer Dr. Magnus Bosse goes hands-on with the Charles Frodsham Double Impulse Chronometer
                      • Aviano A typeface similar to the one used for the indices on Akrivia’s Tourbillon Barrette Miroir
                      • Rennie Mackintosh The font Chris is working with for his current dial designs

                        • Steel Colour Chart A visualization of the various colours that steel changes to as it is heated

                          • Bluing Clock Hands A demonstration of bluing clock hands, from the Clickspring channel on YouTube
                          • Elizabeth Tower Home to Big Ben, the first of Elizabeth Tower’s four clock faces has been revealed with a fresh coat of blue paint

                            • Baselworld
                            • AHCI Official website of the Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendants
                            • HANDwerk Collection Stefan Kudoke announced a new collection of watches, with in-house Kaliber 1 movements, at Baselworld this year
                            • Habring² Felix Kudoke’s Kaliber 1 is based, in part, on Habring’s A11B movement that debuted in their Felix watches
                            • Omega Apollo 11 50th Anniversary Featuring their new caliber 3861, an 861 updated with co-axial escapement, free-sprung balance wheel, & METAS certification
                            • Beware: Swiss Customs Michael Stockton recounts the trouble he ran into with Swiss Customs on his way to attend Baselworld 2019
                            • E311 Declaration Card
                            • ATA Carnet
                              • 49 min
                            • You Don’t Have Anywhere to Hide

                              Chris and Jon discuss some of the interesting dials Chris is using for inspiration in his own watches.

                              • Ball Screws Chris upgraded his TAIG mill with ball screws
                              • TAIG Mill
                              • Rich Loen Chris & Rich recently gave another presentation on building your own CNC machine
                              • Mach 3 CNC software
                              • Fusion 360 The software Chris has been using to model his watch case designs
                              • Rhino3D The 3D modelling software Chris has used to model a number of his pen designs
                              • RhinoCAM A CAM plug-in for Rhino3D
                              • Flow along surface A technique in Rhino3D that Chris uses to wrap a design around the pens he creates
                              • MasterCAM
                              • Adobe Illustrator
                              • Affinity Designer
                              • TrueSpace Early 3D modelling software
                              • Eccentro guilloche désigner
                              • iWoz The autobiography of Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple
                              • Banksy £10 Note Faux £10 note from the “Banksy of England”
                              • Roger Smith Great Britain Watch

                                • iPhone 4 Guilloche A custom, guilloché back that Chris created several years ago for the iPhone 4
                                • Design Canada A documentary that details, in part, how the current Canadian flag came to be
                                • Vacheron Constantin Métiers d’Art An M.C. Escher inspired dial that is hand engraved, engine turned, & enameled

                                  • Kari Voutilainen Decimal Repeater Regulator Dial

                                    • Baselworld 2018 We chatted about a number of other dials, including Kari’s Regulator back in Episode 14
                                    • Czapek l’Heure Bleu
                                    • Akrivia Tourbillon Barrette Miroir

                                      • Thomas Prescher Nemo Officer

                                        • Nienaber Bunde Retrograde

                                          • 1 hr 4 min
                                        • USB C Unicorn

                                          USB C is serving up a mixed bag of terror and delight, Chris is preparing to bring his niello knowledge to the UK, and smartglasses don’t look smart on Jon.

                                          “Less is more.”
                                          – Peter Behrens
                                          (also attributed to Mies van der Rohe)

                                          “Less is a bore.”

                                          – Robert Venturi

                                          “Less, but better.”

                                          – Dieter Rams

                                          • Thonet Chair No. 214 Last episode Jon mentioned that the chairs in Dieter Rams’ kitchen looked like Thonet No. 14 chairs, turns out they’re actually descendants of the No. 14
                                          • Humanscale Freedom Chair The task chair Jon uses
                                          • Herman Miller Aeron Chair Chris’ task chair of choice
                                          • DJI Osmo Mobile 2 Gimbal The gimbal Chris uses to shoot video
                                          • GoPro
                                          • Moshi USB C Charging Cable Moshi’s USB C charging cable with charging indicator
                                          • Blackmagic eGPU
                                          • Polymagnets A fun look at polymagnets with Destin of Smarter Every Day
                                          • Nikola Tesla
                                          • Cortex #72 – Adulting Complete CGP Grey relays his eGPU USB C cable woes
                                            • —
                                          • The Goldsmiths’ Company Jewellery Materials Congress Chris has been invited to present on niello at the Goldsmiths’ Company Jewellery Materials Congress in the UK
                                          • Eddie Bell
                                          • Santa Fe Symposium
                                          • Niello for the Modern Jeweler Chris’ 2018 paper on niello
                                          • The Fuller Brooch An early piece of niello work from the collection of the British Museum
                                          • Worshipful Company of Clockmakers’ Museum Collection Jon’s earliest recollection of niello was at the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers’ Museum, back when it was housed in the Guildhall in the City of London, where the collection had been since 1874, the collection is now housed in The Science Museum, where Chris caught it with Rich last summer
                                          • Struthers’ Watchmaking in Pictures A photo essay published in the Guardian
                                          • Just How Endangered Is Watchmaking? The New York Times investigates the safeguarding of watchmaking know-how, with insights from Stephen Forsey, Dr. Rebecca Struthers, et al
                                          • James Watt The Struthers presently house their workshop in a building once owned James Watt
                                          • The Perfectionists
                                          • Deakin & Francis Makers of fine cufflinks, who work in the same building as the Struthers
                                          • Yard-O-Led Makers of fine silver writing instruments, similar to what Chris creates, who also share a building with the Struthers
                                          • Focals Smart looking smart glasses, by Canadian startup, North
                                          • MYO Gesture Control Armband
                                          • Intel Vault The smartglass technology that Focals are based on
                                          • Bullet Time A behind the scenes look at how the “Bullet Time” effect was achieved in the film, The Matrix, using a series of cameras capturing footage from different angles
                                          • Nokia 7650 A very early camera phone that was predominantly screen when closed
                                          • iPhone Introduction In terms of product-market fit, Focals today feel a little like the Nokia 7650 compared to the original iPhone, which was released 6 years later
                                          • Google Glass
                                            • 1 hr 2 min
                                          • A Post-Apocalyptic Thing

                                            Chris and Jon are joined by Rich Loen to discuss Gary Hustwit’s latest design documentary, Rams.

                                            • Rams The latest design documentary by Gary Hustwit, focused on the life & work of Dieter Rams, is now out
                                            • 10 Principles of Design Rams’ Ten Principles of Design as portrayed in the Rams documentary
                                            • Jony Ive Chief Design Officer at Apple
                                            • Dieter Rams: As Little Design as Possible by Sophie Lovell, with an introduction by Jony Ive
                                            • Ansel Adams The photography of Ansel Adams
                                            • Silver Hand Studios Chris’ pens
                                            • MakeX M-Jewelry The 3D printer Chris is using for his watch case designs
                                            • LIGA An highly precise form of additive manufacturing used in mass produced watches today
                                            • Field Notes The limited Field Notes “Rams” edition that Rich read the 10 principles off of
                                            • Nomos A German watch brand renowned for their Bauhaus design aesthetic
                                            • Bauhaus
                                            • Ulm School of Design
                                            • Rams’ Cane We discussed Dieter Rams’ cane back in episode 24
                                            • Thonet Chair No. 14
                                            • Vitsœ
                                            • IKEA
                                            • George Nelson
                                            • Frank Gehry
                                            • Droog
                                            • Tejo Remy Creator of mishap chest of drawers for Droog that Rich was drawn to
                                            • Vitra Design Museum
                                            • Marc Newson
                                            • Braun SK 4 A record player designed by Hans Gugelot & Dieter Rams, nicknamed ‘Snow White’s Coffin’
                                            • Snow White Design Language
                                            • Keep It Simple: The Early Design Years of Apple A reflection on working alongside Steve Jobs during the early years of design at Apple, by Hartmut Esslinger
                                            • The White Album by The Beatles
                                            • Tesla
                                            • BMW i3
                                            • Pontiac Aztek
                                            • Wiesbaden Furnicular Railway A water powered railway that Dieter Rams rode when he was a young boy
                                            • Peterborough Lift Lock
                                            • Rideau Canal
                                            • Jeff Koons
                                            • Piet Mondrian
                                            • Andy Warhol
                                            • Shepard Fairey
                                            • Banksy
                                            • Objectified Another of Gary Hustwit’s design focused documentaries that also featured Dieter Rams
                                            • The Kronberg House A peek inside the house Rams designed for himself in Germany, completed in 1971
                                            • Naoto Fukasawa
                                            • Braun T 3 Radio Inspiration for the original iPod, the Braun piece Fukasawa had only ever seen in pictures prior to being filmed in Rams

                                              • —

                                              • [bʁaʊn] How to pronounce “Braun”
                                              • [nee-kawn] The official pronunciation of “Nikon” in English, as per the company’s 90th anniversary promotional spot
                                              • A genie whispered “Rolex” Hans Wilsdorf and the legend that birthed the Rolex name
                                                • 55 min

                                              About Off Hours

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                                              Off Hours is a conversational podcast that delves into technology, working with our hands, and other curiosities.