So I began to immerse myself in CNC manufacturing and high-precision machining. I initially experimented with a borrowed machine in the €10,000 price bracket. It was possible to produce a few initial parts, but the precision and surface finish were nowhere near sufficient. At the same time, I became increasingly aware of just how impressive modern precision machines from manufacturers such as Kern and Hermle are — technically fascinating, but practically out of reach for a small independent workshop. More compact solutions such as the Zorn Micro and Chiron Micro 5 also impressed me greatly, yet they too were in an unattainable price range of more than €250,000.

So the search began again. I spent countless hours comparing technical data, reading first-hand reports and analysing used machines. But every compromise brought new problems. Many machines were too large, too heavy, too old or too imprecise. Others no longer had spare-parts support or suffered from obsolete electronics and software. With older machines in particular, any fault can quickly turn into a major, time-consuming undertaking.

Then, while browsing “maschinensucher.de”, I came across a machine I had never seriously considered before: a Primacon PFM 24 NGD. Technically, it was almost perfectly suited to watchmaking — high-precision five-axis machining, an extremely fast Fischer spindle and micrometre-level positioning accuracy. The problem: it weighed more than 1,000 kilograms and was a few centimetres too large to fit through my doors. 

That should have settled the matter. But this time I could not let the machine go. I began measuring the workshop, planning routes and calculating every possible option. It quickly became clear that moving it in would be absurdly complicated: a ramp over the entrance steps, lifting the machine more than a metre in the hallway, taking out a stair railing and dismantling a doorway — essentially impossible.

This was followed by extensive modifications to the workshop. Machines like this require enormous volumes of high-purity compressed air, so a completely new compressed-air supply system had to be installed, including a rotary screw compressor and air-drying system. Renovation work and new extra-tall doors were also required.

At the same time, I began learning HEIDENHAIN Klartext — the machine’s conversational programming language. I was also still teaching on the master watchmaker course at the Hessian Watchmaking School, for which I planned and delivered lessons. Some basic settings had also been lost during transport, so the automatic tool changer did not initially function correctly. Only after intensive troubleshooting and several telephone calls with the manufacturer could the machine be fully commissioned.  

One does not travel in order to arrive, but in order to travel.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Further stages will follow.