During the October 2014 half term school holidays, the EPSRC Centre in Ultra Precision welcomed children of Cranfield University staff to undertake the Watch it Made® watch experience.
Watch it Made® is the Centre’s educational demonstrator programme which aims to enthuse school children into science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects by providing a challenging, entertaining and practical engineering experience.
The day encompassed two cohorts of school children with the average age of 11 years old. They were able to pre-design their watch faces or choose from various designs on the day. The experience took them through demonstrations of UV printing their watch faces, machining the watch cases on a lathe and seeing their customised watch back-plate engraved with their names. The children then assembled their watches using the manufactured parts with pre-supplied components; the watch glass, setting crown and stem and strap.
At the end of the experience, the children left the studio with their own timepiece, totally unique to themselves.
“I learned all about designing and producing a watch and how much I love creative workshops.”
