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NH Watches has been designing and producing its own watches since 2016 — made in Australia.
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During a training course in Eschenlohe, Germany, a small team from NH Watches learned how to operate the KERN Pyramid Nano. From left to right: Christopher Soto, Tyler Hailwood and Josh Hacko with KERN TC-leader Thomas Mauer
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High-precision microparts, such as these boards and gears, ensure that the watches “tick right” for life.
Exclusive watches - “made in Australia”? Absolutely, thanks to Nicholas Hacko, a talented watchmaker who opened a small factory making high-quality timepieces in Sydney a few years ago. In order to be flexible and competitive, in 2017 he invested in a high-precision 5-axis machining center from KERN Microtechnik, enabling him to reliably produce the µm-accurate parts that are the basis for his business.
Originally from Europe, the Hacko family has a long tradition of watchmaking. In 1992, when Nicholas emigrated to Australia, he did so as the third generation of his family to work in the watchmaking industry. During this period he nearly exclusively repaired watches. His son, Joshua Hacko, also learned this demanding craft from scratch: “However, I knew early on that I wanted to use my creativity and make my own watches,” he adds.
In 2011, Nicholas Hacko took his first step towards this goal by founding his own small business called “Nicholas Hacko Watchmaker” – in short NH Watches. Initially, he repaired watches and manufactured replacement parts. However, inspired and motivated by the high precision of traditional watch manufacturers and using his expertise in high-quality workmanship and flawless assembly, five years later Nicholas created his first entirely self-designed and developed watch – manufactured in Australia!
Since then, the Australian has been living his dream and enjoying significant commercial success. He exclusively produces exclusive, unique timepieces in the price range from EUR 1,000 to EUR 10,000. As Hacko explains, he has already surpassed his original goal of making 100 watches per year: “Thanks to a long waiting list of enquiries from interested parties, we have already sold a good 600 watches after around three years. And the huge demand from Australia, Europe and Asia is not diminishing.”
Producing microparts with μm precision
Besides its founder's creativity and entrepreneurial spirit, Nicholas Hacko believes that two additional factors are crucial to the success of the brand. On the one hand, he mentions his employees, of which there are now seven, three of whom are apprentices learning the watchmaker’s trade. On the other hand, he singles out the KERN Pyramid Nano, a high-precision 5-axis machining center he has been using since 2017: “This machine mills very small gears, bridges, pallets, mainplates and other micro parts with greater precision than is actually necessary.” Or, to put this into numbers: Hacko typically needs a production accuracy of between 6 µm and 10 µm in order to ensure his watches keep perfect time throughout their life. In exceptional cases, XY pitch accuracy of just +/- 2 μm must be met when drilling and interpolating holes in metal plates. The KERN Pyramid Nano, developed for ultra-precise production by KERN Microtechnik GmbH, Eschenlohe, Germany, reliably achieves a machining accuracy of less than 1 μm — throughout the entire service life of the machine.
This outstanding level of performance is the result of the numerous technical refinements that were incorporated into the machining center’s development. While Matthias Fritz, Head of Development at KERN, is not prepared to reveal all of the Pyramid Nano's secrets, he is happy to name a few key factors: “We've equipped the KERN Pyramid Nano with complex, hydrostatic guides and drives that are not subject to any mechanical wear. In addition, our hydrostatics dampen any vibrations, so even high rates of acceleration have no effect on the machining accuracy.” The result is a machining center in which productivity and precision go hand in hand.
This is just one of the reasons why KERN machining centers are in widespread use throughout the watchmaking industry — the Australian watchmaker had long had his eye on a machine made by the Bavarian precision experts. At the AMB trade fair in 2016 in Stuttgart, Germany, he saw a KERN machine in action for the first time, which only confirmed his opinion: “I was convinced that a machining center of this type would be ideal for my needs.” Only the price of the system gave him pause for thought. Udo Reinwald, KERN Sales Director Asia, invited NH Watches to Germany in February 2017 to discuss some options at the company’s machine engineering factory in Eschenlohe, including the possibility of purchasing a used machine. The result was that Nicholas Hacko found what he was looking for in the summer of 2017, when a Swiss luxury watch company replaced a KERN Pyramid Nano with a new KERN milling center. Hacko quickly made up his mind to buy the used machine and received detailed information from Udo Reinwald's team at KERN in support of his purchase.
A used KERN machine with flawless precision
After inspection and maintenance by the KERN service department, the transaction was soon completed — Nicholas Hacko can now personally confirm KERN's claim that the machine's performance and precision (see box 1) remain unchanged throughout its service life. “It's just like my watches,” he beams, before expressing his satisfaction with the usability of his 5-axis milling center: “We took a small team from our company to Eschenlohe, Germany, where we received excellent training in the KERN Training Center.” During their visit, the Australians learned all the skills needed to reliably produce high-quality parts, including programming with Heidenhain plain text, using the right tools and setting up the complex milling center.
The machine’s final adjustments and commissioning in Sydney also went without a hitch. With on-site support from a KERN service technician, it was ready for use in early March 2018. It has been running with the help of KERN’s teleservice support ever since and “produces each part exactly as we program it. It simply doesn’t make mistakes,” says Hacko.
Thanks to its investment in the KERN machine, NH Watches can now serve its customers much faster and thus further increase its sales. In the past, the company had no choice but to purchase the required small parts externally and, being a minor customer, was not always high on the supplier's priority list. In addition, because the plates, gears, etc. required by NH Watches were primarily produced overseas, the parts deliveries were sometimes subject to unforeseeable delays. As an interesting aside, the raw materials used to produce these parts, such as brass found in the mainplates and bridges were originally mined and exported from Australia, to Korea, to be reimported back as processed bar material. A logistical odyssey that is now thankfully at an end.
Contract manufacturing as a new business area
Recently, NH Watches has found another way to utilize its new-found production capacity — as a contract manufacturer for industrial companies that need micro-precision parts. With no significant competition for this service in Australia, Nicholas Hacko is now expanding his business and already supplies several companies, with room to grow in the medical and mold-making industries. He also sees significant future potential in this area: “It's a great feeling to be the only entrepreneur in Australia with a high-precision machining center of this type. I'm sure this gives us a lot of growth potential and I'm looking forward to being able to buy more KERN machines in the future.”