A Little Look at Our Clockwork Jewellery Range
Skav’s Steampunk Workshop has been slowly growing and developing over the last 8 years – in fact, one of the earliest markets we attended was actually a local markets in Mudgee (a lovely town in central west New South Wales where both Beibhinn and Skav grew up). The biggest seller and certainly one of the most interesting items we had for sale were a series of ‘clockwork pendants’, which most onlookers had never seen the likes of before. This range of ‘clockwork’ jewellery was one of the first (and the most long standing) groups of products Skav ever made, and still makes today.
Jewellery
Most of our jewellery items are unique pieces – in order to see all available pieces be sure to look through the options within each product.
There are several key points that make our clockwork jewellery range so alluring –
- In a world of waste, there is a lot of emphasis on reusing and recycling to make our world a better place. That is one of our key philosophies at Skav’s Steampunk Workshop and is emulated in this jewellery range – it is made with broken, recycled watch parts which is brought to life in a new and beautiful way!
- This range typifies the Steampunk genre by it’s clockwork nature – it’s one of the fundamental mechanisms in all steampunk machinery. It is also much more elegant than some of the more common charm based jewellery, by showing the beauty in the mechanism.
- All our clockwork jewellery pieces are handmade by Skav himself – a self-taught steampunk artisan – and are all unique, created with a combination of specific watch movements, blueing techniques and adornment with Swarovski crystal rhinestones.
A Word on Watch Movements
We source old and broken watch movements that were originally from vintage watches from collectors all around the world. The majority of our movements are Soviet era Russian watch movements, as well as a smaller numbers of Swiss, French, English and other movements. We also source watch movement locally from family, friends and antique stores (you would be amazed at the things you can find hidden away in storage from the days past). If you ever come across any old watches we’d love to take them off your hands!
There are 2 main shapes among watch movements –
- A larger circular movement – these were typically from vintage men’s watches
- A smaller more rectangular movement – these were from vintage women’s watches
There are of course a huge variation in individual sizes of each movement and some other more rare and interesting shapes.
When you have a really close look at a watch movement, they are an elegant design with numerous fine features. A series of cogs, balances and springs held in place by bearings that are set with jewels! The jewels are usually rubies but in some watches can be more valuable stones such as sapphires or diamonds – it is their job to minimise wear and friction to ensure the cogs turn straight and evenly, helping them to keep accurate time over long periods.
Features of Skav’s Clockwork Jewellery
Blueing Movements
Some of Skav’s jewellery is advertised as being ‘bright’ or ‘blued’, this pertains to the finish on the watch movements. ‘Bright’ movements are unchanged from their original finish and as a result are clean and a bright silver or sometimes gold colour.
‘Blued’ movements have been hit *very* carefully with a high heat flame, which adds an assortment of gold, copper, brass and blue tones to the metal. They look particularly stunning when viewed on a sunny day.
Crystal Rhinestones
In addition to the rubies that form a key part of any watch movement, Skav has a range of different coloured genuine Swarovski crystal rhinestones that are attached to some of our clockwork jewellery. They add a colour theme to the piece and a bit of extra sparkle to dazzle the viewer.
Our Products
All our clockwork jewellery has the key phrase “watch movement” in the title, and can be found in our Jewellery tab. Our range started out with pendants, but has extended to include earrings, rings, cufflinks, brooches and pins. Some are designed to be worn as a set, and matching pieces are linked in the ‘related items’ on each product page.
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Bright Watch Movement Tie Clips$30.00
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Blued Watch Movement Ascot Pins$22.00
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Bright Watch Movement Pins$20.00
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Premium Blued Watch Movement Cufflinks$45.00
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Silver Watch Movement Key Pendant$25.00
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Blued Watch Movement Pendants$25.00
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Blued Watch Movement Drop Earrings$40.00
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Bright Watch Movement Stud Earrings$40.00
We are continuing to add more and more of our jewellery onto the online store every day so be sure to be on the lookout for more like these! We also have the capability to make custom pieces for a very reasonable price – if you are after a matching set in a particular colour theme please contact us!
What do you like about our Clockwork Jewellery range? Do you have any ideas you’d like to share? Tell us what you think in the comment section below!
Til next time,
Beibhinn & Skav