Apprentice Watchmaker Accidentally Inhales Hairspring, Sets Personal Record for Smallest Object Swallowed

First-year watchmaking apprentice Jonas Frei set what his instructors are calling 'an unwelcome but technically impressive record' on Tuesday when he accidentally inhaled a Nivarox hairspring during a routine Calibre 2824 service at the Solothurn School of Horology. The hairspring, measuring 0.05mm in cross-section and weighing approximately 0.003 grams, was propelled from the workbench by what Frei described as 'a very small sneeze — more of a micro-sneeze, really' and subsequently inhaled before he could deploy his dust cover. 'In my thirty years of instruction, I have seen students launch hairsprings across the room, into coffee cups, and once into a colleague's ear canal,' said master watchmaker and instructor Bernhard Glashütte. 'But Jonas is the first to achieve full respiratory intake. It is not the record we hoped he would set.' Frei was transported to Solothurn Hospital, where an X-ray revealed the hairspring coiled neatly in his right bronchus 'as if it had found a new barrel,' according to the attending radiologist. The component was successfully retrieved via bronchoscopy and has been returned to the school, where it will undergo ultrasonic cleaning, inspection for corrosion, and re-pinning before being returned to the training movement. 'The hairspring is actually in excellent condition,' Glashütte reported. 'Jonas's respiratory tract appears to have maintained a consistent temperature and humidity. I would not recommend this as a storage method, but the results speak for themselves.' Frei has been cleared to return to the workshop, where he will be fitted with a mandatory respirator that his classmates have already dubbed 'the incabloc for lungs.' The school's insurance provider has requested a meeting.