Circa 1907 - a neatly-arranged (and expensive) bench and countershaft assembly driving a WW pattern watchmaker's lathe. It would be many years before similar self-contained, motorised assemblies were available for small screwcutting lathes.

The larger pattern AAA lathe on a self-contained stand with a ball-bearing countershaft. The electric motor is of the type first used on industrial sewing machines where a clutch was carried on its output shaft. These units are well-worth seeking out and rebuilding; they were designed for continuous and arduous use in garment factories and were of the very highest quality.
A similar motor and clutch unit was used in the 'Mardive' stands supplied for Pultra precision lathes in the 1950s and 1960s - Mardive being an English maker of industrial sewing-machine drive systems.

The tall stem (A) was used for tensioning the drive to ancillary equipment - high-speed milling and grinding heads for example - the middle unit (B) provided a total of 16 speeds (assuming a 4-step pulley on the motor and lathe) whilst the two-speed unit in the background (D) was listed as a "Foot Wheel" and available in two weights (24 lbs and 38 lbs) - both of which could be mounted either underneath the bench, or on the floor.

Typical of the bench countershaft made by many companies to drive their watchmakers' lathes this Lorch, or Lorch inspired unit, had a double swivel base and a choice of three pulleys to accept or transmit the drive. Used in combination with a tension-adjusting post (as illustrated above) and quickly-joined plastic - or round leather belting - this type of countershaft could be set up to drive the headstock and any type of toolpost-mounted spindle that the user cared to arrange.

The countershaft and tension post in use - in this case driven by an unnecessarily-large flat belt from a motor beneath the bench.
Another version was available with a 'fast-and-loose' flat-belt primary drive as illustrated below.

Fast-and-loose countershaft unit with a foot-operated, spring-return striker fork

Heavy-duty ball-bearing countershaft with fast-and-loose flat belt drive.