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F.Lorch, Lorch Schmidt, L.S. & Co.
Watchmakers' Lathes

Lorch Home Page    Lorch Watchmakers Page 2 

Lorch Watchmakers' "New-in-the-Box" Page 3

More information about Lorch Lathes is available in
various Manuals, Parts Lists and well-illustrated
Sales & Technical Specification Brochures

Lorch made a wide range of high-quality watchmakers' lathes in both Geneva and WW types branding them Lorch, Lorch Schmidt and L.S. & Co. However, like most other manufacturers in the field, they were also content to market models under other names with corners cut in material quality and cosmetic finish - one of the most popular lower-cost models treated in this way being the Geneva-pattern Triumph.
Lathes were available with 6 or 8 mm collets either as individual machines or, more often, in boxed sets, these being listed from No. 1 to No. 12 (and possibly higher); however, as boxes were offered separately for owners to mount their own collection of accessories, it is not always possible to categorise them exactly.
A typical set would have been the No. 2, an outfit that provided the typical watch repairer with all the basic equipment he needed. Sets 3 and upwards included such luxuries as a compound slide rest, two types of tailstock (with a sliding spindle and a lever-feed spindle), a universal faceplate and pump centre drive plate, screwcutting attachment and changewheels, vertical milling slide, pivot polisher, milling and grinding spindle, 3-jaw and 6-jaw self-centring chucks (sometimes called "Universal Chucks"), 4-jaw independent and self-centring chucks, drill chuck for the headstock or tailstock use, wheel-cutting attachment with division plate (to cut what the laymen would call gears but which are known to the watchmaker as "wheels"), a "Mandrel" - in effect a spare headstock with a "faceplate" attached used for super-precision work, a headstock that could be swung with an overhung drive pulley. Numerous smaller accessories were also offered including single or double roller rests, a variation of the fixed steady called a self-centring back steady, , saw tables, rounding-up tools, Jacot Drums. pivoting attachments, lapping attachments, wax chucks, button or crown chucks, box chucks (with eight radial-disposed holding screws), drilling plates - self-centring (a disc with a ring of holes each formed with a coned face to self-centre work), wood screw chucks, wood-turning chucks, tip-over and standard T-rests, emery wheel chucks, lantern chucks in bronze and steel, circular-saw chucks, carrier chucks, balance chucks, pin chucks formed so as able to be held in the tailstock or headstock, drive or "catch" plates for between-centres work, micrometer-adjustable boring heads, adjustable eye glasses, self-centring drilling attachments, drilling rests, indexing attachments with worm-and-wheel drive, etc. Also offered were various types of drive system, countershafts and electric motors with, on later models, a base unit complete with a motor to make the whole assembly self-contained and ready to mount on a bench.
More often to be found from American rather than European makers was a bench unit with multiple drawers and devices to hold accessories - those were often from a third-party supplier such as the one by J.H.Rosberg of Chicago with this Rivett watchmaker's lathe.
Oddly, no makers of watchmaker's lathes ever offered an instruction book - these being the exclusive enterprise of independent publishers with one of the most useful being "The Watchmakers' Lathe". 



A comprehensively equipped Lorch light Geneva-pattern watchmaker's lathe set - probably catalogued as the No. 10.  Both 6 mm and 8 mm headstocks are included and only a few items from the maker's extensive accessory range are not present. The next set, the No. 11, was built with a drawer to hold a vast range of collets. The designations of the boxed sets changed over the years and, as Lorch also made up boxes to order and made them available separately for fitting out by owners, it is not always possible to give sets a defini

Rare and desirable Lorch Geneva-pattern 3-lathe set in the maker's fitted case. Three headstocks were provided: a standard unit, a type able to be swivelled (with an overhung pulley) and one with a permanently-fitted and hence very accurate pump-centre faceplate with clamps.

Another view of the Lorch Geneva-pattern boxed set

Very occasionally a late-model Geneva-patter lathe is found mounted on a motorised base. This assembly was also available as a boxed set with a choice of headstock and bed units, or all three together



Geneva pattern lathe from a 3-lathe set mounted on the drive base and fitted with the headstock that, for absolute accuracy, used a permanently-mounted spindle and faceplate assembly

Boxed Lorch WW watchmaker's lathe. This much heavier type (in comparison with the Geneva-pattern models) is rare. Beautifully made and with a splendid plated finish this would, originally, have been an expensive though highly effective purchase.



A beautifully preserved early-type  6 mm Lorch Schmidt watchmakers' lathe with a hand-cranked drive unit













Lorch Home Page    Lorch Watchmakers Page 2 

Lorch Watchmakers' "New-in-the-Box" Page 3

More information about Lorch Lathes is available in
various Manuals, Parts Lists and well-illustrated
Sales & Technical Specification Brochures


F.Lorch, Lorch Schmidt, L.S. & Co.
Watchmakers' Lathes

E-Mail Tony@lathes.co.uk 
Home    Machine Tool Archive    Machine Tools For Sale & Wanted
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