email: tony@lathes.co.uk
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ZM Skarzysko Watchmaker's Lathe
Type TZ-40 from Poland

Other lathes for watchmakers

It is not known how many makers of watch lathes there were in Poland - but there were certainly at least two: ZDZ (Zaklad Doskonalenia Zawodowego) based in Krakow and ZM Skarzysko - whose home town is presently unknown, unless, of course, it was Skarzysko-Kamienna, in the Swietokrzyski Region. In addition, as a number of previously unknown examples -  some of unusual and interesting design - keep appearing from time to time on Polish auction sites, there must have been others.
As lathes of the type shown below have been made since 1859 - invented by Charles S. Moseley in the United States - and manufactured by dozens of different companies, it would be unsurprising to find that the Skarzysko was a direct copy of something already produced. However, although some aspects look very similar to the Polish ZDZ and Swiss Bergeon - reverse the Bergeon headstock and it looks even more alike and accessories for both lathes are interchangeable - it does appear sufficiently different to be classed as the maker's own effort.
Of a light pattern, with a round bed with one face flattened, the Skarzysko Model TZ-40 is classed as a "Geneva" type and would probably have taken 8 mm collets. It was offered - as were most lathes made for watchmakers - in a fitted wooden box with a section of essential and not so essential accessories. In the kit illustrated below, which might be described as mid-range, was a very reasonable collection of items including a set of 48 wire collets and the necessary draw tube, a box chuck, two tailstock (one with lever feed), a compound slide rest assembly with rather widely-space graduations on its small dials and - unusual for a watch lathe, a 4-way toolpost, a hand T-rest and a ring-scroll 3-jaw chuck with reversible face jaws.
While the fit and finish of the Skarzysko might not have been quite to the perfection exhibited by the Swiss-made Bergeon and such well-established German makers such as G.Boley, Leinen and Wolf Jahn, it does seem to have been a very well-made and finished lathe with all the normal and desirable accessories available either individually or included in boxed sets..




Other lathes for watchmakers

lathes.co.uk
ZM Skarzysko Watchmaker's Lathe
Type TZ-40 from Poland
email: tony@lathes.co.uk
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