email: tony@lathes.co.uk
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Superior Watchmakers' Lathe
Other Lathes for Watchmakers


Manufactured in Canada - at least according to the rather crudely engraved screw-on plate - the 8 mm "Superior" was very heavily built and finished - from the two examples so far discovered -  in chrome. As chrome did not become widely available until 1930, the lathe would almost certainly have been a product of that decade - or more likely (with respect to the design and construction) the 1940s or 1950s.
Unlike the traditional heavier watchmakers' lathe, the Webster-Whitcombe (WW) type, the bed did not have bevelled edges to align headstock and slide rest, but instead a central slot T-slot. The headstock was clamped down by a cam-action bar passing beneath it (with the operating arm protruding from its rear face) and the hand T-rest by a similar mechanism with the lever arrangement resembling those often used on wood-turning lathes.
Presumably similar in arrangement to the pre-loaded type employed on some Levin lathes, the spindle ran in ball bearings with, instead of the usual hard rubber or "plastic" pulley, a most unusual departure from standard - a 4-step one in steel. Spindle bearings were provided with lubrication pots and a circle of 64 division holes was drilled in the flange of the largest pulley with a well supported indexing pin passing through the outer face of the headstock casting.
Was the Superior ever offered as a complete boxed set with a range of the usual accessories? It is possible, but manufacturing the many and varied items needed is a considerable undertaking and it may be that items from other makes might have been used instead.
If you a Superior lathe, or data about the makers, the writer would be interested to know.


Other Lathes for Watchmakers

Superior Watchmakers' Lathe
email: tony@lathes.co.uk
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