Watchmakers Lathes


	E-MAIL tony@lathes.co.uk lathes.co.uk Home Page Machine Tool Archive Machine Tools For Sale & Wanted Machine Tool Manuals Machine Tool Catalogues Belts Watch & Instrument Makers' Lathes - some general notes - Although there are various designs of watchmakers' lathe, some dating back to the late 1700s and including specialised models - for example "fiddle" lathes, "steel turns", Jacot, Swiss, Swiss Universal (also called the English Mandrel) Bottum and Dracip - more modern examples can generally be divided into two types: the lighter "Geneva" and heavier "WW". The "Geneva" can be recognised by a round bed, with a flat machined along either the top (or, more commonly, the back) for its full length and nearly always supported on a single foot. These lathes, invented in 1859 by Charles S. Moseley in the U.S.A., generally took 6 mm or 8 mm collet and were designed only for lighter, very high-precision work. However, the "WW" (Webster-Whitcombe), is by far the more popular and versatile machine (and also of American origin) dating from around 1889. The centre height of the WW was usually 50 mm, though very occasionally 65, 70 mm and other figures are encountered. Of heavy construction, the bed was formed with a 37 mm-wide flat on the top and a 60-degree bevel along each edge, and carried a headstock spindle to accept 8, 10 mm or 12 mm collets. Exception to the above rules also include a range of fine Boley lathes manufactured from the middle to late 1800s with either a triangular-form bed or an oddly compromise design (which did not catch on) where the bottom of the bed was semi-circular in form and the top triangulated or "bevelled" Larger than the WW type are what might be called "toolmakers' or "bench precision" lathes: these vary in size from the Schaublin 65 and 70 (the latter being the most popular and frequently-encountered machine in the professional watchmaker's workshop) to larger examples such as the Schaublin 102 and models by makers such as Boley, Lorch, Leinen, Stark, American Watch Tool Company, B.C. Ames, Wade, Pratt & Whitney, Rivett, Cataract, Hardinge, Elgin, Hjorth, Potter, Remington, Sloan & Chace and others. Whilst useful machines in a precision workshop, these are outside the scope of this article. There were dozens of brands of watchmakers' lathes and a lot of "badge engineering" went on. This was compounded by accessories being interchangeable between makes - so it is entirely possible that a lathe has been "made up" from others either casually over many years of ownership or unscrupulously by a dealer. However, it's very unlikely that the bed, headstock and tailstock will be from different manufacturers; if they are, be wary. You can see a selection of watch and instrument makers' lathes and their accessories here: http://www.lathes.co.uk/aero http://www.lathes.co.uk/american watch tool comany http://www.lathes.co.uk/boley/page3.html http://www.lathes.co.uk/boley/page4.html http://www.lathes.co.uk/boley/page5.html http://www.lathes.co.uk/boley/page6.html http://www.lathes.co.uk/boley/page7.html http://www.lathes.co.uk/bergeon http://www.lathes.co.uk/bottum http://www.lathes.co.uk/btm http://www.lathes.co.uk/derbyshire http://www.lathes.co.uk/derbyshire http://www.lathes.co.uk/favorite http://www.lathes.co.uk/Gem Glorious http://www.lathes.co.uk/Glashutte http://www.lathes.co.uk/ime http://www.lathes.co.uk/kampe http://www.lathes.co.uk/lanco http://www.lathes.co.uk/leinen http://www.lathes.co.uk/levin http://www.lathes.co.uk/lorchschmidt http://www.lathes.co.uk/lorch http://www.lathes.co.uk/moseley http://www.lathes.co.uk/pultra http://www.lathes.co.uk/rolls-royce http://www.lathes.co.uk/saacke http://www.lathes.co.uk/steiner http://www.lathes.co.uk/swissuniversal http://www.lathes.co.uk/wolfjahn http://www.lathes.co.uk/zimmerman ……….. and others here Continued below

An early American-made Moseley lathe of the "WW" type with parts as annotated by the maker.

1. Headstock Spindle 2. Throat pin 3. Loose bearing 4. Loose bearing pin
5. Adjusting nut 6. Front bushing 7. Rear Bushing 8. Front inside shield
9. Rear inside shield 10. Front outside shield 11. Rear outside shield
12. Pulley 13. Pulley Hub 14. Pulley screw 15. Draw-in spindle
16. Draw-in spindle wheel 17. Frame 18. Index pin 19. Bolt
20. Spring 21. Eccentric 22. Lever 23. Pointed Centre
24. Spindle 25. Spindle Button 26. Spindle Binder 27. Frame
28. Bolt 29. Spring 30. Eccentric 31. Lever
32. Slide 33. Pivot Screw 34. Pivot Screw 35. Post
36. Lever 37. T graver rest 38. Shoe 39. Shoe bolt
40. Bolt pin 41. Bolt washer 42. Bolt spring 43. Bolt nut
44. Bed 45. Base 46. Base bolt 47. Bolt washer
48. Ball nut

Boley WW Type lathe from the 1920s


	The much lighter "Geneva" pattern Boley with a flat-topped bar bed

A Boley watchmakers' lathe with triangular bid circa 1865

Not a design that caught on: the unusual Boley with a semi-circular base to the bed and a triangulated top.

	An English-made BTM "Geneva" pattern watchmakers' lathe (note the bar-like bed with, in this case, a flat at the back) complete in its maker's fitted wooden box with a range of useful accessories. The item top left in the box is that most valuable of extras - a compound rest, used to hold a cutting tool manipulated under the control of screw-feed slides.

	Boley Lathe No. 1b. A "WW" pattern lathe of a heavier pattern, admitting 230 mm between centres, and with feet at both end of the bed. On this model the compound slide was fitted as part of the standard equipment.

	Another Boley but this time equipped for production work with quick-action levers fitted to the collet closer, compound slide and tailstock. The tailstock also has an indexing 6-station toolholder and the cross slide toolposts at front and back.

A later type of Boley & Leinen "Reform" lathe, manufactured from the early 1950s. The mouth-watering outfit was listed as the No. 77/X1V and contains virtually everything a skilled watch-repair man could wish for including, top left, a second headstock fitted with a permanently mounted (and hence very accurately aligned) faceplate with three clamps.

Continued:
Availability
Watchmakers" or Instrument-makers' lathes can be very valuable, especially if they are in fine, original condition and complete with lots of accessories. Buying just a basic lathe with bed, headstock tailstock and T-type tool rest can be false economy - there are lots of these about, at attractively low prices, but the real value is in the extras that allow the lathe to be used as a miniature "machining centre" - as originally intended - to cut, for example, wheels (gears), mill small parts and hold tiny, awkwardly shaped mechanisms for repair and restoration. Because there is considerable competition for accessories, if your basic lathe has to be equipped one part at a time much time, effort and money will be expended - hence, if you can, find a fully-equipped lathe; this will be a much better investment and a lot easier for you, or your heirs, to sell.
If you are looking for one of these machine I would strong recommend advertising for one. There are thousands sitting unused whose owners will never get round to advertising them - a "wanted" advertisement might just encourage them to get in touch:
Accessories:
Typically, the most valuable watchmakers' or instrument-makers' lathe would still be in its original wooden box with a wide range of equipment including as many of the following as possible:
Compound slide rest - screw-feed or lever action
Collets - a set of around 20 "Wire" (often called "split chucks"),
Collets - "Wheel" type in a set of 5 or 6
Collets - "Ring Step" type in a set of 5 or 6
Box Chuck
Chuck conventional 3-jaw Self-centring (sometimes called a "Universal Chuck") in ring-scroll (knurled ring round the outside) and key-operated models,
Chuck conventional 4-jaw Independent
Cutting tools - as large a collection as possible
The following "chucks" mounted on collets:
Chucks - balance
Chucks - box type with screws through the body to hold jobs
Chucks - brass split type (sometimes called jewel type) to fit inside larger steel collets
Chucks - button or crown usually in sets of 10
Chucks - carrier for driving work between centres
Chucks - circular-saw type
Chucks - emery wheel
Chucks - lantern in bronze or steel,
Chucks - wax
Chucks - wood screw
Chucks - wood turning
Compound Slide Rest
Drill chuck for headstock or tailstock use
Drilling plates - self-centring (a disc with a ring of holes each formed with a coned face to self-centre work)
Drive Plate
Eye glass on adjustable holder
Fixed steady
Jacot Drum
Lapping attachment
Pivoting attachment
Saw table
Sinking tools
"Mandrel" - this has the appearance of a spare headstock with a "faceplate" attached and is used for super-precision work
Micrometer-adjustable boring head
Milling and Grinding Spindle,
Pivot polisher
Pivoting attachment
Filing rest in single or double-roller types
Rose cutters
Screwcutting Attachment with a set of changewheels
Sinking tools
T-rest - the basic device to rest a tool against. Available in standard and tip-over types
Tailstock chucks - also known as "drill stocks" and available with flat heads, V-heads and chuck type
Turning arbors
Topping or "rounding up" tool
Two types of Tailstock (sliding spindle and a lever-feed spindle),
Tip-over or simple sliding T-shaped Hand-rest,
Universal Faceplate and Pump Centre,
Vertical milling slide,
Wheel-cutting attachment with division plate (to cut what the laymen would call cogs or gears but which are known to the watchmaker as "wheels").
Drive systems
Even when fully equipped it is not unusual to find that a watchmaker's lathe has no drive system or even motor. However, this is rarely a problem for the easiest and cheapest solution is to use either the motor from a sewing machine or, preferably, a proper "Parvalux" unit - the latter available in 1-phase, 3-phase and DC types with speed ranges spanning 0.2 to 10,000 r.p.m. The motor can be bolted in place behind the headstock and driven by a special Swiss-made round belt that can be flipped easily from groove to grove, there being no need to make up the type of hinged countershaft that a larger lathe would need. The writer can supply Parvalux motors their controller and the special belting
Handbooks
Unfortunately no maker of a watch lathes has ever offered a proper handbook for their products but, happily, there is an excellent hard-back book available that does the same job: "The Watchmakers' Lathe". This is a long-established publication and, because most of these lathes were built along the same lines, and use almost identical accessories, the book is able to give precise instructions that apply to all types.
UK post-paid delivery: £19.75 EU post-paid delivery: £21.75 World-wide air-mail delivery: £32 (about US$49) email to order
Manufacturers and Brands
Genuinely high-quality Watchmakers' lathes were manufactured and branded by, amongst others:
Accro
Adams George
American Watch Company (C. S. Moseley-designed lathe circa 1859)
American Watch Company (A. Webster-designed lathe circa 1859/60)
American Watch Tool Company (Webster-Whiitcomb improved-design lathe of 1889 - the WW model)
Ames
ARS
Bergeon
Boley
Boley-Leinen
Boston Watch Company (C. S. Moseley-designed lathe circa 1858)
Bottum
Boydon
B.T.M.
Cataract (Hardinge)
C.L.H.
Coronet
Derbyshire
Dracup
E.H.J. (E. H. Jones machinery dealers and commissioners)
Elson (USA)
E.M.E.
Favorite
Gamma
Gem (Gem Glorious)
Gentil (Star Lathes, Switzerland)
George Adams (re-branded Boley and Lorch, etc. and cheaper imitations under his own label)
Hardinge (Cataract)
Hammel, Riglander & Co.
Hopkins
IME
Jones (J & T Jones UK)
J.E.Kampe (U.S.A.)
Gustav Klett (East Germany)
Lampert (U.S.A.)
Lanco (Lane Cove)
Leinen
Levin
Lorch (Lorch Schmidt)
Manhora
Mansfield
Marshall
Moseley
Nordan
Ohio
Paulson
Peerless
Pennant
Perton
Precista
Picard (Henri Picard et Frere)
Pultra
Reliance
Rivett
Schaublin
Schmidt
Scomea (Société Commerciale d'Outillage et de Mécanique d'Aviation)
Simplex
Sloan & Chace
Star (R. Gentil & Co. Company of La Brevine in Switzerland)
Stark
Steiner
Swan
Taylor
T.C.M.
Waltham
Webster
Webster-Whitcombe (WW)
Whitcombe
Wiskum
Wolf, Jahn
Zimmerman
Some of the above are featured in the Machine Tool Archive

	A Swiss-made Bergeon Model C of the "Geneva" type. This example is fitted with a compound slide rest to hold the cutting tool, a lever-action tailstock and, to assist with very small work, a magnifying glass held on an articulated arm. Bergeon is the only indigenous Swiss manufacture of watchmakers' lathes to have survived into the 21st century.