Retired watchmakers tools and Lathe questions

[wls1971]

I quite often attend the local auction houses near where I live, and at the sale this week was quite a few lots from a retired watchmakers workshop, so I went along to the auction the day before to see what was on offer, There where plenty of watches for sale in mixed bags, all of uncollected watch repairs, One lot caught my eye it was a bag which contained a 1973 Hamilton G10 military watch, there was nothing else of note in the bag of around 20 watches so I noted the Lot number and looked at everything else on offer.

 One lot describe as a Omega watch was a bit of a dog it was a record military watch which had a Omega Geneve dial replacing the original Record, It is a shame because with the original dial and hands it would have been quite a nice watch to have but as it stood it was neither a Omega or a original Record so not worth a great deal IMHO, I noted the lot number out of interest as I would be attending the sale.

Other lots included a Kendrick and Davis staking set which I wanted,

  

A Favorite jeweling set which I also wanted

,

A few mixed Boxes of tools and spare parts some of which I wanted and a couple of lathes. The lathes on offer where a Coronet Diamond lathe from the 1940's and a IME lathe with around  a dozen collets but no draw bar on inspection I could not get the pulleys to turn and with no obvious lock, I think it must have been seized. The coronet was in good condition and turned freely and had no play in the bearings and came with a motor I noted the lot numbers and resolved to return the next day for the auction.

The auction started at 12:00 o'clock Having attended the auction quite a few times the first lot I wanted was lot 196 at roughly 150 lots a hour I thought I would get there about 1 o'clock and have a short wait for the first lot I wanted. Sadly the auctioneer was working faster than usual and I got there at lot 209. I did get there in time to see the franken Omega/record watch come up it went to a telephone bidder for what i thought was a staggering price of £245.00 before commission.

So I waited a hour for my next lots to come up, I got the staking set for £40.00 and the Jeweling set for £40.00 which I was very happy with. The Lathes came up next, I have wanted a lathe for quite sometime but only want one to practice and experiment with at the moment so I thought if I can get the coronet cheap I will give it a go. The bidding started at £10.00 so I thought not much interest I will bid, I got the lathe for £40.00 too, the IME went for £90.00.

The next lot I wanted was a box of tool's, on the viewing day I had looked through it contained quite a few small boxed tools, such as a pinion puller roller remover and Bergeon crystal lifter a couple of vices taps and dies, and various other useful tools, so I got that for £60.00. The thing with auctions and boxed lots is you have to be careful because when I collected the box at the end of the auction half of what I had seen in the box the day before was missing, I suspect because there where a number of open boxes someone had taken all the useful tools and placed them into a different box at the viewing to make up one very good box to bid on, ideally with boxed lots you need to view just before the auction starts.The only saving feature of the box I now had is that it contained some Georgian Guinea weights and I should be able to recoup the money for the box just from those.

 

The Coronet lathe I now own came with one solitary collet and a motor,

 

I have bought this just to experiment with and don't intend to throw money at it, I would just like to get used to using a lathe, so I will get the electrician at work to rewire and PAT test the motor although it does work the wire has been wrapped with insulation tape. I do though have a couple of questions that someone I'm sure could answer, What oil should I use for the bearings on the head stock ?. I also intend to buy a few individual collets to get me started, the one that came with the lathe is 35.8 mm long 7.94 mm wide and is stamped on the top with two back to back c's the collet is also stamped 2807, which type of 8 mm collet is this and which ones do I need to look out for to fit this lathe.

 

Wayne

 

 

[vinn3]

Quote

 

nice collection.

[jnash]

dang it.... another jewelling tool bargain i didn't get... well done, you did really well!

[szbalogh]

Now i will dream with that staking set

[chadders1966]

Hi

 

Nice buys - make sure you change the staking set hammer though ;). I don't know if you are familiar with the site but there is some info. on your lathe at http://www.lathes.co.uk/coronet-precision/

There is also some information on collets at the bottom of this page http://www.lathes.co.uk/watchmaker/

 

Stephen

[syfre]

I use car motor oil 5W40 ; not sure this is the best but no pb with it

For the collet my Donald de Carle say they are 0.625 mm pitch (same as Boley 8mm, Star, Marshall Peerless, Lorch 8mm  ... ; the most common type)

 

[wls1971]

Thanks for the reply guys, I didn't want to make the mistake of buying the wrong collets nice to see these the most common type so should have no problem finding some,

 

Wayne

[rogart63]

Nice catch . Those are really nice tools. Congratulations. BTW i have a balance staff i need to  

[Andyclient]

Wow what a fantastic haul , well done 

[wls1971]

18 hours ago, chadders1966 said:

Hi

 

Nice buys - make sure you change the staking set hammer though ;). 

 

O.K now done

 

Very interesting site the lathes site thanks for the link,

 

Wayne

[oldhippy]

I used 3 in one oil for both my lathes. If you buy chucks second hand make sure they are good, not chipped or forced to hold stuff that is to big for the chuck making it out of line.

You have got hold of some nice tools.

[noirrac1j]

3 hours ago, wls1971 said:

 

Very interesting site the lathes site thanks for the link,

 

Wayne

Hey I have the same watcmaker tool as this...use it all the time.

JC

[RyMoeller]

On May 11, 2016 at 6:02 AM, jnash said:

dang it.... another jewelling tool bargain i didn't get... well done, you did really well!

Be patient, they are out there.  I have a Seitz kit, found complete on eBay for $36 USD + shipping.  I did had to wait for it to be delivered from Finland though.