Tmuir

I'm just wondering how many people here are a member of any association? There are still quite a lot of Associations / Clubs / Guild / Institutes around the world and I'm just interested how many people here are members of one, either because you are training through them, or joined just to find like minded people. I'm a member of the 'Master Clock and Watch Makers of Western Australian Inc' which is a not for profit organisation for promoting Horology and also runs the school I have been studying at for the past 3 and a bit years. I just recently graduated from my course so have paid the difference and I moved up from an associate to a full member which will allow me to be more active within the association. I'm sure we must have atleast a few members of BHI here, but what other organisation are people members of, or are thinking about joining. Just interested to know.

Thanks for the German translation. I do sometimes search ebay Germany but have been relying on Google translate and only getting mixed results. At least in Perth Western Australia watchmakers tools at auction houses are pretty rare as I guess there just aren't as many for sale in Australia. You can see the same on Ebay Australia, you do a search using the word 'watchmaker' and set it for used items on in Australia and it gets 54 hits today, same search on Ebay UK gets 364 hits.

If he can measure it I would like to know how, as I doubt I could.

SIgn up to Cousins UK and go look for watch parts and then case parts and enter your calibre and case number which will be on the back of the case. if you are lucky Cousins will have in stock the correct crystal, or an OEM crystal for the watch, but as Seiko does produce a lot of models of watches its quite common for the crystal to be obsolete and out of stock, but Cousins may still list the part number which you can search for it on ebay. This is for the acrylic crystals, if its just a flat mineral glass you just need to rmeove it and measure diameter and thickness with a vernier and buy a replacement one, but measure very carefully as the glasses go up in 0.1mm steps. You may also need to buy a new gasket for the glass too. As they others say other than a gentle dusting don't touch the dial. If you are very careful you can try a microfibre Q-tip just damp with distilled water on stains, but be careful as it can remove the markers and writing.

Those are great photos, thanks for posting them as I would of also wondered if that wear is acceptable or not

I'm after upgrading some of my more expensive tools and I am wondering if there are any second hand watchmaker tool sellers in the UK. I'm aware of a couple in the USA, but postage from USA to Australia seems generally to be higher than the UK, so if possible would prefer to buy from the UK. Buying expensive second hand tools off ebay always comes with some level of risk and would happily pay a bit more from a reputable second hand tool dealer in the UK if any exist. To stay within the forum rules, all I'm looking for is a website that lists tools for sale, not offers to sell me your spare tools. Thanks

The price might not of gone down on Bergeon tools, but it does seem the quality has. I guess part of it must be economies of scale. How many watchmakers bought tools from Bergeon 30 years ago compared to today?

A quick test would be to weigh a number of them and then fill up a measuring jug with water and drop them in. You should be then able to work out their volume by how much water they displace. Nickel weighs 8.908 grams per cubic centimeter. Lead weighs 11.342 gram per cubic centimeter. Tin weighs 7.265 gram per cubic centimeter Also if they are tin and you bend one you will hear a cracking sound as the crystalline structure within the tin cracks, lead won't do this. If you are accurate enough with your weighing and measuring and they are not an alloy of elements you should be able to work out what they are made from.

Could be Nickel which would make sense for plating

Top one is definitely a Jacot tool, a very expensive one, its possibly meant to have a diamond lapp wheel to polish the pivot a bit like this one. http://cdn.webshopapp.com/shops/36767/files/150953315/sold-bergeon-4106-rollifit-with-steiner-jacot-pivo.jpg No idea on the second one The last one what is the metal they are made from and how big are they? I am wondering if its a bag of anodes for plating.

Can I see the word 'push' and a little arrow above it on the back plate at about 4:30? If so look where the arrow is pointing, you may need to move the stem out to setting position for the thing to push to become visible.

I'm a self confessed bookaholic, not just Horology books, but books on model engineering, jewellery making,woodworking, restoring classic cameras, gardening, cooking, brewing etc. Basically if its a book on how to make or fix something I probably have atleast 1 book on it. I've even got books on how to make books. (book binding that is not writing a book)

I just received 2 new books today, both by Archie Perkins and I'm very happy with them. I already had his first book ' The Modern Watchmakers Lathe and How to Use it' and today I received Antique watch Restoration Volume 1 and Volume 2 These books are not cheap but I'm very happy with them, if you want to learn how to repair antique watches these are the books you need. Volume 1 Starts with 34 pages on just how to strip down and clean an English Fusee Lever Watch, followed by a chapter on repairing or making watch Fusee chains and then several other chapters covering how to make Clicks, Ratchwheels, Fusee clicks and Maintaining clicks, repairing fusee barrels. It then has several other chapters on how to cut wheels and finish winding wheels with snail patterns, rayed patterns and even how to use a rose engine to make the patterns on the winding and ratchet wheels. I know someone who has made their own rose engine to make silver watch dials, so I can see me having a chat with him in the future. Volume Two goes into how to set jewels in antique watches, then the verge escapement and how to make a new verge escape wheel as well as verge balance staffs, it also goes in depth on repairing duplex escapements, cylinder escapements, chronometer escapements, detached lever escapements, making new pallet forks, roller tables, pallet stnes and jewels and even balance wheels and screws. I don't have all the tools needed or the skill to do all this work, but it does give me something to aim at. There is also a book 3 that goes very much into detail on replacing, repairing and making all types of hairsprings, but I didn't get this book as I decided that was way above my current skill level. If you are all interested in restoring antique watches where you will likely have to fabricate some parts yourself I do very much recommend these books.

It's time to get back to working on my Fusee clock and finish the new barrel for it. Although I could manage without making this tool I decided it was worth making to ensure I get the endshake correct. I wanted to measure the distance between the bushes inside the clock barrel and obviously you cant use a vernier for that. That's where this tool comes in. Its a pretty simple tool. The threaded rod is a 6BA steel threaded rod I had lying around and I turned up 2 brass ends. The one on the left is only threaded for about 10mm and the rod is screwed and Loctited into it. The one on the right is threaded for the first 10mm and then just clearance drilled the rest of the way. I did this as my taps are not long enough to tap the whole length. The shoulders of the brass ends are 7.5mm diameter with the narrow parts 5.5mm diameter. The idea is this can be used on any barrel that the pivots are larger than 7.5mm. Before I get onto how to use it I will quickly show how I tap small threads like this. The picture below shows my lathe fitted with a drill chuck in the tail stock and held in the drill chuck is a steel rod that I drilled and reamed to give it a smooth bore. I then turned up the tap holder with the shank to the size its a nice smooth fit into the bore. The end of the tap holder is drilled to be a good fit on the tap shank size, knurled to give you some grip and then a grub screw hole is cross drilled and tapped and a grub screw fitted, so when you slide in the tap the grub screw is tightened up on one of the flats of the square on the end of the tap. The drill chuck and reamed tube hold the tap in line for tapping and as you screw the tap in by hand it slides in the tube so no stress is put onto the new threads being cut. You can obviously also use this in a drill press. A closer shot of two tap holders and the sleeve, they are each made for different size taps Measuring tool in use. The shoulder of the left side is sat against the shoulder of the bush inside the barrel and the other brass end is gently wound out until it is touching the shoulder of the other bush, then the 6BA nut is done up against it to stop it slipping, you then remove it from the barrel and use your verniers to measure the gap between the shoulders on the measuring tool. I can now ensure that my new barrel will have the same amount of endshake as the old barrel, yes I could of worked it out without making this tool, but its always fun making new tools.

Yes I've got a large selection of repair books, but there is so much still not covered in them.