Bench light ?

[ianrichards]

Good evening folks. 
Some advice on a suitable bench light would be greatly appreciated. 
I’m based in the UK and have looked at Cousins range and I’m not sure what I should be looking for. 
Should I go for a combined magnifier/lamp or just a lamp ? Dimmable or not ?

My current lighting is dreadful so definitely needs sorting. 
TIA

[tomh207]

Ian, I would go for a bench light, I have the combo magnifier/light version and find it pretty useless for watch work. It gets used now only as a light and very occasionally to inspect a case or bracelet. Only my thoughts and opinion.

 

Tom

[Waggy]

11 minutes ago, tomh207 said:

I have the combo magnifier/light version and find it pretty useless for watch work.

I second that, I ended up donating mine to Mrs W's quilting room and opted for the cousins bench light which I 100% recommend:

It's expensive, but throws out a huge amount of light - I'm sure the occasional 747 wanders off course when i switch it on. Being LEDs it doesn't cook you either. It is dimmable and you can change the type, (blue/daylight, warm/yellow etc.) so suit your needs also it clamps to the desk so frees up valuable desk real-estate! One of those few tools you end up saying "how did I manage without it!?!?"

[Neverenoughwatches]

On 12/3/2023 at 9:15 PM, ianrichards said:

Good evening folks. 
Some advice on a suitable bench light would be greatly appreciated. 
I’m based in the UK and have looked at Cousins range and I’m not sure what I should be looking for. 
Should I go for a combined magnifier/lamp or just a lamp ? Dimmable or not ?

My current lighting is dreadful so definitely needs sorting. 
TIA

Same as Tom i have a big magnifying glass/light combo, use it quite a bit for case polishing and initial decasing and some disassembly. I increase magnification with it by using +4 reading glasses, for anything more detailed i pop a x5 loupe on the glass of the magnifier . It gave enough magnification to rough out an 8mm setting lever. But for bench lighting i have a diffused 2' fluorescent light ( £10 ) mounted under a shelf on the general workbench and a couple of anglepoise lights on the watchbench. One is really small  but i can bring it right up to the watch and direct light inside it.

[linux]

I've had one of those circular magnifier lights but was disappointed in it, so I went to a couple of the artists clamp-on lights that I put 100 W equivalent LED bulbs in.  That gave me good light but I still needed more direct light right over my work pad so I bought a nice LED desk lamp similar to the one shown above from Cousins.  It clamps to the edge of the work bench and is tall enough to where the vertical arm doesn't get in the way.

 

 

Also, as you can see, my bench is in the garage and my biggest challenge is dust, hence the glass baking pan upside down of the work pad.  Since that picture, after looking for better non-glass alternative I ordered a custom plex display case and just received it.  I probably could have made it 3" high rather than 6", but being a rookie I still lay things out on the pad as I disassemble because and leave them there overnight.