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Jeweling tools

CLS

By CLS
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CLS Member

CLS

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I just recently started exploring watches; I have  taken apart and reassembled a few Elgin 18s grade 336. One thing I'm noticing is they all seem to have issues with jewels, either visibly cracked or literally in shards already. Can anyone recommend the tools needed for jewel replacement, there doesn't seem to be a ton of information that I can find on this particular subject?

Tmuir Distinguished Member

Tmuir

Posted
Posted (edited)

Setting up to replace jewels will take some considerable expense, I'm still just gathering the tools now.

It also depends on how old the watches are to watch exactly you need. For modern watches you want a Seitz jewel press or something similar, make sure you get one with a complete set of presses or reamers, or you may struggle finding those parts separately, a good micrometer, preferably a watchmakers one like a JKA, but they are getting harder to find for a good price and a pivot gauge.

All of these items do turn up on ebay, but you need to be patient to find one for a good price.

If you are working on older watches that the jewels have the brass rolled over the top to hold them in place rather than friction fit like modern watches then you need other tools.

Have a read of this website http://www.geocities.ws/dushang2000/Jewelling.html

This video also explains the Jewelling tool, its a modern Bergeon, but all the brands work the same.

 

Edited by Tmuir
fixed video insert
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CLS Member

CLS

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  • Author
Posted

Thanks!

For now I will only be dealing with older ones, so I should just be dealing with burnished/rubbed in (if my understanding is correct)? 

It looks like a lot of those tools are pretty specialized for stuff (I hope) I won't be needing to do much of. For example I don't think I would need the drill bits or "hole maker" right now.

What would you say would be the minimum I should buy in order to replace a hole jewel, the one in question is for the pallet fork

 

Tmuir Distinguished Member

Tmuir

Posted
Posted

If you haven't already have a look at this post.

http://www.watchrepairtalk.com/topic/5924-another-watch-butchery-pivot-reshaping/

In particular the second video which is in szbalogh's third post in the thread.It shows you what can be done with the minimum of tools.

For rubbed in jewels as a minimum you need the tool for opening up the brass and for closing it again.

If you are having to buy replacement jewels you will also need a micrometer as a minimum and a pivot gauge would be useful, but you could get by without it. If you need to replace jewels your pivots may need polishing or reshaping, or even replacing and you would then obviously need all the tools for doing that work, pivot file / burnisher, jacot too, staking set etc. To be clear I've only been studying watch repair for just over a year via night classes and I still haven't attempted to replace a jewel, or polish pivots on a watch, I've only polished pivots and rebushed on clocks so far.

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CLS Member

CLS

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14 hours ago, Tmuir said:

If you haven't already have a look at this post.

http://www.watchrepairtalk.com/topic/5924-another-watch-butchery-pivot-reshaping/

In particular the second video which is in szbalogh's third post in the thread.It shows you what can be done with the minimum of tools.

For rubbed in jewels as a minimum you need the tool for opening up the brass and for closing it again.

If you are having to buy replacement jewels you will also need a micrometer as a minimum and a pivot gauge would be useful, but you could get by without it. If you need to replace jewels your pivots may need polishing or reshaping, or even replacing and you would then obviously need all the tools for doing that work, pivot file / burnisher, jacot too, staking set etc. To be clear I've only been studying watch repair for just over a year via night classes and I still haven't attempted to replace a jewel, or polish pivots on a watch, I've only polished pivots and rebushed on clocks so far.

Thanks a ton for the advice, I appreciate it

  • 1 month later...
DouglasSkinner WRT Addict

DouglasSkinner

Posted
Posted
On ‎2‎/‎8‎/‎2017 at 9:07 PM, CLS said:

Thanks!

For now I will only be dealing with older ones, so I should just be dealing with burnished/rubbed in (if my understanding is correct)? 

It looks like a lot of those tools are pretty specialized for stuff (I hope) I won't be needing to do much of. For example I don't think I would need the drill bits or "hole maker" right now.

What would you say would be the minimum I should buy in order to replace a hole jewel, the one in question is for the pallet fork

 

Vintage watches may have burnished/rubbed-in jewels, friction set and jewels in settings.  One beautiful and frustrating thing about them is the huge number of variations that exist among old watches.  Two watches of the same caliber, even by the same company may use different parts.  Whew!  Means you gotta start collecting watch material ASAP if you want to do vintage work. 

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CLS Member

CLS

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Thanks for the input. I got the tools to open/close settings and some other tools for jeweling. Ive been tied up in CDL classes/ work lately so the watches are on hold for a bit. Im using the time to gather tools and info

DouglasSkinner WRT Addict

DouglasSkinner

Posted
Posted
32 minutes ago, CLS said:

Thanks for the input. I got the tools to open/close settings and some other tools for jeweling. Ive been tied up in CDL classes/ work lately so the watches are on hold for a bit. Im using the time to gather tools and info

I have a Seitz jeweling tool.  Initially it was incomplete but I've been able to pick up a full set of pushers, reamers and stumps.  Also I've gotten a Seitz jewel gauge.  They're fairly expensive.

There are other jeweling tools besides Seitz, as you see from the Burgeon model.  The Seitz tool was keyed to the Seitz system of jewels; which you can occasionally find online or at swap meets and trade fairs.  I've been working on my collection of jewels for awhile now.  Just got a nice Bestfit collection.  And the Seitz tool is not restricted to their jewel system.  Basically you just need to confirm the outer diameter and the hole size and find a reamer which is close; you can then use a broach to get the hole to the right diameter.  There are a number of tools for determining the size of a jewel hole.  I've got a couple now.  They usually cost some bucks as well.

david WRT Addict

david

Posted
Posted

This book covers the replacement of watch jewels set in chatons. It was originally a home study course that was written around 100 years ago. This was a time in watch repair when the watchmaker actually had to make their own parts from scratch, as commercially produced replacement parts were not readily available at that time. 

 

Product Details

https://www.amazon.com/Repair-Course-Wisconsin-Institute-Horology/dp/0578048450/ref=sr_1_72?ie=UTF8&qid=1489288686&sr=8-72&keywords=watch+repair+books

david

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