Watchmaker's Part & Tool Lot

[Wesley881]

Hi all, a friend of mine purchased a large part lot that contains a fairly decent amount of tools as well. He paid $150 US and asked if he could offer it to me for some service on an old Waltham 18/S. There is a lot to list, and I need to sort it out. Some of the tools I am unsure of so I want to ask the forum for help as I come across them. Stay tuned! Here is an overview shot:

 

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[Wesley881]

Trivia time...name that tool!

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[frenchie]

Some guesses:

to the very left, a pair of tweezers for hairspring curves

The bigger tool in the middle is a pallet fork warmer (look HUGE)

[Wesley881]

Some guesses:
to the very left, a pair of tweezers for hairspring curves
The bigger tool in the middle is a pallet fork warmer (look HUGE)

That makes sense, I can see that. Here's two more sets of tools. The ones in the first photo are some kind of drill and I'm guess the other is a set of spring loaded center punches, or perhaps alignment tools? Thanks for the help so far.

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[dieale2]

12 hours ago, Wesley881 said:

Trivia time...name that tool!

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I am a newbie so grain of salt and etc...

Left to right:

The stamping on the tweezers indicates what model it is. It seems like the letters and numbers are standard among manufactures. I looked up "C" and nothing came up. I could be that the watchmaker grind a spare tweezer for a special purpose. Maybe holding pivots?

No idea. I seen that on Ebay listing so it's probably another wacky looking watch tool.

No idea. I am guessing that the collar on the tool slides on the arms to tighten on a pinion. It's basically a pin vise.

This is probably to heat up pieces to put shellac on it. You put the brass plate over a flame and put the shellac on it. You attach jewels in way.

This funny looking tool is a holder for the roller impulse jewel on the balance staff. People use this tool to replace the impulse on very old pocket watches where parts are extremely scarce. This blog post showcases the usage of two of your tools.

I don't know about the last two. Looks like some sort of holder for a part.

10 hours ago, Wesley881 said:

That makes sense, I can see that. Here's two more sets of tools. The ones in the first photo are some kind of drill and I'm guess the other is a set of spring loaded center punches, or perhaps alignment tools? Thanks for the help so far.

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For the first picture, it looks like something you put pinions into to true a wheel. Although it missing the upper half if that's the case. Maybe it's part of a staking set and it holds parts with pinions?

For the second picture, I agree. It does look like center punches. You can easily figure that out by using it.

[wls1971]

10 hours ago, Wesley881 said:

These are french hole closing punches used to reduce the diameter of pivot holes on clocks a full description of there use can be found here

http://www.nawcc-index.net/Articles/Murray-punching.pdf

 

[dieale2]

28 minutes ago, wls1971 said:

These are french hole closing punches used to reduce the diameter of pivot holes on clocks a full description of there use can be found here

http://www.nawcc-index.net/Articles/Murray-punching.pdf

 

Very interesting! I find it funny how the article derails people for mistaking them for center punches.

Are there pictures or guides on doing this properly? It seems like punching dents into a movement is an ugly way to fix a problem. Especially since installing a new bushing would look much cleaner.

[Tmuir]

They are really only meant to be used on very cheap 'throw away' clocks that are not worth the time it would take to bush it properly. They are generally frowned upon.

Its only one step up from 'punching up' oval pivot holes using a centre punch to attempt to make it round again.

[wls1971]

3 hours ago, dieale2 said:

Are there pictures or guides on doing this properly? It seems like punching dents into a movement is an ugly way to fix a problem. Especially since installing a new bushing would look much cleaner.

What you have shown in your link is prick punching and not the same as using a hole closing punch there is plenty of discourse on web sites such as Nawcc as to the usefulness of such punches but are not a substitute for rebushing.

But the OP now knows what they are.

[Wesley881]

Thank you guys very much, things are getting clearer. Elgintime has been a great resource for a lot of my pocket watch builds. I'm looking forward to using those warmers, as that's not a job I've been able to do. I tried once to re-set a pallet stone using a soldering iron to heat a bench block, but to no avail. I guess I'm in the market for an alcohol lamp!

As for the hole closers, I thought they looked a little large for watches. I have a few small clocks to work on so I'll keep them around. I've learned to throw nothing out in this field.

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[MrRoundel]

The tool that has the drill-looking things of different numbered sizes is a balance screw undercutter. It's used for removing material from the underside of balance screws to  lighten them while poising balance.

The tools on the far right are crown reamers. They are used on the underside of pocket-watch crowns to open them up, by removing material,  to fit over the case pendant.

The tool on the right with the wooden handle and brass "wing" sticking out, is called a combination tool. And yes, it is used to hold roller-tables while you replace the impulse/roller jewel.

Those two Longines crystal-wrenches are cool. I was trying to find one of those to remove and fit the crystal on a Wittnauer I was working on last week. I ended up using a Vigor crystal vise instead. It's nice to have the factory tool to work on such watches. Yours, marked "Admiral", are for that series of Longines watch. A lot of them, if not all, used the one-piece case, where you have to remove the movement from the front after removing the crystal. They may be marked with a 4 digit number like "1200" or 1260". My Wittnauer called for the 1260, which may be the biggest of that bunch. Cheers.

 

 

[Wesley881]

The tool that has the drill-looking things of different numbered sizes is a balance screw undercutter. It's used for removing material from the underside of balance screws to  lighten them while poising balance.
The tools on the far right are crown reamers. They are used on the underside of pocket-watch crowns to open them up, by removing material,  to fit over the case pendant.
The tool on the right with the wooden handle and brass "wing" sticking out, is called a combination tool. And yes, it is used to hold roller-tables while you replace the impulse/roller jewel.
Those two Longines crystal-wrenches are cool. I was trying to find one of those to remove and fit the crystal on a Wittnauer I was working on last week. I ended up using a Vigor crystal vise instead. It's nice to have the factory tool to work on such watches. Yours, marked "Admiral", are for that series of Longines watch. A lot of them, if not all, used the one-piece case, where you have to remove the movement from the front after removing the crystal. They may be marked with a 4 digit number like "1200" or 1260". My Wittnauer called for the 1260, which may be the biggest of that bunch. Cheers.
 
 

Much appreciated, I certainly would not have guessed correctly on the reamers and undercutters. The undsrcutting tool was baffling because the base looks as if it is meant to be held, and I thought those 'bits' were stuck in place. Much clearer now thank you.

I too have one of those Wittnauer cases on my bench at the moment, so the timing was good in scoring those Admiral wrenches, as this particular movement has a two pieice stem and exits via the front of the case. There are a few inserts for them, so I am hoping they could be used on other non-Longines/Wittnauer crystals.

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