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Help With A Loose Vintage Minute Hand.

chrisbuxton27
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clockboy Distinguished Member

clockboy

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A controlled nip is required. For this reason I put them in a lathe collet and GENTLY tighten. It is really,really easy to go to far. You can use a broach but I recommend you put the broach in a vice so you have total control. 

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chrisbuxton27 Watch Enthusiast

chrisbuxton27

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Clockboy the type of minute hand I mean has no stem just a flat hand with a hole to push onto the minute wheel. So there is nothing to place in the lathe collet. I'm thinking a stake of some shape to to close the gap slightly but not sure which would do it. Maybe a stake used for setting jewel stones would do it but that's something I've not tried either.

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clockboy Distinguished Member

clockboy

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Ok sorry did not read the post correctly. However I recommend to get hold of the Cousins catalogue and browse it.

There are lots of hands available , different styles etc.  You will need to know length,width hole size etc. Too small is Ok because you can broach the hole out to fit but to big I really don,t know a way around it. Using a staking set punch might be to much for a delicate hand. The cleaver boys (not me) would make another arbour with a fatter shaft or thin the minute arbour and put a sleeve on. But you need a watchmakers lathe and lots of skill which I do not possess.

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Charlie WRT Addict

Charlie

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On a proper staking set you will find several hole reducing punches. The five blued punches with round polished ends are the ones I use to re-size hands. Smaller seconds hands as found on sub-seconds dials with tiny tubes I do with my set of pin vises. There are also other ways to accomplish this task, but I find these punches work well for me. I will post a photo shortly.

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