Watchmaking

What one fool can do, another can. -- Silvanus Thomson.

Overview

This page contains descriptions of tools and procedures of interest to watchmakers. Because I want to make a watch, I hope to attract comments and advice from others who are ahead of me and perhaps supply motivation to those who want to get started. I'm also always trying to buy tools and books!

Tool Pictures and Descriptions

Lathes and attachments
Microscopes
Small tools
Wheel and pinion cutting tools

Procedures

Wheel and pinion cutting
Making index plates
Designing cycloidal gears
Template grinding

History

I've always enjoyed working with small mechanical devices. When I was 11 years old, I started making steam engines with a file and an electric drill clamped into a vice for a lathe.. When I was 13, I made a clock with a wooden movement. About 30 years ago, a friend sent me a copy of Saunier's Watchmaker's Handbook. This book was especially motivating for me. It described the procedures and methods of watchmaking from an era when many tools and parts were made by the craftsman from raw materials.

The watershed moment came a few years later at a wedding party. A retired gentleman who sold watchmaker's supplies was telling me all about the "good old days."  I mentioned somewhat casually that I'd like to make a watch someday myself. He said:
    "...You mean assemble a watch from parts?"
    "No," I replied.  "I mean from metal. Like steel rods and sheets of brass."
He stepped back a pace or two, eyed me up from head to toe, and sputtered:
    "No one...", he paused to draw his breath. Then with eyes widening with something close to indignation pronounced:
    "NOBODY could make a watch from scratch!"
So here I am, 30 years into the project.  Still no watch, but I've learned to make most of the parts by doing lots of repairs. I took many jobs that were not economically feasible for a commercial repairer because I wanted to learn the techniques. Now I've evolved to look forward to "it's not worth fixing" projects.

Links

The first link, Horology - The Index is so complete I'll keep this list short by listing sites I like that aren't listed there.

Horology - The Index
Clocks and Time
Tom Mister's horological tools and materials
Theodore Crom's books and tools
George Daniels
Steffen Pahlow
Information on Invar and related alloys
Mark Headrick's escapement book and animations
Search E-Bay for current watchmakers listings
Levin lathes and accessories
Otto Frei Company - Tools and materials
Denis Roegel's Horological Links
Schnyder gear hobs and fly cutters
Sherline Products: Miniature Lathe, Mill and Machine Tool Projects
Bob Tascione's video lessons on lathe work and repair procedures
Pieter Merckx - Astronomical clocks and links to other makers
My home page with other tools and obsessions

Email

Hugh Sparks

Training

I'm hardly qualified to give anyone advice, but these are ideas that I learned over many years. Perhaps they'll get you going faster.

• Learn general machine shop methods. Make a steam engine or something of comparable complexity on a model engineering scale. The tools you acquire to do this will remain very useful in watchmaking. Toolmaking and repairing require larger machines.
• Buy a large quantity of broken pocket watches. These can be found on eBay and in most antique shops. Buy the tools and books you need to get all of them running. Buy parts when you can, but make those you can't. You're not trying to make money, so don't give up. The "basket cases" will teach you the most. If you expect to make a watch, there's no such thing as a watch you can't fix.
• To fix watches, you'll have to form a relationship with a local parts supply company. (Called a "material house.") Find one that stocks antique parts. Learn to deal with them in a professional manner. (Hint: They're not an educational establishment.) Some material houses have a "junk room." Schmooze your way into browsing this on a regular basis.
• When you've fixed a few good watches, find local collectors and sell your watches slightly below the going market price. The collectors will always be glad to see you and eventually you'll get a chance to work on the kind of watch you couldn't afford to buy. Don't let the repair work get out of hand: You'll know when you've graduated because it will feel more like a job than an interesting challenge. Then it's time to move on to your own projects.
• Join one or more professional or collector's organizations and try to find local chapters that have "swap meets" and technical lectures:
• The American Watchmaker's Institute
• The British Horlogical Institute
• The National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors
• The Antiquarian Horology Society
• The American Watchmaker's Institute

The greatest value of getting involved with these organizations is social networking. It isn't practical for most would-be watchmakers to purchase a shop full of new tools. You need to buy, sell, trade, and huckster your way toward acquiring equipment. You'll also meet other madmen who can help you on your way.

Finding tools

Beyond the social networking and trading resources described above, there are many resources on the web. You should be searching eBay daily using the key "watchmakers." Another favorite of mine is Tom Mister's site.

Used industrial machine tool dealers will have measuring instruments, microscopes, and sometimes small mills and lathes. You don't want the sort of place where everyone wears a suit and the showroom is full of glossy white CNC machines. You're looking for one of the dirt-enhanced places in the disadvantaged part of town that has cavernous dark halls full of huge machines. Dress appropriately. Become a regular and get to know the owners. In time, you'll meet other creatures like yourself haunting the aisles.

Tool collectors are an eccentric breed and machine tool collectors are eccentric enough to be called "cams". Nevertheless they are your friends and you should cultivate as many as you can. Take care that you don't become one of them.

Books

There are many excellent trade schools where you can spend pleasant years learning to install plastic crystals, put in fresh batteries, and even replace those difficult-to-remove watchbands. If you actually want to make a watch, the following books have helped me with theory, technique, and motivation. Learning as much as possible about general machine shop tools and methods has helped me at least as much as all the watchmaking books.

I get a few letters from people who want to know "the best book" to buy on watchmaking. This is without doubt the George Daniels book.

A good place to find out of print books is Advanced Book Exchange. For books in print try Amazon.

George Daniels, Watchmaking, Revised Edition, Phillip Wilson 1999.
George Daniels, The Art of Breguet, Sotheby's,London 1986.
George Daniels and Cecil Clutton, Watches, Viking Press 1965.
Alfred Helwig, Drehganguhren (Tourbillons and Karusselluhren), Deutsch Uhrmacher-Zeitung, Berlin 1927.
Steffen Pahlow, Touhrbillon Uber Mein Passion, Privately Printed, ISBN 3-00-007198-9, 2001.
H. Jendritzki, The Watchmaker and his Lathe, Edition Scriptar SA, Lausanne 1982.
Martin Matthews, Engine Turning 1680-1980, Privately Printed, 1984?
Reinhard Meis, Das Tourbillon, Callwey, Munchen 1993.
Reinhard Meis, Pocket Watches, Schiffer 1987.
J. C. Nicolet, From Hand to Machine, Editions Scriptar SA, Lausanne, 1999.
J. C. Nicolet, Turning and Milling in Horology, Bergeon & Cie, Le Locle 1995?
Theodore Crom, Horological Shop Tools – 1700 to 1900, Privately Printed, Hawthorn Florida, 1980.
Theodore Crom, Horological and Other Shop Tools 1700 to 1900, Privately Printed, Hawthorn Florida 1987.
Theodore Crom, Horological Wheel Cutting Engines – 1700 to 1900, Privately Printed, Gainsville Florida 1970.
W. O. Davis, Gears for Small Mechanisms, 2^nd Edition, Tee Publishing, Leicestershire 1993.
Ward Goodrich, The Watchmaker's Lathe, Hazlitt & Walker, Chicago 1903.
Goodrich & Stanley, Accurate Tool Work, Hill Publishing 1908, Reprint by Lindsay Books, 1988.
Louis & Samuel Levin, Practical Benchwork for Horologists, Eighth Edition, Louis Levin & Son, Los Angeles 1950.
A.L. Rawlings, The Science of Clocks and Watches, Third Edition British Horological Institute, Upton UK 1993.
Archie Perkins, The Modern Watchmaker's Lathe and How to Use It American Watchmakers-Clockmakers Institute, 2003.
Claudius Saunier, A Treatise of Modern Horology, Crosby, Lockwood and Company, London 1887.
Claudius Saunier, Watchmaker's Handbook, Crosby, Lockwood and Son, London, 1924.
N. B. Sherwood, Watch and Chronometer Jeweling, George Hazlitt, Chicago 1892.
J.Swinburne, The Mechanism of the Watch, N.A.G Press, London 1950.
J. Malcolm Wild, Clock Wheel and Pinion Cutting, Arlington Book Co. 1988.
J. Malcolm Wild, Wheel and Pinion Cutting in Horology, Crownwood Press 2001.