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
Procedures
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 eight 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, eight 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.
Links
Email
Books
There are quite a few excellent books and
even entire trade schools where you can learn how to replace quartz
watch batteries and broken plastic crystals. As for learning
how to make a watch, the following books have helped me. To find
used books, I highly recommend the 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.
Alfred Helwig,
Drehganguhren (Tourbillons and Karusselluhren),
Deutsch Uhrmacher-Zeitung, Berlin 1927.
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, 2nd 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.
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.