Skip navigation

Category Archives: Tuesday Tools

An Archaic Spin on the Demagnetizer

January 27, 2009 – 9:01 am

Back in September, we talked a little bit about magnetism;  more recently, as I’ve been working my way through reading the whole of Donald de Carle’s Practical Watch Repairing, I came  across this interesting illustration of a  hand powered demagnetizer that requires no electric current at all to function. While it’s not something I can see [...]

By J.Edwards | Comments (5)

RODICO Premium

August 19, 2008 – 5:51 am

Another one of those great freebies I walked away from the AWCI Convention with was some of Bergeon’s new and “improved” RODICO Premium. For those of you who don’t know; Rodico is a cleaning product designed specifically for watchmaking. There are 3 main varieties of this product. They are similar in nature to the sticky [...]

By J.Peter | Also posted in watchmaking | Comments (4)

Ball Peen Hammer

August 5, 2008 – 5:56 am

Here’s a tool I learned how to use from a jeweler. The Ball peen hammer is very useful for forming rivets. I use it whenever I need to replace a worn rivet in a watch bracelet. This is a useful skill which should be taught in watchmaking school but is not. It is especially common [...]

By J.Peter | Also posted in Watchmaking School, watchmaking | Comments (0)

Syringe

July 23, 2008 – 7:07 am

When installing new glass crystals sometimes they are held in by a gasket but other times they are held in place by a two part epoxy. The different methods for securing crystals is actually quite diverse. Seiko makes an adhesive specifically for securing crystals but really any two part epoxy will do, so long as [...]

By J.Peter | Also posted in watchmaking | Comments (7)

What is it?

July 15, 2008 – 8:28 pm

What is it? We have here a tool from my workshop. On one side it has a large disc with small cutting tools on it. There is a pin to position the cutters. There is a handle to rotate the cutter. Only one cutter rotates at a time. On the back side there is a [...]

By J.Peter | Also posted in watchmaking | Comments (5)

Mystery tubes

July 8, 2008 – 8:12 pm

When we moved shops about 9 months ago I found this little vial of brass tubes. At the time I didn’t know for what they were intended. I still don’t but I found a great use for them. They are a cylinder of brass with the end turned down to a smaller diameter. Each one [...]

By J.Peter | Also posted in watchmaking | Comments (2)

Tuesday Tools – Roller Jewel Setting Tweezers

July 2, 2008 – 7:16 pm

I have never seen this tool in real life or in any modern catalog but it looks terribly useful. The rare time when I need to reset a roller jewel I have found it to be a somewhat awkward task. This tool appears to make it practical and easy. Click on the image for a [...]

By J.Peter | Also posted in watchmaking | Comments (3)

Tuesday Tools – Truing Calipers

June 10, 2008 – 7:38 pm

Truing calipers are used to help make a wheel turn true. Occasionally you find a bent wheel in a watch. The truing caliper will help you see how far out of true it is, locate the low (or high) spot and make the correction to get it turning true again. There are two main types [...]

By J.Peter | Also posted in watchmaking | Comments (1)

Tuesday Tools – Pin Vises

May 27, 2008 – 8:36 pm

One of the things about watches is they are tiny. When you need to hold a component firmly (more firmly than you can with tweezers) you often use a pin vise. The most common thing I use pin vises for is to hold a stem when I remove or install a crown, or for shortening [...]

By J.Peter | Also posted in Watchmaking School, watchmaking | Comments (1)

Tuesday Tools – Movement Holders

May 20, 2008 – 12:56 pm

You can’t touch a clean movement with your fingers and you don’t want to set it on a dirty bench top or pad so you need some way to support it. There are as many different movement holders as there are different watch calibers. Ok, maybe not that many but there are a plethora of [...]

By J.Peter | Also posted in watches, watchmaking | Comments (4)