In this video I review a number of recently purchased used vintage watchmaking tools, including: a Star staking tool, a Horia jeweling tool, a balance posing tool, a Jacot tool, and a micrometer.
chapter index:
00:00 introduction - IWC Cal 44 Albert Pellaton automatic - history
05:50 Bergeon Star staking tool, potence à river, riveting tool, riveting punch - $182 with lots of other tools
11:41 Horia micrometric jeweling tool - $131 with staking tool box full of punches and hammer
13:56 horizontal micrometers - $12
16:45 balance posing tool, equilibre aux balanciers - $44
23:21 Bergeon hammer - came with Horia tool and staking tool box with lots of punches ($131 for the lot)
23:50 Jacot tool, Zapfen-Rollierstuhl, Tour à pivoter, watchmaker's pivot polishing lathe, lantern disks, burnisher, runners, fork, bow - $41 for one and $89 for the other with a bunch of watch parts
31:31 review of prices paid (in this section you can see exactly what was in each of the different lots that I bought)
Horia 2023 price list: drive.google.com/file/d/1bEga...
Vintage tools are great, but their supplies are limited, they can take time to source, and they may be damaged or missing parts. Links to products and suppliers discussed in this video (including inexpensive versions) follow below:
The microscope I use is from Eakins on AliExpress (essential):
s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DnN...
Inexpensive Staking Tool Kit:
s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DlU...
Inexpensive Jeweling Tool:
s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DdL...
Balance Wheel Balance Staff tool (I ordered this for roller removal - haven't received as yet):
s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DmV...
The Timegrapher I use was not demonstrated in this video but is an essential tool (more so than the more advanced tools in this video):
s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DCe...
The AliExpress links above are affiliate links. By using the affiliate links I earn a small fee of your purchase at no extra cost to you. These products are very inexpensive compared to their Swiss counterparts. Of course you can also buy original products new from Bergeon, Horia, and Cousins.
cousinsuk.com
www.horia.ch
www.bijoutil.ch
www.bergeon.swiss
Great video! " punches" lol. You have a good channel. I wish you all the best.
Thanks! I appreciate that!
Very important to burnish the ends of the pivots! Want a rounded, centered tip up against the cap jewel. Gotta get a lathe so you can handily make replacements for things like micrometer pin, stakes, etc.. Make a sapphire burnisher from a broken watch crystal and medium diamantine. Build those fine skills!
Thanks! What lathe do you suggest? I was thinking Lorch (or comparable) 8mm D-Bed. Interesting you mention micrometer pin. I gave away my micrometer with broken pin because the pins cost over US 100, but they would be fun to make!
As a beginner, I really appreciate the education. Many thanks and all the best.
Thanks! I try to make videos about what interests me after learning all that I can from others. Check out the links to my favorite channels. There are many watchmakers that know much more than I do!
Shopping spree! It was very helpful seeing your list and pricing. It’s funny, I also think that the tools look so much smaller in real life than in pictures. I find the same is true after I do a video about a watch, and see it 1000 times close-up. Then I see the actual watch and it looks tiny. 😂
Exactly! Yes, it happens with watches too! And it also makes sense: tiny watches require tiny tools. Lack of magnification is why watchmaking seems so difficult when you first approach it. Magnification makes it much easier.
Anvils are what come in a jewelling tool set. They are called stumps when they come with a staking tool set, along with the punches and staking tool, as well as roller remover tool variants, depending on the set.
Stumps! Yes, thanks! Great info! Very helpful for searching for parts and also for understanding other tutorials and books that use that term!
Thanks Dayton, loved the video! I’ve watched a few of yours now and subscribed. I love your setup! We need more videos about buying watch tools, because they are so expensive usually. I think you got a great deal on all those purchases, I’m going on to eBay now to double check! I think you size a jewel by measuring the pivot of what goes into it (wheel etc), then add a tiny bit. You would need to investigate how much to add, like 0.05mm? Looking forward to checking out more of your videos. I collect and service my own and friends watches.
Ha! Thanks! I just met a watch repair guy in Las Cruces (G&J Watch Repair) who’s about to take me out to the parking lot of the Mesilla Valley Mall to show me a bucket full of watch tools he has in his car! The search continues!
Rolex watch makers push out balance staffs with a Horia tool the also do tap it with a hammer. i was surprised
I could not believe it when I first learned that hammers are used on watch movement parts - then I saw how tiny the hammers are! 😂😂😂
If you want to measure inside the jewels, you can just use the Hirox microscope and be done.
My goal in life is to be able to afford a Hirox microscope for myself and also be so rich that I can afford to buy one for you too!
@@IShootWatches That sounds good, but you have to watch it because $100,000 here and $100,000 there, pretty soon you’re talking about real money.
👍❤️Seeing your collection of tools makes me really covet and jealous 🆒😍
Thanks for your comment! You can have them too! It just takes some time to look for used tools on auction websites. It helps that I'm in Switzerland, but there are watchmakers all around the world.
@@IShootWatches 👍 Thanks ❤️
Nice new tools Dayton! I'm glad you found a proper staking set, I wasn't entirely convinced you'd be able to do it with just the base plate and the stakes alone -- no offense 😂. I got my own staking set off eBay, finally found one for an acceptable price, and it arrived today. The micrometers are an interesting pickup. To be honest, before you spend any money on the new tips, consider that this thing is old, and may be out of whack with the accuracy. If you're going to invest in new tips, probably not a bad idea to pickup the cheapest gauge block set you can find and make sure it measures it the correct size. Personally, I just went with a Mitutoyo digital micrometer with ratchet stop, and hopefully that will suffice. Maybe one day I will invest in one of those JKA Feintaster table micrometers, but they're pricey and need calibration too. Those Jacot tools are really interesting as well -- before we know it, you'll have a real watchmakers lathe setup and lapping & polishing machines and the whole 9 yards 😁.
Thanks Turbo! Yeah, I'm psyched about having some more advanced tools. Plus they're just amazing artifacts as well! Congrats on building your own stash as well!
@@IShootWatches they’re really cool artifacts, and collecting obscure watchmaking tools is one of my favorite parts of this hobby 😁. Thank you! Now I just have to figure out how to use it and what some of these punches are for lol.
I'm just getting into watchmaking and love it I have tons of tools to fix and repair things but this is on a whole other level the next thing I really want to get is a nice microscope.
Thanks! Yes, a microscope is very helpful. There's an affiliate link in the description of this video to the one I use (from Eakins / Aliexpress). Or at least I think there is... I'll check and add it if it's not there. 😂😂😂
Thanks, Dayton. Very informative. I'm at the point in my watchmaking learning journey where I will need to buy some or all of those tools soon. I'm hoping that the prices for used tools will come down as people who got into the hobby during Covid start to lose interest.
Thanks Mario! Yes, when the used prices are good you can get all the tools for less than the cost of one $1000 watch. Or you can buy the tools new and spend more than the cost of a new Patek Philippe. 😂😂😂
sorry for blaming you about the staking set and the jeweling tool. I had not seen this video. Now you will need a jewel gauge and a pivot gauge The one that came with the Jacot is for rough measuring. And then you will need diamond powders for working on jewels on a dremel. The finest powder for mirror polish is 0.5 mu. Bergeon's fine diamantine is under 1 micron but it is corrundum and will be only suitable for metals not rubis and sapphire. If you do not have these things you will end up buying Seitz jewels from cousins for 30 bux per 3 pieces. And you should also know that piercing a jewel is doable using diamond powder.
Amazing! Thanks for all of that info! You're welcome to comment any time, including about my mistakes (most are obvious, but many are not - the ones that are not obvious are important to point out to others!)
Well your mistakes were my mistakes to a great extent. But your channel is very useful and you are great at presenting things. What I said was an attempt to make my experience useful to other people. In this respect I have to mention that the watchmakers lathe is the most important tool of them all. And take a look at the JK feintaster and the rollifit gadgets. And I wanted to know what your specialty is, you are so well equipped form an IT point of view. I would say you are a software engineer but that is just a guess.
@@Qwerty-cb1ti I love those JK feintaster rollifits! It's just difficult to find them in good condition for a reasonable price. I make computer-controlled camera systems for visual effects, so yes, I have a lot of IT and photography experience. Not so much in front of the camera however, which keeps it real! 😂
I’m really jealous of the second hand prices you are seeing Dayton
I know, it's crazy, right? The problem with the used market is the waiting and searching time, but as a novice I learn a lot about the tools themselves just by looking at auctions. When you see a lot (as in a single auction lot of multiple tools) it's super interesting to look closely and try to understand (by research when necessary) each tool and what they do. I do a lot of that kind of looking, and then bid when the prices seem good compared to other auctions I've seen.
Great video. I really like your insane camera setup. It might worth a video on its own. I'm lurking after the same kind of tools but so far found that AliExpress is my main source besides buying new Bergeon items here and there. Would you mind sharing the site you purchased these tools from Switzerland? Keep up the good work!
Thanks for your comment! The site is ricardo.ch.
at 20:20 can you not use the air blower to spin the balance wheel?
Thanks for your comment! Yes, that is the better way to do it!
thanks for the reply! Newbie here and i appreciate the knowledge share@@IShootWatches
Hola Dayton, te mando una dirección de un vídeo que te puede ayudar , para hacer el cambio del pivote, ami me ayudó mucho. Un saludo. KZhead : Relojería facil herencia de relojero. ( reloj despivotado, reparación paso a paso.
That's great! Thanks! When I do the repair I'll include a link to this video for others: kzhead.info/sun/dLFpgZhxiZFmaI0/bejne.html
Hey, can I put that pivot under my microscope and replace it for you?
Yes, please! 😂
Poising tool - use blower to rotate balance
Thanks! Yes! Very excited to do that for real one of these days! I even got a vintage blower recently to do it properly! 😂😂😂