A lovely bit of kit, but judging by the print image on the box does this not date from a later period?
Can anybody beat this for old equipment
- Thread starter Cabinetman
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Hard to say precisely to be honest. The company was founded in 1876, and this is the earliest design, as it appears in their original catalogue. They do a variety of sizes. Mine is a 405, if I remember correctly a 406 is smaller and a 404 is bigger in terms of the size balance wheels they are intended for. Each design is double ended so can accommodate larger wheels at one end, smaller at the other. This one fits your typical pocket watch balances perfectly.
The design changed subtly over the years, a friend has one with the original paperwork dated 1888 and his is slightly different and seems to be a later type. I have also seen one with a definite date of 1906, which is different again. It hasn't got a patent number on it which might be helpful although that of course can only give you a "must be later than date". None of the old ones I have seen have any reference to a patent. Later ones have "patented" engraved on the tool, and printed on the box but no numbers.
So I suppose we could say late 1870's to mid 1880's to be more precise? I think the guy I bought it from advertised it just as 19th century, which is pretty safe. I can't say I have ever really looked into it, beyond a quick Google.
Kendrick and Davis carried on making watchmaking tools well into the 20th century, and was wound up in the 1990's, although I think they were doing other things by then.
I just love these old watchmaking tools, beautifully made, and very cheap compared to their modern alternatives. I think I paid about £50 for it, and it is complete with the little bar tool for tweaking the wheel back into shape, not in the photo. These usually get lost. A modern one of comparable quality is far more. I bought it as a functional tool rather than an antique, and use it regularly,
Always happy to know more though. What was it about the box that makes you think it is later?
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These are a couple of the watches I have used it on. On the bottom a very rare Waterbury Clock Company "Duke" circa 1893. To give you some idea of scale the one above is a more conventionally sized Hamilton.
The Waterbury is interesting in that it is effectively the prototype for the Ingersoll Yankee, the first dollar watch.
This watch was made by Waterbury for Ingersoll, at the time a mail order catalogue company, who sold it as the Universal Watch. Ingersoll sold nearly 100,000 of them at $2.
This success spurred Waterbury on to design what became the Ingersoll Yankee pocket watch, more conventionally sized but still using what was essentially a miniature clock movement. By the turn of the century they had sold getting on for thirty million of them, famously priced at $1. So popular that Waterbury were unable to keep up and Ingersoll had to build their own factory to make them, which is how they got into making watches.
The Duke was in a sorry state when I got it, but now pretty much finished. The condition of the original printed paper dial is particularly good. Many cheap watches at that time had paper dials, they are often badly damaged.
Keeps time to within 2-3 minutes in 24hrs, not bad for a 130 year old $2 watch !
The Waterbury is interesting in that it is effectively the prototype for the Ingersoll Yankee, the first dollar watch.
This watch was made by Waterbury for Ingersoll, at the time a mail order catalogue company, who sold it as the Universal Watch. Ingersoll sold nearly 100,000 of them at $2.
This success spurred Waterbury on to design what became the Ingersoll Yankee pocket watch, more conventionally sized but still using what was essentially a miniature clock movement. By the turn of the century they had sold getting on for thirty million of them, famously priced at $1. So popular that Waterbury were unable to keep up and Ingersoll had to build their own factory to make them, which is how they got into making watches.
The Duke was in a sorry state when I got it, but now pretty much finished. The condition of the original printed paper dial is particularly good. Many cheap watches at that time had paper dials, they are often badly damaged.
Keeps time to within 2-3 minutes in 24hrs, not bad for a 130 year old $2 watch !
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Hi
Judging by the cross-cross texture of the image, I believe it's an early example of Half tone printing. I remember using this at college when screen printing photographic images.
Though it was first thought of in the Victorian period, it's a look that I would most associate with the beginning of the 20th century which is when I would have expected it to be commonplace enough to be used on packaging labels. This, however, doesn't rule it out as being late Victorian,
Niall
Hi there Fergie 307. An interesting summing up of the case for your conclusions as to date. Mine was just a general observation based on the printing on the box.
Judging by the cross-cross texture of the image, I believe it's an early example of Half tone printing. I remember using this at college when screen printing photographic images.
Though it was first thought of in the Victorian period, it's a look that I would most associate with the beginning of the 20th century which is when I would have expected it to be commonplace enough to be used on packaging labels. This, however, doesn't rule it out as being late Victorian,
Niall
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Know nothing at all about printing, so that is interesting to know. I assume you are referring to the way the image of the tool itself is rendered? It is very well done.
No idea what these tools originally cost, but assume they were quite expensive.
One thing I have certainly noticed is that in those days they seemed to pay more attention to the packaging than nowadays. So even if something was in a cardboard box, it would be a very nice cardboard box
No idea what these tools originally cost, but assume they were quite expensive.
One thing I have certainly noticed is that in those days they seemed to pay more attention to the packaging than nowadays. So even if something was in a cardboard box, it would be a very nice cardboard box
Trextr7monkey
Established Member
This G Boley screw head polishing machine arrived recently along with a little Lorch lathe.
It appears to be solid brass and manually powered, quite an obscure find for me as I have never had any screws that needed polishing that would fit in the collets!!
It appears to be solid brass and manually powered, quite an obscure find for me as I have never had any screws that needed polishing that would fit in the collets!!
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Never seen one like it, very nice. Just need some tiny screws now
