US Watch Masters

In 1909, K&D build numerous versions of its staking sets. Each version filled a specific need. The text in this advertisement explains the advantage of two features the company offered.

The Text Reads:

[Click on Image to Enlarge]

Ball bearing bases are popular because their many good qualities – their weak point being that no adequate hold is afforded by which they may be lifted from place to place on the bench; it is always necessary for the watchmaker to use both hands.

The new handle completely removes this difficulty; it is neat and strong; fastened to the base by three substantial steel screws, inserted from the inside, therefore, invisible. These handles fit any K.& D. ball bearing base, but should be attached at the factory.

The standard staking sets came in either a wooden box or the dome covered round bases of which three existed. Variations of the following sets came with these frames:

Inverto No. 17
Inverto No. 18 with On or Off Punch sustaining Device
Inverto No. 17 A and 18A on ball bearing bases
New Design, but not Inverto: No. 12B, 13B, 14B, 15B, 16B
Without die binding and friction sleeve: No. 5 and 5B

The 16A & 16B used the punches you may find with a letter preceding a number. For example,
A 1  Stretching balance arms
B42 Flat Faced Hollow Punches
C79 Taper Mouth Closing Punch

The lettered punches are longer than the Inverto punches, e.g., No. 44. K&D had to shorten the punches to work with the Inverto frames.

The K&D Model 18R Deluxe came with three separate jeweling sets. They include those pictured below:

• 321 – Seven Friction Jewel Subpunches
• 322B – 18 Jewel Size Reamers and Holder
• 324 – Six Hollow Friction Jeweling Stumps

I bought these sets separately. I don’t like the 18R box as it created difficulty when I reached for punches. The reamers have sharp ends and I found myself hitting them. On occasion, I cut myself. Also, I don’t use jeweling tools that often.

I also prefer the 600 series and the No. 17 staking frames. My jeweling tools stay in a drawer.

Below is a tutorial I posted in an earlier post. It may help you understand the use of these tools.

What’s Friction Jeweling any way?

In 1924, Hamilton took credit for the first improvement in jeweling since Nicolas Facio patented the use of jewels in watches in 1704. Hamilton called their system “improved jeweling”. Now, the Swiss claim they invented friction jeweling, but they haven’t produced any names or dates to substantiate their claim that I can find.

Let’s look at what Hamilton said. First, they claimed that as a  result of years of experimentation and research, that they came up with the “Hamilton Improved Friction Jeweling” method.

They then demonstrated it on the 989 18/0 watch movement.

While difficult to decipher from the image above, the 989 did not have bezel rings holding their jewels in place. You can see the difference in the two types of jeweling methods in the  photos below.

Hamilton released its first 987 caliber wristwatch movement with beveled edged jewels.This method held the jewels in with a screw-held ring. If you take a close look at the image on the left, then you can see two small screws holding a ring over each jewel. Hamilton released the next version of the 987 with friction jewels after the 989 proved it worked.

Little information exists on who actually manufactured the first friction jewels. Since Hamilton bought their jewels from Swiss companies, we can guess that the jewels came from Switzerland. Regardess, design and manufacturing techniques for watch jewels improved around the time Hamilton produced the 989 and subsequently. the 987E.  Hamilton began using jewels able to hold their position with friction alone, which cut down on time and effort to manufacture and service movements.

In this small post, we can look at how K&D and Moseley recommended replacing friction jewels.

The method for replacing a broken or dysfunctional jewel involves:

1. Measuring
2. Knocking out the old jewel and
3. Setting a new jewel.

Once you discover the simplicity of friction jeweling, anxiety about it will fade. Let’s go through the steps so we can move forward in our understanding of watch maintenance and repair.

1. Select a jeweling stump with a hole larger than the jewel needing replacement. Place the stump in the die plate of your staking tool and center.

2.      Select a pusher smaller than the jewel needing replacement. Place the pusher in its holder and secure it in the frame sleeve.

Staking Frame with Micrometer

3. With the exception of Balance Jewels, use the pusher to adjust the micrometer. For example, place a watch bridge on the stump facing up. Rest the pusher on the old jewel and adjust your micrometer to limit the movement of the pusher. Jot down the setting on a piece of paper and use it when setting the depth for the replacement jewel.

4. Lower the micrometer stop and press on the old jewel to remove it.

5.  If you have friction type jewel with an undamaged hole, skip the next two steps.

6. If you need to refinish the hole, pick out one of the reamers. Make sure it is large than the existing hole.

7. You can now ream the jewel hole for your replacement jewel.

8. Again, use the holder for the reamer and place it through the staking frame’s sleeve.

9. Don’t let the reamer go further than a millimeter into the hole.

10. Turn it to create a smooth and appropriate size hole.

11. Use a cone miller to remove any burrs from the edges of the hole.

12.  Now, you can place the jewel in the reamed out hole. Make sure the oil cup is face down.

13.  Use the pusher from step 2. Set the micrometer as you did in step 3.

14.  Rest the pusher on the new jewel and then press down the jeweling lever on your frame. The micrometer will stop it from pushing the jewel past the proper fit.

15.  Check to see if the watch part using the hole has a proper end-shake. You’ll need to rely on whatever literature exists for your watch.

16.  If you have to reset the jewel, adjust the micrometer stop and reset the jewel.

17.  If friction type settings are loose in the plates or bridges of your watch, you’ll need to tighten it by closing the hole.

18.  Use a taper mouth closing punch. (K&D punches 31 through 38A. Moseley  E1 through E9).

19.  A taper mouth closing punch draws soft metal in and reduced the size of the a jewel hole.

20.  Select a punch slightly smaller than the setting.

21.  Place the setting on a flat face stump, center it and tap the punch. You will see a groove that will help create a tight fit. Proceed at a slow pace as this tightening process will incorporate trial and error.

I wrote this as a high level view of the jeweling process. The entire scope of jeweling is a body of knowledge in itself. Never-the-less, I found this information helpful. It took the mystery out of the process for me.

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Students of horology tend to focus on mechanical watches. I didn’t work on a quartz movement for years and when I did, it reminded me of “electric shop” in high school. Watchmakers have a fascination with mechanical movements and that means escape mechanisms and specifically the balance wheel.

Most of the work I have done in restoration involves replacing balance staffs. If you can re-staff a balance, you can by broken watches on eBay inexpensively. I’m trying to keep away from the word cheap.

Most of the Hamilton watches I purchase have broken balance staffs. That means removing the balance assembly, the collet and hairspring and the roller table. Not many tools for removing collets exist. I use a K&D collet fork for pocket watches (size 12-18) and a Bergeon for bracelets (size 0-22/0).

Once we remove the collet and hairspring, we need to remove the roller. A plethora of roller tools exist out there. In speaking with numerous watchmakers, most have said that they used the Rex Roller Remover. That surprised me. I had always used the K&D 305, because that’s the only tool we had in the lab.

Since the end of World War II, watch schools have used K&D staking sets and the majority of those came with the 305 adjustable table removers – figures 3 and 6. In practice, however, watchmakers bought their tools from a variety of sources. I didn’t know that.

I see many Rex sets on eBay and other sites on the Internet. Those funny black cylinders seem to show up more often than not. They also sell for less than the K&D.

I decided to look into adjustable roller removers and found that K&D came late to the market. Roller remover stumps almost always appeared in staking sets, but Rex invented the adjustable sumps. I’ve also found that they have a superior configuration.

Figure 1 came from an old supply house catalog. Figure 2 shows how the tool worked and Figure 4 explains how it works. The Rex uses a tiny rod to tighten the stump’s teeth as they settle between the roller table and balance wheel. K&D requires a staking frame and the user to tighten the stump by turning either the chrome bottom (Figure 6)  or the wing (on the older model Figure 3).

K&D had some difficulty achieving market adoption for the 305. The company included it in most of the staking boxes they sold beginning in 1946. They even changed the look of their original 305 (Figure 3) to resemble the Rex. Finally, they packaged the 305 to look like the Rex – Figure 7.

I have started using the Rex. The jury is still out between it and the early 305. I suggest you look at the shape of the stump head. Each iteration differs. Regardless, don’t dismiss the Rex. She might now look as hot as the younger model, but she’s a bargain.

Figure 1	Figure 2	Figure 3
Figure 4 [Click on image to enlarge]	Figure 5	Figure 6

Figure 7

These catalog images can help people identify tools they may wish to purchase or sale on eBay or other sites. We see a surprising number of preowned watchmaker’s tools up for auction during warm months. During the late spring through late fall, estate sales proliferate the market. You will begin seeing more watchmaker’s tools for sale without descriptions. If you’re in the market, you will find that “being informed” makes a huge difference when it comes to paying the proper price for items and getting a great deal.

You may also discover that someone ran into a watchmaker’s estate and thought they struck gold. You can tell when the put a $150 staking set up and ask $850 for it.

These are K&D brand tools. The popularity of K&D Staking Sets have made many of their other tools popular. In fact, K&D tools are collectors favorites.

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Hairspring Collect Remover	Jewel Pusher	Bench Keys
Watch Keys	Gold Tipped Oiler	Arbor & Saw
Brass Head Mallet	Brass & Fiber Faced Mallet	Case Opener
Bench Knife	Watch Mainspring Winder	Wrist Watch Crown Winder
Watch Mainspring Winder	Watch Mainspring Winder	Pin Pusher
Pin Vices	Counterbores & Sinks	Jewel Screw Drivers

Jewel Screw Drivers	Jewel Screw Drivers – Five	Six Double Blade Screw Drivers
Waltham Screw Drivers	Adjustable Roller Stumps	Balance Truing Wrench
Sensible Hand Remover	Sub Punches	Friction Jeweling Sub Punches
Roller Remover Set	Jeweling Stumps	Canon Pinion Closing Stump & Punch
Balance Truing and Polishing Tool	Balance Truing and Polishing Tool	Optical Screw Driver
Bench Block	Bench Block	Adjuster’s Stand

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Lathe Motor	Demagnetizer	Sleeve Wrenches
#279 – Screw Drivers (9)	#292 Screw Drivers	Balance Screw Holder
Later Model 305	Adjustable Roller Remover Set	Incabloc Punches & Stumps
Pallet Arbor Punches (3)	Jewel Bezel Opener	Parallel Jaw Hand Vise
Key or Holder Waltham Mainwheel Arbor	Automatic Jewel Tweezers	Balance Pliers
No. 461 Screwdriver Blade Sharpener	Ring Cutter	Micrometer Screw Driver

Collet Tool for Adjustment and Removal	Roller Removal	K&D Polishing Motor
Demagnetizer	Movement Holder	First Incabloc Punch & Stump Set
Cone Miller to Remove Burrs When Jeweling	Face Plate to Holder Bridges When Jeweling	One of the First Case Knifes
Balance Staff Remover No. 50	Balance Screw Undercutters	Spring Bar Pusher
Pin Pusher	Counterbores and Counter Sinks	Lever Vice
Ring Mandrels	Jiffy Stump Block

You’ve seen tools like the ones in these catalog pages before. They’re often for sale on eBay and tool shops on-line.

The two catalog pages came from the 1909 Keystone Catalog.

[Be Sure to Click on Any Image to Enlarge It.]

Flat and Round Face Solid Punches

		K&D	Marshall	Boley	Star	Bergeon
Flat Face Solid Punches		104	C1	13
		105	C2	12	25	233
		106	C3	10	26
		107	C4	9	27	232
				8	28	231
		108	C5	7	29	230
		109	C6	6	31	229
		110	C7	5	32	228
		111	C8	2.8	34	225
		111A	C9	2.7
Round Face Solid Punchs
		112	D1	50	36	282
		113	D2	49	37
				46.5	39	281
		114	D3	47	38
		115	D4	46	40	280
		116	D5	44	42	275
		117	D6	43	43	276
		118	D7	41
		119	D8	39	46	273
		119A	D9

If you have spent anytime with staking sets, you know the difficulty of finding compatible ID numbers and what they mean. You will find in this post, a conversion chart for Round Face Hole Punches (Rundpunzen mit Bohrung). See the description below the chart.

		K&D	Marshall	Boley	Star	Bergeon
Round Face Hole Punches
		74	B2	72
		75	B3	70
		76	B5	68	100	270
		77	B6	67
		78	B7	66
				64	101
		79	B8	64
		80	B9	63	102	267
		81	B10	62
		82	B12	61	102A	265
				60	103	264
		83	B13	59	103A	263
		84	B14	58	104	262
		85	B15
		86		57.5
		87
		88	B16	57	104A	260
		89	B17	56.5
		89A		56	105	258
		90	B18
		91		55.5
		92	B19
		93	B20	55	106	256
		93A	B21	54.5
		94	B22
		95	B23	54	107	254
		96	B24	53.5
		97	B25
		98	B26	53	108	252
		99	B27	52.5
		100	B28	52	109	250
		101	B29
		101A	B31
		102		51.5
		102A	B32
		103	B30	51	110	248
		103A	B33

If you have spent any time with staking sets, you know the difficulty of finding compatible ID numbers and what they mean. You will find in this post, a conversion chart for Flat Face Hole Punches (Flachpunzen, ungebohrt). See the description below the chart.

		K&D	Marshall	Boley	Star	Bergeon
Flat Face Hole Punches
		43		36
		44	A2	35
		45	A3	33	65	222
		46	A5	31	66	221
		47	A6	30
		48	A7	29
				28	67	219
		49	A8	27
		50	A9	26	68	217
		51	A10	25
		52	A12	24	68A	215
				23	69	214
		53	A13	22	69A	213
		54	A14	21	70	212
		55	A15
		56		20.5
		57
		58	A16	20	70A	211
		59	A17	19.5
		59A		19	71	210
		60	A18
		61		18.5
		62	A19
		63	A20	18	72	208
				17	73	206
		63A	A21	17.5
		64	A22	16.5
		65	A23
		66	A24	16	74	204
		67	A24	15.5
		68	A26	15	75	202
		69	A27
		70	A28
		71	A29
		71A	A31
		72
		72A	A32
		73	A30	14	76	200
		73A	A33

For final staking of balance staffs

For final staking of train pinions

For pressing hairspring collets on balance wheels

For use as stumps when inverted into the staking tools. Ideal for riveting “hard” staffs will save wear and tear on the expensive die plate.

When used for final staking of a balance staff or pinion, it is important to select the correct size punch for doing a good job and avoiding damage to the punch. A proper fitting punch should fit freely over the collet hub with a clearance of about .02 to .03 mm. Always tap the punch lightly with a brass hammer turn- ing it about one quarter of a turn after each blow.

If you select too large a punch, it is possible that you may not obtain the full degree of bearing surface, thereby, placing too much pressure on the inside corner of the punch causing it to flatten out or chip. If you select too small a punch, the staff becomes a wedge and will split the punch or round the inside corners of the punch.

I have seen some confusion about a popular tool created by K&D around the turn of the 20th century, e.g., 1902. I notice that confusion as I browse eBay’s listings of pre-owned watch tools. The sellers lack knowledge of the tool, how it works and when K&D made it. Let’s take a shot at clearing-up that confusion, now.

Several watch and jewelry suppliers carried the K&D Sensible Hand Tool Remover. Let’s look at how the largest supplier, Swartchild & Company, advertised the Model 310 in their 1928 catalog like this:

This has a self-acting plunger, which comes down on the top of the hand socket, holding the hands in the tool after they are moved from the watch. Pressure on the dial comes directly over the hour wheel. Does not crack dials. Finely finished. Hard rubber handle.

Figure 2

K&D manufactured the 310 & 310B from 1910 – 1992.  The one in the photo below has a Bakelite handle, which would date it in the 1930’s.

Several variations of this tool exists. I have several and each handle is made out of different materials.

The tool came in two models: the 310 and the 310B.  The 310 has a larger head on the plunger (see fig 1). When you put the 310 on a wristwatch, it’s simply slips.

The 310B is too small for a pocket watch and it also slips.

Unfortunately, most sellers on eBay put this tool up for auction and have no idea if it’s for a bracelet or a pocket watch.

Fig 1

Another problem exists. In photos the tool appears large. In reality it’s a little large than a tweezers. The photos fool anyone that hasn’t seen a 310.

Figure 3

Note: The tool is much smaller than one would imagine from the photographs we see on eBay and in catalogs. It fits one’s hand nicely.

Figure 4

While we may not know the author, Hammel & Riglander published them.

K&D sold incredible products. They cornered the staking market by 1902.  By 1909, the company had many suitors. We can only speculate at this point, but it appears one of those suitors acquired K&D and Hammel & Riglander appears like the winning suitor.

After World War II, C&E Marshall started a price war with Kendrick & Davis, Co. It’s easy to understand, Marshall purchased the Moseley Company and acquired two products: The Lathe and the Moseley Staking Tool. Marshall released a modified version of the K&D 18R. Marshall called their product “The Moseley Staking Tool”  and offered it for $63.50 to $87.50.  K&D’s set cost $94.

In today’s dollars that doesn’t sound like much difference. I would chose an all tempered steel and heavy chrome plated K&D staking tool to the part steel, part plastic Moseley tool.

Let’s talk in 2014 dollars. In 1946, $63.50 would have the same purchasing power as $618 today. When I stood about three feet tall, my dad used to buy me a Coca Cola for a nickle (5 cents).

In 2014 dollars, a watchmaker could get into a friction jeweling set for $618. The K&D’s friction jeweling set would start at $916. That’s a significant difference.

Let’s look at the product comparison’s. The first figure on the top left is Moseley’s tool. Below it, Figure 3 is the K&D tool. Today, C&E Marshall would have their head handed to them in court. Why? Because, K&D owned the patent. See Figure 5 and the patent date is 1938. That would give K&D the exclusive rights to market their product for nine more years before a competitor could build a similar product. You don’t question the similarities in the designs do you?

Marshall also took K&D head on in the 38mm die plate staking frame. Marshall offered a product comparable to the Model 600 for $24.50 versus K&D’s $42. In 2014 dollars that’s $234 versus $409.

In 2014, you can’t buy either brand new. The K&D 18R Deluxe sells for about $300 on eBay. The Moseley brings about $150.

Why the difference? K&D furnishes several accessories Moseley didn’t even make. K&D included 12 jeweling stakes with handle; two balance staff removers; six jeweling stumps; two adjustable roller removers; several additional “types of” punches; canon pinion tighteners; and cross hole punches to mention a few.

In the 600 Series – Little Giant lines, the C&E Marshall Moseley clone generally sells for more than the K&D set. The two frames are identical with the exception of old plastic in the Moseley tools.

Frankly, I’m stumped.

Figure2

Figure 1

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5