Tradition in Motion

Named after his previous owner’s beloved late whippet, our 1950s 10mm Pultra lathe Barney is our go-to for watch case making. We use a traditional boxwood turning process alongside various other production methods, from casting and milling to forming up parts from sheet and bar precious metals, in the production of our cases.

Custom built by Craig from a partial 1970s Andrä & Zwingenberger 8mm watchmaker's lathe which arrived in our workshop alongside her complete sister Heidi, Helga is set up for cutting the teeth into our train wheels. Craig designed Helga based on the cover of the book, A Watchmaker and His Lathe, by H. Jendritzki.

Twin sister of our wheel cutting lathe Helga, our 1970s Andrä & Zwingenberger 8mm watchmaker's lathe, Heidi, is our busiest lathe in the workshop. Used for blanking components like barrels and pillars, arbors, screws and smaller case parts to name a few, she's used most days and is Craig's favourite lathe.

Perfectly proportioned "Little John", our micro milling machine was custom made for us by a UK-based toolmaker. His small scale makes him perfect for jobs where you need to be able to move around the machine and check work from all angles like when we're slotting screw heads or taking parts down to thickness.

Adam was inherited from the late watch case maker Adam Phillips who taught Craig case making during a QEST Johnnie Walker funded scholarship. We sadly lost Adam a few years ago, but treasure his memory in our workshop with the 8mm Boley lathe he left to us, which we've set up for snailing and finishing.

Our 1960s English 8mm IME watchmaker's lathe Charlie is set up for the specialist task of making watch balance staffs. One of the smallest and most precise components in a watch movement, with pivots measuring a fraction of a millimetre, we felt the detailed job of turning them by hand deserved its own lathe. 

The littlest lathe in our workshop, our 6mm Lorch called Maus (after the German for mouse) is Rebecca's favourite lathe. Made in around 1950, she used to be used for restoring pre-19th century watches and has since become the resident watch winding crown making lathe for our in-house Project 248 watches.

Our early 20th century Wolf Jahn milling machine, Albert, is one of two in our workshop used for milling everything from watch movement plates to our buckle tongue slots. Twice the size of John but still small in milling terms, Albert's powerful motor makes him great for precision work.