Reply To: What Do You All Collect & Why?

[david pierce]

As far as watches go I guess I have the usual collection of pocket and wrist watches that everyone else has. In 1971 I bought a UNIMAT and every attachment that I could get my hands on which includes the threading attachment and the thread drums with the followers. About a year later I bought a second UNIMAT used from a friend who was making pedal steel guitars at the time and needed a bigger machine. I then bought a 12″ ATLAS which I later sold and a 6″ ATLAS which I restored back to new condition and then later sold. Then another friend who owned a dental lab sold a watchmaker lathe (BOLEY) to me for $25.00 that I restored and still have. Over the years I have been buying and restoring watchmaker lathes both WW and Geneva style and now have over 50 machines. I plan to sell them in my later years but I want to offer them as kits in wooden boxes with accessories.
My brush with watchmaking came fairly recently in my life when I enrolled in the TIME ZONE WATCHMAKING SCHOOL and took all three courses. The head instructer there was a typical lab coat type who believed in a top down approach to watch repair instruction. When I enrolled in this program it fit my personalty better as this is an exchange of ideas program. By the way, thank you Bob for setting it up this way
I have a small machine shop and am able to make some of the parts and accessories with the equipment I currently have. The next major machine on my wish list is a 6 x 18 surface grinder but only time will tell if I ever get one. Anyway that is my collection.
david