Salvaging Jewels

From The American Horologist and Jeweler magazine, February, 1942

Salvaging Jewels
By H. B. SMITH Drawings by W. H. Samelius

As jewels are becoming scarce and more expensive every day, I gathered all the old watch movements laying around the shop and removed the jewels and settings. 

As a rule, these jewels' settings are all held in place by screws. The settings are usually of large diameter and thick and can easily be converted into friction settings. 

By cementing the jewel to the end of a brass wire and centering the jewel hole by means of pegwood (Fig No.1) the old setting can easily be turned to desired diameter and thickness as shown in (Fig. No.2) the shaded section having been cut away. If the setting is of correct diameter, it's thickness can be cut down by placing the setting in a wire chuck and use of stepping device, or using the auxiliary jewel chuck. Quite often I run across 0 size 7 jewel watches that did not have removal bushings. I open the holes in the plate, insert a friction setting and get excellent results from the long life of the repair. Using a polished graver, I get bright bushings that have the appearance of a factory job. Incidentally, it keeps up your lathe practice and uses material that otherwise may be discarded.