Grobet, Frankincense, and Myrrh

[C. in Indy]

(Seasons) Greetings,

I haven't posted hand tool projects lately... most of my woodworking has been very utilitarian recently.   Other hobbies also are competing with hand tools.

I remember that Grobet was a frequently-mentioned saw-file maker.   So I was tickled when I picked up a vintage watch-bracelet repair tool made by Grobet.   It looks like the picture below.

As you can imagine, the tool as designed would tend to sound squeaky.  I've found that Alfie Shine hard wax is a very good lubricant for jobs like this.   Also, it was the best lubricant I found for the depth-adjusters on Lie Nielssen low angle planes.

If you don't have any Alfie Shine, be warned that it is very fragrant.  Frankincense and Myrrh are natural hard resins that are part of the concoction!

   


Season's Greetings!

[Tony Z]

Longines watch (I cannot make out the name).?

[C. in Indy]

Oops!   That's what I get for plagiarizing a picture from the web.

Now I'm showing my own picture, where the Grobet name is visible on the tool, and where the work item is a cheaper Citizen bracelet 

   

[AHill]

Very cool tool and unique to any watchmaker tools I've seen up to now. I have around 30 watches, and a bunch of watchmaker tools so I can perform my own watch maintenance (except for repair and servicing of the movements themselves). Does this tool only install the removed link, or can it also remove the link?

[C. in Indy]

It actually works very well at pin-removal -- the plunge action (squeezing the plier handles) drives the pin out of the bracelet, into a small gap in the bearing surface of the hand tool.    I'm not sure if it would be useful for pin installation, since the pushing action would probably tend to go astray when the pin is being started.

It looks like some of the low-cost tool makers (like Pittsburgh of the Harbor Freight brands) make a very similar "strap link pin removing plier".

I'm the same way,  I do a fair number of basic watch repair and modification jobs, but I'm not set up at all for deep disassembly and servicing of fine mechanical movements.

[AHill]

They still make this tool. Esslinger sells a similar tool.

https://www.grobetusa.com/link-removing-...-pl-46001/