Lathe, watchmaker's turn

By around 1790 the London horological industry enjoyed global dominance. As the eighteenth century progressed and consumer demand increased a major subdivision of labour took place in the London trade. Greater specialisation and productivity required a wider range of tools and machinery. By the beginning of the nineteenth century most specialists lived and worked in the Clerkenwell area. These artisans manufactured components or finished watches for the big firms in the Cities of London and Westminster.

The assembly of watch movements was painstaking as the components were very small. Precision tools, such as this lathe or 'turn', were needed to manufacture parts. The turn would have been clamped in a vice and then operated using a bow.