I · The Maker/II · The Tool/III · The Record/IV · Acquisition
Room I · The Maker
Steiner, under the sign of the cockerel
Steiner made watchmakers' turns, lathes and pivoting tools in Switzerland and marked them with a cockerel: Le Coq in French, Hahn in German, the name its pivot tool was sold under. This set was supplied through Friederichs, the Dutch wholesaler of watchmakers' tools and materials, whose label on the lid prints the same bird above the firm's name. Friederichs still trades today, from Heemstede.
Room II · The Tool
Two headstocks, three graduated runners
The bed is a single block of nickel-plated steel carrying two shaped headstocks, each locked by a knurled thumbscrew, with a knurled rod along the front. A pivot rests in a sized groove of the runner while the burnisher is worked across it. The runner in the left headstock turns to a head graduated 16 to 36 in hundredths of a millimetre; the two spares in the case run 4 to 15 and 15 to 30, so the set takes pivots from 0.04 to 0.36 mm.
Each runner has a moulded green star knob for grip. With them in the case are a flat burnishing slip and a two-part card tube holding two rounding discs, unused. The bow that drove the work is not present.
Each runner has a moulded green star knob for grip. With them in the case are a flat burnishing slip and a two-part card tube holding two rounding discs, unused. The bow that drove the work is not present.
The set in its case; the tool and its spares laid out; the fitted insert, emptied.
Room III · The Record
The cockerel, twice
The lid, with the Friederichs label.
The cockerel is struck into the underside of the bed, beside the number M52 and an oil point marked Oil with an arrow. It appears again in print on the lid, above the name Friederichs and the line Amsterdam-Rotterdam, the firm's earlier form of address. The moulded star knobs and the bright plating place the set in the 1950s.
Bed and headstocks
Very good
Bright nickel plating with light handling wear.
Mechanism
Excellent
Fully working; the runners slide smoothly and lock firmly and the front rod moves freely.
Runners
Very good
A few small rust spots on one loose runner.
Accessories
Two loose runners, a burnishing slip and two new rounding discs in their card tube. The bow is not present.
Case
Very good
Sound, both brass catches working; label scuffed through its first letters; two pressure marks on the lid felt.
- Maker
- Steiner (Le Coq), Switzerland
- Retailer
- Friederichs, Amsterdam-Rotterdam
- Type
- Pivot-burnishing tool (tour à pivoter)
- Date
- C.1950s
- Material
- Nickel-plated steel
- Marks
- Cockerel trademark, M52, Oil
- Runners
- 16 to 36, 4 to 15, 15 to 30 (1/100 mm)
- Contents
- Tool with runners fitted, two loose runners, burnishing slip, two rounding discs (new) in card tube
- Case
- Fitted wooden case, 28.5 by 12 cm
The Estate Collection
Room IV · Acquisition
€595
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Steiner
€595
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Steiner Le Coq Pivot Burnishing Tool, c.1950s
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