I remember many years ago, reading an article in the Bulletin about a couple who worked in Webb C. Balls store in Cleveland. It was; Bulletin October 1964, Whole Number 112, The Babcock's -- Mary and Harrison -- and Webb C. Ball by William E. Meither, Page 439 in the Article on Page 443. Mary Babcock describes some of her duties. "In her spare time Mary had to wind every watch every day, a task that made her fingers sore, and as the organization grew. Mary used or leather "fingers" and finally was provided with a watch-winding machine, which she describes as a glorified eggbeater. The crown of each watch was placed against a small rubber cup and wound with two or three cranks of a little hand wheel."

I was at Lone Star Regional in Dallas, Texas back in 1985, looking through a table with many different tools, I spotted one that looked interesting to me. It looked like a small bench grinder at first glance, but the more I looked at it, I thought of Mary Babcock's description of her watch-winding machine. It was $25 so I bought it and took it home to Calgary, on closer examination I found the rubber cup had deteriorated and over the years. To remedy the situation, I used a piece of rubber tubing the same diameter of the hole in the tool to replace the original cup. I took one of my pocket watches and press the crown again against the rubber tubing and with three cranks counterclockwise the watch was wound up fully. I see that the manufacturer Leroy was based in Cleveland, could this have been one of the watch winding machines and that Mary was talking about.

Hand crank side

winding side

winder in action

...great tool, story and photos Larry!...tnx!