Terminology question, what does WW stand for?

I have been reading some old posts (around 2009) on this forum and I was wondering what is a WW pattern or WW watchmakers lathe - the WW part, I know what a lathe is I also noticed they always refer to 8mm WW. What is the 8mm a measurement of, and is it the standard?

WW is a type of collet common in watchmaking. I am guessing it stands for something like Waltham Watch or something along those lines.

WW is for Webster Whitcomb, who developed what the rest of the world calls an American style watchmaker lathe. Spindle height of 50mm, taking 8mm collets (that's the 8mm). There have been many styles of watchmaker lathes, many different collet designations, but the most popular and arguably the best is WW taking 8mm collets.

As usual Tony has loads of info, Derbyshire & Webster Whitcombe Watcmakers' Lathes

(Webster Whitcomb became Derbyshire)

First, note that Tony added an "e" to Whitcomb in a couple places. Second, the original Webster-Whitcomb trademark-model name was a product of American Watch Tool Co. of Waltham, MA. The company also put the name Whitcomb on their collets. Fred Derbyshire worked for AWT until an organization change, then started his own company in 1911. A few years later, AWT was liquidated and Derbyshire bought the watch lathe part of AWT, including the Webster-Whitcomb, Magnus and Elect trademarks. The Derbyshire company is still hanging on, but is small.

Note that, for decades after collets were invented, they were called "wire chucks." Moseley, of Elgin, IL, another watch factory town, made lathes and other watch tools and claimed that he invented the wire chuck. Moseley lathes were still being made in the 1950's, but were never quite as popular as the WW. The Moseley collets were different from the WW. G. Boley in Germany made close copies of both the WW and Moseley lathes and collets, but stopped making the Moseley long before they stopped making the WW. Rivett made a few "improved" WW type lathes after WWII, with their own type 1R collet, but they did not catch on.

Larry

L Vanice said:

First, note that Tony added an "e" to Whitcomb in a couple places. Second, the original Webster-Whitcomb trademark-model name was a product of American Watch Tool Co. of Waltham, MA. ...

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Just out of curiosity, does anyone know where in Waltham that company was located?

I worked in the town for three years, and never could figure it out. Of course that was before the internet.

You kids get off my lawn,...

jim rozen said:

Just out of curiosity, does anyone know where in Waltham that company was located?

I worked in the town for three years, and never could figure it out. Of course that was before the internet.

You kids get off my lawn,...

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Well, I don't trust everything I see on the Internet, but here is an address for you. I suspect some dates and possibly other statements may be wrong, but the building is still there and looks right.
American Watch Tool Company - Wikipedia

Larry

I have a Derbyshire lathe and visited the company in about 1975. It was a family business, Mom & Pop, and I think a son. Very pleasant people. I couldn't give a reliable location after all these years except that it was on the outskirts of Waltham. I didn't get into the main city.

BTW, I found out that since the bed is painted instead of plated, it is War II production. Still going strong after all these years. Also visiting there made one more state for my 1941 Indian.

Bill

I have some old Derbyshire catalogs and paper.

On Sept. 30, 1957, they were located at 157 High St., Waltham 54, Mass. The president was Jessie A. Derbyshire and the Vice-President was Shaw B. Smith. They were still calling their collets wire chucks in the 1957 catalog.

A 1965 catalog has the address at 265 Bear Hill Road, Waltham, Mass. 02154. They used the term wire collet instead of wire chuck.

In 2007, they were at 910 Boston Turnpike, Shrewsbury, MA 01545.

The current address is 38 Main St., Blackstone, MA 01504. That is barely across the border from RI and the building is across the road from the Blackstone River. That river flows south to Pawtucket, RI and powered the Slater Mill and David Wilkinson's machine shop. The last time I contacted Derbyshire, I dealt with a Mr. Smith.

Derbyshire has some web sites, but it looks like they did not spend much money on them.
F.W. Derbyshire Inc.
Derbyshire Precision Lathes Since 1911
F.W. Derbyshire Inc.

Larry