How long things take: the machine about 2 weeks, bits and small tools about a week, and one item ships in a few days from a US warehouse. Australia is the same wait. Here is whyMachine about 2 weeks. Why?
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$42.00
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  • Brass watch vise with a steel insert drilled in graduated sizes
  • Side view of the brass vise showing the knurled screw
  • The 14 hole plate, sizes 0.20 to 0.90 mm
  • The maker's dimensioned drawing of both versions, 70 mm and 78 mm
  • The 11 hole plate, sizes 0.2 to 1.2 mm
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Brass watch vise with graduated staff plate

$42.00 USD
$42.00 USD
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Shipping calculated at checkout.
Hole plate: 14 holes, 0.20 to 0.90 mm
30-day returns
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  • 30-day returns

Description

A watch staff is a fraction of a millimetre across. Hold it in an ordinary vise and you either crush it or it rolls out. This is the tool that does neither.

Solid brass body, a knurled brass screw, and a hardened steel insert let into the jaw with a row of holes in graduated sizes. The staff drops into the hole that fits it, the insert carries the load, and the jaws hold everything square while you work.

Which plate you want

The two versions are not better and worse. They cover different ground.

  • 14 holes, 0.20 to 0.90 mm. Steps of five hundredths through the middle of the range: 0.20, 0.30, 0.35, 0.40, 0.45, 0.50, 0.55, 0.60, 0.65, 0.70, 0.75, 0.80, 0.85, 0.90. This is the one for watch work, where the sizes cluster under a millimetre and the gaps between them matter.
  • 11 holes, 0.2 to 1.2 mm. Coarser steps, but it reaches 1.0, 1.1 and 1.2 mm, which the 14-hole plate does not. Take this one if your work runs bigger than watch movements.

If you are choosing blind: 14 holes.

Size

The maker publishes a dimensioned drawing, which is rare enough in this corner of the market to be worth saying out loud. It gives 70 mm overall for the 11-hole version, 78 mm for the 14-hole, and 24 mm across the base on both.

Honest limits

  • Brass is soft. That is the point - it marks before your work does - but it also means this is a holding vise, not something to hammer against. For that, an anvil.
  • We have not had one on the bench. The hole sizes and the dimensions above come from the maker's own drawing and photographs, not from our measurements. Jaw opening is not published anywhere and we are not going to guess it. Both go on this page the day a sample lands.
  • The photographs are the maker's product renders, not pictures of a real one on a real bench. Ours will replace them.

Shipping is free on every order, to the United States and to Australia, tracked, with no minimum. Orders are processed within 2 business days.

After that the number depends on what you bought, and the line under the price gives it. The drill press takes about 2 weeks because we do not hold stock of it, and bits, punches and small consumables take about 6 to 10 business days.

Australia is not slower. An earlier version of this page said three to four weeks, on the assumption that further away means longer. It is the opposite: the parcels leave China, and China is closer to Sydney than to Philadelphia. Our carrier quotes 6 to 10 days to Australia against 4 to 7 to the United States, and it costs us less to send. So the Australian figures here are the same as the American ones. What we cannot claim is that we have watched it happen - we have not shipped an Australian order yet, and the day we have real tracking from there these become our numbers instead of the carrier's.

On the plug, we have to correct ourselves. This page used to say our supplier sells an Australian-plug version of the adapter at the same price. That was wrong, and we are leaving the correction here rather than deleting the sentence. It came from a different machine in a different supplier's catalogue. The listing this machine actually comes from has no plug option at all. We asked the supplier straight out and they answered that they fit a compatible plug for the destination country - which is an answer, but it is theirs, not something we have checked. The plug block further up this page says what we will do if what arrives does not fit your wall.

You get a tracking number by email as soon as the parcel is scanned, not before. A link that sits at label created for a few days is normal on this route.

Returns: 30 days from delivery, unused and in its packaging. Nothing is excluded - there is no rule here about sale items. If it arrived damaged or does not hold tolerance, we pay the return label. If you simply changed your mind, the return postage is yours and the price of the item comes back in full. Email support@arvonelle.com before sending anything back.

Will it plug into my outlet? Voltage, yes: the supply is rated 100 to 240 V, which covers both 120 V American mains and 230 V Australian mains, so no converter and no transformer. The plug is the part we cannot promise yet. The machine has no plug option we can select when we order it. We asked our supplier and they answered in writing that they fit a compatible plug for the destination country - we are quoting them, not claiming it, because we have not yet had one in our hands. Our sample is on order. If what arrives will not go into your wall, tell us: we post you the right adapter free, or refund you in full with the postage on us. An earlier version of this answer said the supplier sells a separate US-plug and Australian-plug version at the same price. That was wrong and came from a different machine; we are leaving the correction here instead of quietly deleting it.

Can it mill? As it ships, no. Milling needs an ER11 collet spindle in place of the drill chuck, because side load pulls a bit out of a chuck. That spindle is a real part and we are sourcing it. Until it is on the shelf we do not sell collets or end mills either.

Do your vises fit the press? The ones meant for drilling do - the drill press vise and the brass vise on its XY stage bolt to the base as it comes. The bench vises do not bolt down and must not go under a spinning bit. The engraving ball vise and the toolmaker's vise are bench tools too. Every page says which it is.

Do I pay tax or duty? In the United States, sales tax is added at checkout where your state charges it, and the total you see is the total. In Australia, consignments under AUD 1,000 normally carry 10% GST collected by sellers whose Australian turnover passes AUD 75,000 a year; we are well below that, so nothing is added at checkout and nothing should be asked of you on delivery. If a carrier ever asks you for a fee on a parcel from us, do not pay it - send us the notice first and we will sort it out with you. We are not going to claim we cover all duties everywhere. We cover what we control and we tell you about the rest.

What if a part breaks? For twelve months, tell us which part and we post a new one free. No return, no inspection, no photograph of the packaging. That applies in Australia too.

Can I cancel? Yes, within 24 hours, no questions. After that it is usually already moving.

Why trust a shop you have never heard of? You should not, on our say-so. Check instead that every page tells you what the tool will not do, that each product carries its own delivery number for your country, that we say which figures we measured and which we were told, and that when we get something wrong - the plug, which spindle fits, how long Australia takes - we say what the page used to say.

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If something goes wrong


If your order arrives damaged or defective, email support@arvonelle.com with your order number and a photo. We replace it or refund it — you don't have to argue for it.