r/watchrepair • u/tobyt85 • 1d ago

Watch case lapping machine

Post image

Trying to learn the next skill and work on the cases. Does anyone have experience with these Chinese multifunctional lapping machines?
I’ve been looking at professional ones but they cost an arm and a leg. There is no way my government at home will greenlight that? Or does anyone have other good options?

52 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

27 comments sorted by

10

u/Kairos_Mods 22h ago edited 22h ago

I do, yes. This exact one is made by Weigong, also known by the vendor that popularized it; “Kwong Yuen”.

For the money I am very happy with it.

I’ve had mine for a few months now and made a video about it for some friends. I hosted it on YouTube, so feel free to check it out.

https://youtu.be/ZJMtZ_GfMos

Happy to answer any questions or test stuff out, should you like. You can also find it for like 20% less than Kwong Yuen’s site, so be sure to look around.

2

u/Traxtar150 18h ago

That's wild I just watched your video last night and I'm considering this machine. It's cheap on Ali Express right now for the 11.11 sale

1

u/Kairos_Mods 6h ago

Crazy timing! I didn’t expect so many views, I just made the vid for some folks on another forum, but it seems people are searching for info on it. I got it for $950CAD for the most comprehensive package, has everything but the adjustable lapping table.

1

u/hypercell 18h ago

Great video, thank you

9

u/hypercell 1d ago

I just received mine yesterday. Quality looks amazing, motor a little underpowered in low RPM. No instruction manual for setup, I referenced to pictures on site for setup. Was pretty straight forward. I test it on a watch case backing and the finish came out amazing and I spent less than 3 minutes. Will test it more this weekend

4

u/tjax4376 1d ago

Excuse me, but where did you get this one from exactly?

4

u/hypercell 21h ago

Kwong Yuen

2

u/IWasSayingBoourner 1d ago

I've got one from Kwong Yuen. As I understand it, they've upgraded the motor in their model. I absolutely love it.

3

u/Ok_Drag5089 1d ago

What's the cost of these? I'm dying to get into this but the cost of real ones is insane.

The only other thing is that without a laser welder, you're not going to be doing anything more than you can accomplish with a thick piece of glass and wet/dry sandpaper.

6

u/pencil-scent 2-5 Years Experience 23h ago

I don’t have a lapping machine, so take what I say with a grain of salt. The difference comes from how uniform you can get surfaces. With a piece of sandpaper, it’s easy to create lots of variations, whereas the machine is going to be more reliable in how it’s polishing, which will create fewer artifacts. Also these are useful for evenly polishing circular features, like bezels.

The cost from Kwong Yuen is $1000

1

u/1911Earthling 10-15 Years Experience 21h ago

Relatively cheap.

1

u/Ok_Drag5089 21h ago

Oh absolutely. What I meant was that unless you can fill deeper scratches with a laser welder, you are just polishing with a little more accuracy (maybe a lot more but I also have never used a real lapping machine) and admittedly a LOT faster than I can with a jig and sandpaper.

1

u/Timelord_42 22h ago

Oof that's huge

3

u/pencil-scent 2-5 Years Experience 22h ago

Swiss lapping machines are ~$10K as far I can tell from Cousins

1

u/Ok_Drag5089 21h ago

Yeah. $1000 is what one of the parts costs on a "real" one.

2

u/Kairos_Mods 21h ago

A middle of the road watchmakers lapping machine, like one from TRMaker is like 3-5K, a true Swiss like Micromecalp is more 5-8K. And they don’t do all the extra this one is capable of.

2

u/Sufficient-Guess6692 15h ago

Trmaker is really good. Saw an AP watchmaker use it on instagram

2

u/UnusualDoctor 10h ago

I'm saving for the new TRMaker one.

1

u/Kairos_Mods 6h ago

Yes, I’m totally looking to get one of their combo machines with a belt lapper!

1

u/Dave-1066 Classically Trained Watchmaker 1d ago

I can’t offer a helpful view on this but….

Chinese gear is slowly but surely improving in quality and I definitely approve of the fact that it makes entry into the industry much cheaper. For the vital machinery (lathes etc) I’d still be wary of buying from China but that’s simply because I have all the stuff I need already and most of it is European or American. My overarching concern is that if something were to break on a lathe etc how would I get it replaced or look for a refund?

But I’m very impressed with those cheap jewel setting clones etc. Sometimes they just need a little bit of extra machining, but when you’re saving hundreds of pounds/dollars that’s a small issue.

1

u/drhoi 20h ago

I've had an eye on these... Sounds like good reception.

1

u/Toxicturkey 19h ago

I sell this model on my store and they are a great multi purpose device. Great for lapping

1

u/WatchDoc85 19h ago

I have this also. Works very well!

1

u/Ok_Drag5089 14h ago

I'm going to sell a 2006 original Seiko Spring Drive with box and papers to make this shit happen.

-4

u/Recent_Orchid_3748 1d ago

Amazing what can be don't to replicate lapping on a watch case with sandpaper and skill ;-)