Brass and Steel Mainspring Winder

Brass and steel mainspring winder has a turned wooden handle, and the U-shaped support is marked, WYKE.

John Wyke is one of the most important English tool makers of the 18th century, and is considered the first to publish a tool catalogue for any trade, in 1758. There are very few copies of his Catalogue of Tools for Watch and Clock Makers known today, found in important public collections including The Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum and the British Museum. The Winterthur version was reprinted in its entirety in 1978, and shows this tool in plate 56. Crom Vol. 2 shows it in figs. 1032-1033, and the same tool is shown in figure 258, itself simply a reprint of the Wyke catalogue plate.