A personal archive of precision.

I've spent years chasing the history behind precision instruments — who built them, how the mechanisms actually work, and what it takes to prove a measurement is true rather than just trust the dial. This site is where that curiosity lives: a working record of research, restoration, and the occasional argument with a 1936 patent filing. Some of what passes through my bench is for sale. That's not really the point.

What's here

Research, not just inventory

The reference library holds what I've documented on makers, mechanisms, and lineage — Interapid, Mitutoyo, Federal, and the century of small Swiss and American shops behind instruments most people have never heard of. Some of it is interactive. All of it is built to be checked, not taken on faith.

The method

Verification over vintage

"Vintage" implies age is the selling point. I'm after something else: proof. Every claim in the reference library traces back to a patent, a specimen, or a bench measurement — and any instrument that passes through here gets checked the same way, against calibrated gauge blocks in a temperature-controlled room, before I'll vouch for it.

Bench verified — return-to-zero, gauge block comparison, and the instrument's serial number, photographed together. See how it works.

If you're looking to buy

A few instruments are available

I do sell what I've restored and verified — mostly micrometers and test indicators. It funds the research and keeps interesting pieces moving instead of sitting in a drawer.