[jason_l]

In the near future I'm going to be looking for a desktop machine to make small parts for watches. Nothing more then a few mm thick - mostly lugs for attaching leather straps, which would be soldered to watch cases made on a lathe, and other equally little yet simple shaped pieces. The most material it would have to cut would be when rounding the lug where it connects to the watch case. I've attched pics of a similar watch case being machined for an example (it's a prototype, so it's in brass).

I'm also interested in trying to "route" out 3 dimensional watch hands. If I can get the basic shape made by machine, I can cut it out the rest of the way and hand finish (I currently do it all by hand, but I recently saw a watchmaker routing his hands out via a cnc mill with a TINY cutter).

These are all tiny pieces, and the quantities would be low (a few pieces a week max). They would be stainless steel though, so I'm worried that something little like a sherline wouldn't work.

Any suggestions on equipment would be greatly appreciated. I need the least expensive solution to initially get started - better equipment could be purchased if sales justify it.