Oh dear …

The trickier bit might be to work out the maker.
Certainly the general overall design seems old, particularly the ball on the end of the thread.
I’ve not managed to find another photos of one which has all the same design features.

There’s a couple similar here, but subtly different

https://www.daveswatchparts.com/PinVises.html

My own is likely the same as Jason’s, an Eclipse 110, but not so well painted.
They seem to still command a high second hand price today

Catalogue Here

Bill

I think the most interesting [and differentiating] feature of the “mystery” item is the shape of the handle.

Ignoring the bruised end … the important aspect is that it is [it would appear] tapered.

Drill a hole in the bench and you have both hands free

MichaelG.

So it’s not tapered ?

Forget I mentioned it … we appear to be having two different conversations.

MichaelG.

Great for holding pcbs whilst your soldering the components in. Hold the parallel handle in the bench vice. One of these days I’ll get round to making a spring loaded affair so I can just push down a button and spin it to whatever angle I want

Given the probable age and use before plastic modelling ie aimed at clockmaking the tapered handle in a hole fits with a workshop that didn’t have the luxury of a bench vice and lathes that were likewise mounted with a singe bolt hole.

Very close, Jason … but surely not ‘a dead ringer’

There is no ball on the end of the screw, and the ‘enlarged end’ is much more prominent than what I suspected was bruising on the one photographed.

MichaelG.

On 15 November 2023 at 19:21 JasonB Said:
Interesting that the one in your image looks to be fitted with a die stock and die rather than the 3 wheeled heads used for rolling

Oops, that will teach me to look more closely at what I have found rather than rely on the description. Should indeed have something like this in place of the die.

Sorry for confusion.

John