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amplitude question

thessler

By thessler
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thessler Member

thessler

Posted
Posted

Hi

I stripped and cleaned a Helvetia watch and it actually runs. This is a good day for me, most of my projects go from bad to worse.

I hooked it up to my new timing machine and found a mess, pretty much dots all over. When the regulater is in the middle it runs about -325 s/day. If I push it all the way over to where the hair spring stud is the pattern will clean up and it will run at a reasonable rate. This is the position it was in when I got this watch, but I'm thinking it's not right.

The dial up amplitude is 265, dial down is 150. I took out the balance wheel and studied the pivots,  they do not look bent but I really can't be sure visually is all I have to go by.

I closely examined the upper and lower jewels and they look fine, again just with a magnifier I don't have a microscope. Hairspring looks fine no bends not rubbing.

Could these to problems be related and I'm not seeing the bigger picture ?

Thanks for any advice, Tom

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JohnR725 Distinguished Member

JohnR725

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Posted

Does your watch have a model number? If the dots are all over the place are you still getting a numeric reading? Then did you put the watch on your timing machine before you serviced it and if so what were the results?  Did you get a numeric results for the beat?

So you've covered the pivots and the jewels although microscope would be nice to get a better look. If you have too much end shake the balance arms may be rubbing on something. As it's dial down it's possible it's touching the pallet fork bridge. This is where having a timing machine that lets you listen to the audio sounds is nice because if its bumping into something it usually makes a very distinctive sound.

Visually looking at the balance wheel can you see the amplitude change between dial up or dial down?

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