Gisiger Greder and Metro Watch Co.

[Wesley881]

Apologies in advance for the poor photography.  

Thing 1: I bought this for my fiance and discovered during teardown that the balance staff had a broken tip, which explained the floppy balance wheel.  I took a chance on eBay and got two more of these for parts but was disappointed to find they were slightly different.  

Thing 2: I was also reluctant to remove the hairspring to get a photo of the staff because this movement has no pallet fork, which I've not worked with at this point.  I'm curious is an escapement of this type relies on some sort of rotational alignment between the hairspring and the balance staff.

Any info on these watches would be appreciated.  Movement is a Gisiger Greder 10c made for Metro Watch Co.

Thanks!

[frenchie]

Cylinder escapement is the word you're looking for I think

[oldhippy]

What you have is a cylinder watch movement, there's no pallets with this type of movement. it is a direct drive of power through the train to the cylinder, by means of the teeth which are very different to teeth on escape wheels which use pallets, it is combination of the teeth on the escape wheel and cylinder which allows the power to escape evenly, if there's wear to the cylinder the action of the balance wheel will be poor. Some cylinder movements are poor timekeepers. Here is a link which will explain the escapement better for you.

http://www.datacomm.ch/rbu/C4.html

[Wesley881]

Thanks for the article, oldhippy. It seems like quite a bit more contact area than a pallet escapement, so I can see why this might keep poor time or wear more aggressively.

[vinn3]

interesting link. did he mead cylindar wheel  or wheek?  i only worked on one,  a difficult mvt..

[Wesley881]

Looks like I'm on the hunt for a parts movement as I'm not set-up to turn parts.  Apparently you can remove the tampons and turn a new pivot if material allows, then press them in until proper endshake is acheived.

[oldhippy]

The cylinder comes in three parts top and bottom plugs and center. To be able to take a cylinder apart you need the correct stakes, some stacking sets come with them, if not you need to buy a set. You have to be very careful in taking apart as the cylinder is very brittle and will crack or break, it is extremely difficult to make a cylinder from scratch.

[Wesley881]

oldhippy, are there staking sets specific to this kind of balance or do they serve multiple purposes?  Can you give an example?  Thanks!

[oldhippy]

Here is a link to watch cylinder punches.

http://www.boley.de/en/shop/3183.cylinder-escapement-driving-punches/506654.zylindertamponpunzen