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I stick them in my thumb or some other fingers ever now and then But don't recommend that tips for cleaning the oilers. Blood and oil doesn't mixed that good?

When I had a similar problem it turned out to be a damaged jewel for the pallet fork. Loosening off the balance bridge slightly would appear to alleviate the issue so the natural assumption was that it had to be a balance issue. It took a while of false trails for me to disassemble everything again and, under magnification, spot the pallet fork jewel issue. Presumably all that was happening was that with the impulse jewel making slightly less contact and me manually swinging the balance wheel then the pallet fork would seat itself differently for a short time and the watch would appear to work; until it got scuppered by the damaged jewel and the watch stopped. As the guys mention above ... some super close ups of parts around the offending area (particularly jewel holes and pivots) could help pinpoint the actual issue.

To days rubbish from ebay. Its modern, note how the seller describes it as French style. The movement is nothing more than a modern cheap Westminster chime; the type of movement you would expect in a mantle Westminster chime clock of today, the only deference is it has been adapted for a longcase. Don’t waste your money. Gorgeous French Boulle style long case clock http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/French-Boulle-Work-and-Lacquer-Long-Case-Clock/262908255970?_trksid=p2045573.c100033.m2042&_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20131017132637%26meid%3D2ea0349d44bc4fe1a93d5e26cb29bcd1%26pid%3D100033%26rk%3D4%26rkt%3D8%26sd%3D182500752823

Interesting. I would check the pivots on the escape wheel too. If one is bent then there may have been a bit of wobble introduced that could have kept the pallet from unlocking. Glad you've got the piece running again though! I have a small container of "cursed" parts; they look fine but when you put them in a movement, the movement won't run properly!

Sometimes it helps to broach the opening of the hand collet with a pin, just to get it started when fitting. New hands can be quite tight to fit (eg. new Omega hands often take a lot of pressure to fit).

Welcome Andrew, There is lots here on this friendly forum. No question to trivial many here have there knowledge to share. Beware this can become very addictive. PS I had a second home in Italy until recently (Abruzzo).

Welcome to the forum! Tons of information here to satisfy an inquisitive mind, and lots of people willing to answer any questions you may have.

The escape wheel might not have been seated correctly in its jewel.

What happened between the first time and now? If it's gaining it could be magnetized or it could be oil on the hairspring. From the picture I can see the watch is running, but are the coils touching? Looks like they are. Check your hairspring coils. J

But it was purchased from a dealer on Rue de Rossiers at the Paris antiques markets, so it must be old and genuine. Maybe the gold coloured bits on the front aren't just gold paint, but actually solid gold.....................

It sounds funny as all you have checked should have sorted the problem out. Did you remove the end stones if so have you put them back right, make sure the top one went back as the top, are you using the correct screws, nothing from below pointing to high and rubbing and the escapement oiled properly. Is the balance a new one as it sounds as if its to high, are the jewels clean. Has the balance cock been bent? If you could post close ups that hopefully will help.

The thought that comes to me is the cap jewel/s are installed upside down. If the watch was free running before then either something is being put back incorrectly or damage has occurred during assembly. For example bent a balance staff pivot can easily happen and it is not obvious until assembled. Strong magnification is best for the detection work.

This forum, IMHO may have the best members of any forum I have ever visited or became a member of. It provides all the information and help you can possibly need. And while some of the questions might seem superfluous to the knowledgeable. Not once have I seen anyone flamed or ridiculed in any way. Special thanks to the Forum Administrator Marc who's YouTube videos first attracted me here and who probably deserves most of the credit, as I feel the people on top set the pace. Marc reminds me of Bob Ross the painter who use to have a show on PBS. Bob had a calm way of explaining his Technique and While I could not even draw a stick figure, I found myself watching what he was doing on many occasions. Also I would like to thank everyone for the help I received so far. Regards Anthony

Whats the difference between a mod watch and a frankenwatch ? There seems to be a lot of people on forums like watchUseek who turn their nose down at frankenwatches. But on the same forum there is an active sub-culture of seiko modders and Vostok modders. I can't see the difference, unless it goes to intent? A mod watch is proud to be modded where as a frankenwatch is trying to be passed off as something it's not? Or is it just a matter of snobbery. I don't see what the problem is with a 'frankenwatch' it would other wise have been scrapped! There seems to be a lot of snobbery, in the watch world, especially on places like watchUseek. In the car world you have people who do hot-rods, restomods, restorations, and replicas. All perfectly cool. If you take a "Fake" Porsche 550 Spider to a Porsche club meting you will be more than welcome. In fact my local Porsche center (factory owned I might add) had a replica 917 spider on display for their promotion of the new 917 boxter last year. The replica was built from scratch by a local club member. But if you took a "Fake" Rolex to Rolex club meting (assuming that's a thing) you would be hung drawn and quartered. What's the watch version of a hot-rod and/or a restomod?

Hey thanks. Yes I will certainly be taking many photos !

This was the camera Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Elma is a German product. http://www.elma-ultrasonic.com/en/watches/ The screws are metric.