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Hi all, Sorry for late reply, life took over and have been busy with Mark's course. Half way through the second course and thoroughly enjoying it. Unfortunately @JohnR725 not a clue! Received some L&R clean and rinse on Friday and thought I'd give it a go. Up until now I've been using Naptha (lighter fluid) and IPA. WOW.... what a difference, worth every penny. Anyway, totally stripped the movement again and washed in L&R Extra Fine and then 2 rinses in L&R Ultrasonic Watch Rinse, pegged, lubricated etc and ended up with this Has been running for 3 days now in various positions with any gain unnoticeable and this is her reading on the Weishi. It is not perfect but she is running constantly now and at this stage I can't ask for any more than that. I guess that something was not perfectly aligned in the movement before or there was a hidden piece of dirt lurking about! A massive thank you to everyone that helped above. I've really enjoyed my first watch and looking forward to many new projects when I've finished Mark's courses. So what have I learnt that might help newcomers? Check, check and triple check your work is something is not right. Do NOT bother with cheap Chinese tweezers. I started with a set of 6 sold as watchmakers tweezers and have spent a few hours on my knees with a diving magnet during this project. In the end bought a second hand pair off of e-bay from a watchmakers estate for £3 and what a difference, not pretty but they are a joy to use You can never have enough trays with dust covers. Proper cleaning solutions and rinses are worth the money. If nothing else the movement comes out nice and shiny how you want it to look after you have cleaned it. Probably one of the most important things I've learnt is have a nice working environment. When I started on this project I was working on my home office desk with a keyboard in front of me and clutter everywhere. After watching Mark's first videos I decided to clear a wall in the office and put in a dedicated bench with good lighting. It's now a pleasure to work on a watch, rather than having to move mounds of paperwork out of the way. BR, Charlie

Used to be. I founded what I'm told is now the largest single-make car club in Texas, with chapters in Florida and a few other states (I don't really keep up with things like I should). I'm about to sell the last of my parts stash to a guy once things calm down pandemic-wise. I've had several air cooled VWs. That bus was my favorite (one of my all time favorite cars, period). I sold it when we moved to Colorado. Another good VW was my '57 Karmann Ghia. In the US at least, if you do a google image search for "57 karmann ghia" my car has been at least on the first page of results for many years now. Was the first result for a long time.

I am not offended...do not worry!!

Today's project. Two questions: 1) Cleaning with amoniated solution OK? (I know this is discouraged for French clocks) 2) What is the rational for putting a plate screw UNDER the escape wheel??? I guess I use needle nose to remove???

What you have is a Seth Thomas 8 Day Lyre Spring Shelf Mantle Clock Movement made around the 1860's

Hi VWatchie, thanks for enlightening me, had noticed not loosing modern impulse jewel in ultrasonic, didn't know the reason. Regards

Being a relatively modern movement (1976-1980), I would expect the impulse jewel to be friction fitted rather than fixed with shellac(?), so we shouldn't have to worry about the balance. The fork is, of course, another matter.

It sure looks good. American clock movement are always rough and ready compared to French.

I am also rather fond of the craftsmanship and artistry that went into these watches from long ago. I'm always scouting about for antique non-runners to rescue and work on. There are "scrappers" in my area who will separate watch from case, add the case to their bag of scrap gold or silver to sell, and post the movement on Ebay "for parts" without doing much checking to see what kind of repair or service would get the watch running again. It's all about doing the least work for the most profit.

OP is a hobbiest and new to watchrepair, nothing like a professional repair shop, so name is a cleaning solution that suits him. Regs

Hi LWS thats an elegant movement almost too good to cover up in a case, a good job

Back in the 70's the price for scrap silver hit and all time high many people found silver and sold it just for the scrap price, that is why so many of these lovely movements are with out cases. Sorry to say I had to remove many movements from silver cases. I can also remember where I work because so many people came in on one day selling silver tea pots which were Victorian & Georgian we ran out of money which was kept in one of the safes, one of the staff had to go and get more money from the bank. I was a crazy time so many lovely objects gone or ruined.

Mikrolisk (German Version) helps a little: https://www.mikrolisk.de/show.php?site=280 Maybe there are some other markings elsewhere on the movement?

Two more orphans for the 404 club. An "Alexander Cairns" Liverpool, fusee pocket watch movement, and a no name lever pocket watch. Alexander Cairns appears to have been a quality instrument making enterprise, and produced or retailed some fine marine chronographs. https://www.bukowskis.com/en/auctions/607/96-alexander-cairns-32-waterloo-road-liverpool-marine-chronometer There is an "A Cairns, 12 Waterloo Road, Liverpool" Sextant in the Smithsonian which you can see here. https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_1059152 Its sad to see these fine pieces ripped from their cases and consigned to the junk pile on ebay. I paid 404 club prices for the pair. When you think of the time and workmanship that went into the production of even the most humble of watches, and then see them discarded as scrap, it almost beggars belief. I guess scrap gold counts for more in this modern world than craftsmanship and labour. Well, arguably, ever was it thus in fact, however I guess it gives us the opportunity to pick up interesting stuff for pennies. Lets see if I can get them back in a serviceable condition. EDIT: I just spotted this in a pdf auction listing from 2019. "Alexander Cairns, Liverpool, a man s gold fusee pocket watch, 15 jewels, key wind and set gilt plate movement with lever escapement and cut bimetallic balance, in an 18 karat, yellow gold, reeded edge, engine turned hunting case with Chester hallmark and date letter for the year 1868, Roman numeral white enamel dial with large seconds bit, serial #9041, 50mm, 111.2g TW. $1200-$..." So, if the previous vandal had kept the thing in one piece, it would probably have been worth a lot more than the scrap gold price.

And it is in really good shape. The plates are in good shape and no issues that I can find. I believe that it is vintage late 1800s.

That is a beautiful movement. I had no idea Seth Thomas made any that pretty.

Cleaned, oiled, in testing phase.

I don't say that from a position of tooling around in luxury cars and looking down my nose at the plebes. A photo from my parking spot at a previous job. Hint, I've never owned an Aston. Also, this was before the prices on buses skyrocketed (or at least at the beginning of launch). The guy that usually parked on the other side had a Range Rover Sport Bourgeoisie edition (I don't know what it actually was, but it was the most expensive one available at the time and he wanted everyone to know it). The Commercial model buses only had door cards on the driver and passenger doors for an interior. Maybe across the front, but mine was missing that by the time I got it. I had a huge car club back then, and we used to love "classing down the joint" and parking with all the other German cars (mostly BMWs, with the occasional modern VW and Mercedes thrown in) at shows.

This is 99.9% the case for amplitude problems- in my experience it's rarely the mainspring. From the pic, the balance could be very much out of beat- the balance arms are supposed to be perpendicular to the line along the fork and escape wheel when at rest; it could be in beat, and someone installed the roller table without aligning it. That's one possible source of amplitude loss. Some others: -hairspring rubbing -excessive or insufficient endshakes -wear (in general), in particular at the bearing points of the center wheel and barrel -escapement out of adjustment -damaged or worn pivots -wear in the fork slot, fork pivot holes not perfectly clean (must peg them), debris on the roller jewel, roller jewel not vertical, chipped pallet stone(s) and probably a dozen other possible things With the balance and fork out (let down the power first!) put a few clicks of wind on it and see how the train moves. It should spin freely, and when it stops, ideally the escape wheel will reverse direction at least a little bit, or even a couple of turns. Now put the fork in, few clicks of wind, and see if it snaps from banking to banking cleanly with a slight nudge. That's a basic check, if it looks good, you can concentrate in the balance area.

Here you go. But it's quite involved and needs a lathe and staking set.

My stuff: Recommend not getting a crystal lifter. You need a lathe to make balance staffs among a boat load of other work. You need a Seitz jeweling set for basic jewel replacement. Need palate fork jewel oil as well as 9010 and D5(research wour oils). Need a good Crystal press. I have one that is old and useless(the one in the upper left of the big tools folder), and a really good one that works like a charm and I have used it to put on snap on backs as well(one on the upper left of the big tools picture) I use both a android based timer and a PC based timer and they both work well. Beat error needs to be adjusted at times and the timer is invaluable for this. Basically the impulse Jewel needs to be aligned with the centre position of the pallet fork impulse pins. Any specific questions, please ask. I have repaired various watches and chronographs and a many vintage pocket watches (about 95). I have also successful made balance staffs using the original as a model to make the new one...usually broken pivots. I have also screwed up a few hairsprings and leaned my lessons. Read a lot prior to doing the work and then read again. Many books and videos and help on watch repair and lathe work.After the balance staff install.And working. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro