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" YOU'RE MISSING THE LOEWR PIVOT ON THE FORK" AND, HAIRSPRING IS RUBBING THE BALANCE.

Should be a relatively easy* fix. As Nucejoe says, it's kinked due to the Etachron adjuster being turned too far. It may be that simply turning the adjuster fixes it, but if it is kinked you will have the bend the it back to shape. * As with anything to do with that hairspring, even "easy" fixes can soon lead to disaster.

I am not an expert by any means, however the normal practice would be to close the hole somewhat with a staking set then making the hole the correct size for the arbor using smoothing broaches Tom

You're missing the lower pivot on the fork. And, hairspring is rubbing the balance.

Having worked in production engineering for years I can say absolutely yes, not everything but many of their tools are too identical to the Chinese ones to be anything other than from the same production line. Whether the Chinese supplied versions have the same QC as the ones they send to Bergeon that is something that is up for debate. I have quite a few China supplied tools and I have no doubt they are identical to the Bergeon branded tools, same tool marks and fully interchangeable parts, far to identical to just be a copy. The other clue is to look at the Bergeon catalogue then look at the size of the factory/warehouse its just too small to be able to make all of that huge range of tools. Watch out for the replies from the rose tinted specs brigade who can see no wrong in the dodgy Swiss watch industry and industry that is built on a lie.

I've never seen somebody jump start a mechanical watch before. Have you got the polarity the right way round?

It is a useful exercise to understand how each element of the going train works with each other element while noting the tolerances allowed. Sure, the pallet fork would flick back and forth but in some movements (not sure about this one) there is a bit of a valley where the pallet lower pivot sits, so the body could still find a place to sit. HOWEVER, it will still flop up and down and completely miss the roller jewel. You are learning...this is a good lesson!! Don't give up.

Just checked Macvity's intro, new to watch repair and the forum. Somehow slipped through the net as nobody said hi , welcommed him, I just did and ask our welcomming commitee to welcome our new friend. Perfectly understandable newbies to be unfamiliar with terminlogy etc. I only thought large fonts should attract more attention. Rgds

And- the hairspring is rubbing on the balance arms.

Yes, there’s a noticeable tilt in the barrel and there’s a lot of play where the barrel arbor comes through the barrel bridge. I’ve found a replacement bridge which hopefully won’t have the same issue. I’ll report back with an update. I’ll put the worn bridge to one side and return to it when I’ve learnt the art of rebushing. These are nice watches, and relatively easy to work on.

@VWatchie, thank you so much for posting this! I just finished up servicing of a 555.415 movement, and your detailed write-up was a great help. Quality of your photos is outstanding. Much appreciation!

These are a lovely watch imo, i already have a Deluxe and 3 Astrals but consider the Imperial to be the better of the bunch and still on the hunt for one and an Everest at a good price. 2 of the 4 i have do have low amplitude although a bit higher than this, something i haven't got around to investigating yet.

Arbour and bridge hole should both be checked for wear. High magnification is very useful. I prefer bushing the hole, as said it can also be closed and resized. Does the barrel noticably tilt? If you don't gain enough amplitude by gently adding manual power to the barrel, check for heavy lock on pallet and if possible let us see an image of the lock. Rgds

You not having much luck with hairsprings Rich. This one looks like it needs some tlc. Good to have you back btw. Nice to have some Yorkshire in my corner.

Makes sense, I was getting confused because it still seems to “work” as it should, minus the up/down wobble.

Its repairable, perhaps kinked where its in the regualtor slot, move regulator arm to expose where is now in the slot, streighten the kink, reshape the terminal curve, your quality check and final adjustment is when installed. Good luck

Definitely not Rolex but decent timegrapher results and not a terrible copy.

I am scratching my head here. The pallet fork is dead. @nickelsilversaid it and @Nucejoeemphasized it. There is nothing more to do...nothing more to understand. Scrap the movement and get another.

The pallet may or not be working fine, that depends on how you perceive its movements, i think we are all guessing here. And as John suggests we answer based on your questions but also on your answers to our questions. No disrespect but you may or may not be giving us the correct answers to our questions. If that makes sense. Can we determine for sure that a pivot is broken on the pallet fork. There is a strong chance as its been in and out a few times now. In time you would probably make an educated guess by watching its action in the movement. But to be sure, take anice clear photo with your phone of the pallet fork's pivots .Forget any macro setting you have as that doesn't always get you close enough. Hold your loupe against your phone lens then focus in and snap a shot. You will need to stabilise your hands as the close magnification will really show hand shake. So something like this. This is from a crappy 150 quid samsung phone and a x10 loupe. The second one is from a x10 scope Not sure what you are trying to say here Nucejoe , i think i may have just heard you though over here in the UK though. Its going to be a funny old day Nucejoe, people not listening and others getting a bit shouty .

Like you, I am enamoured with the Sekonda. Only the 2428 and the 2427 though. Preferably the 2427. I liked the idea of of the automatic. I have built one but am unhappy with the rotor sound. 3 other donors in the box to build a better functioning one. Great fun.

Just to be hundred percent clear it may be working fine as far as snapping back and forth but if it's missing its lower pivot it needs to be replaced as it's not really going to work fine. It's the problem of it looks like it's working fine when you push on it it's snaps back and forth but if it's wobbling up and down and it's not engaging the balance wheel it's not working That as far as the balance wheel of the hairspring issue let's try a test. If they rotate the balance wheel 180° either with the pallet fork in her out shouldn't matter. The balance arm that's currently under the balance bridge basically rotate that around until it's on top of the jewel for the pallet fork that would be exactly 180°. Looking at a watch release the balance wheel and I'm getting about 12 seconds on mine and the one that I have hasn't been serviced in a very long time so let's just say to be safe you should get 10 seconds of running of oscillation on 180° a rotation of the balance wheel anything less your hairspring is probably rubbing or there's some other problem that we don't know about yet. Because as a reminder the balance wheel has to turn very very freely the watches to run right

The crown looks odd. I bet it‘s a fake.

Lunchtime doubly so....

Both Cousins(UK) and Otto Frei (USA) have individual arbors and arbor+drums https://www.ofrei.com/page1145.html

I am beaming with pride that as a novice who still can't help constantly shooting cap jewels or diafix springs out of tweezers into oblivion, I just succeeded in installing a new roller jewel for an Elgin 6s pocket watch. I don't yet have my staking set to finish reinstalling the roller table, but one thing at a time.

When you got it from ebay, did it work at all, in any fashion? Do you recall? Can you take a picture of the balance with a side view so that we can see the roller table and jewel in the plane of the wheel?

I've just finished this Citizen quartz Alarm. I picked this up a while ago and it went on the "take a look at it later" pile. The alarm bleeps rather than playing any strange tunes, or rather this one *now* beeps, since the fault on it when it arrived was that the alarm didn't work. The reason it wasn't working, which I totally missed the first time I looked at it, was that the round battery contact was touching the piezo speaker, and effectively shorting it out. The quick fix is that triangle of masking tape. I was going to cut a dainty half moon out of kapton tape, but I can't find the kapton tape anywhere, so the temporary fix may well become permanent. It shows little sign of ever having been worn, so perhaps the alarm never really worked in the first place, and it spent its life unloved in a drawer. I'm not sure of its exact age, but the metal rather than plastic construction of the movement, and the serial number suggests it is possibly from the late 1980s (1989), but it could be a little later.

Looks like Cousins has it. https://www.cousinsuk.com/sku/details/eta-parts-search/eta926301404l1230