Leaderboard

Need to make a balance staff for a European picket watch. The old staff had both pivots broken off. First I disassembled the watch and removed the balance staff. Removing the roller table was the hardest part because it was a Three arm balance and my Magic Roller Remover would not work so I used the scissor type. I then determined the widest diameter of the balance staff and found a 2.0 mm piece of Blued Steel. I cut off 1 inch and sized the collet, and inserted in into my Boley Leinen Lathe. I then started to cut the Balance and Hairspring side by first using the old staff as a guide and marking the piece of steel with my carbide graver. I started cutting down the first diameter where the balance fits and simply cut and measure until it was snug but still room to stake it in place. I then cut the hairspring diameter next and fix and cut repeatedly until it was snug. I used a special gauge to measure as I went along. Once the part fit was good I worked on the pivot with the graver until I got it down to around 0.2 mm and then used a stone to get it to around 0.14. The rest I plan to do on a Jacot tool. I then flipped the part around with a different collet and started working the Roller Table side using the same technique. I Amos finished off the plate where both the rolled table on one side and the balance on the other side rest. Slight error in the description. I left the full part in and started working on the roller table side before cutting off the part and flipping it around...saves time. I worked on the other pivot as well and got it down to 0.14 with a graver and then a stone...on the Lathe. The final product looked great. I am waiting for a set of vintage pin gauges to get the pivot size exact. Will finish it off next week. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I've got a Unitas 235N pocket watch that I'm planning on attempting to make a balance staff for, but I'm first sorting out the rest of the movement. The pinion on the minute wheel had lost a couple of teeth, but I have a replacement one on the way, it had the wrong size spring in the barrel so I also have a replacement spring on the way. I had just finished taking my measurements for the new balance staff and decided to give all the wheels a once more over again. This time I noticed something I had missed, the top pivot of the third wheel was showing wear. Its the bottom pivot in this photo. So of course I went and had another look at the jewel. I could see a tiny spot on the edge of the pivot hole, but couldn't make out if it was just old oil that hadn't cleaned off or a crack, but under my USB microscope its clear its a chip off the edge of the jewel, atleast I know what was causing the wear now. I will attempt to polish the pivot, but that jewel is going to need to be replaced. The crack is the shadow on the left side of the hole, I could see it clearly as I wiggled the bridge under the microscope so the light caught the chip at different angles. I would of kicked myself if I fixed up everything else and the watch stopped again in a few weeks time due to the pivot being ruined.

it would really be best if you started a new question with your watch problem. While problems may seem to be similar it really works best in the discussion if we discuss each watch separately. Because each watch is a separate watch with separate problems conditions etc.

Nicely done! I can only hope I can turn as good results

How dose it act with both cabs off in various positions? That provides the balance more space, In case the fork is hitting anything such as the roller or the bottom plate, changing the position of the wheel axially may just change wheels behaviour for you to see.