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You may have noticed a few changes - I have removed the Gallery section and the CMS pages app from the site as it costs too much to 'rent' those modules with comparatively very little use by members - it just did not make sense to keep them going. I apologise if this inconveniences or annoys anybody but I think it is better to keep the core of this website to be a discussion forum. The WRT website is costing me a lot of money per month to run and I am making a few changes to help with that - there is a little income from eBay affiliate ads but not enough to cover the cost of hosting and some help from Patrons and for this we are very grateful. The site has over 30GB in uploaded media now!!! And the notification emails generated is quite high too - I have to use a separate company to handle this so that the site doesn't get email black-listed. One of these services suddenly and without notice stopped our service a few months ago and it was a few days before anybody even noticed (password reset emails were no longer working). I did manage to find a new email provider and things have been running smoothly ever since. Getting back to the uploaded media, as mentioned it's over 30GB and this covers images in topics going back several years. I do back this up every night and I backup the site database every hour in order to protect the content should we ever have a disaster I have a Synology NAS here in the office which has a full backup on and I also keep a backup offsite on a cloud service. I have also decided to use Amazon Cloudfront to host all the uploaded media. I am in the process of migrating this content over and you may notice broken images for a very short period during the migration. But ultimately this will maintain and even improve performance of the site. Anyway, all being said, this is a fantastic community and I am fully committed to continuing with it's administration, keeping our little corner of the net alive - Just a little update to let you know what's happening -

As mentioned above, normally a roller rest is used. There are two main types, one with two rollers that straddle the work, the other is a single roller. I prefer the latter, as it's easier to measure what's going on. All watch lathes that I'm aware of have at least a 60 hole index in the headstock pulley, so easy to index 4 places. In Switzerland the standard steel for turned parts is Sandvik 20AP. It's a high carbon (about 1%) steel, with a tiny bit of lead for machinability. There is a major metal supplier here that has their "copy" of 20AP, Klein Metals with their LAW 100 Pb, and both Sandvik and Klein have come out with non-leaded steels with similar qualities as there's a push against lead anywhere. These steels are not that dissimilar to O1 which is the most common steel used in the U.S. by all the watchmakers I know. For the rest of Europe I have no idea what designations would be easily found and similar to 20AP/O1. As for screws, they are definitely hardened and tempered in all cases when made of steel. Tempered to "blue".

Yes - but you really need a roller rest and a lathe with index holes in the pulley wheel so you can turn accurately through 90 degrees

Thank you Mark. I love this site and helping out. It keeps me sane.

Will do

Here's one type that I intend to build at some point http://www.deansphotographica.com/machining/projects/filingrest/filingrest.html I have re-edited this as PDF to make it easier to print and attached here. As I began a bit of machining hobby I collected some references sheets on complicated matter of steel types and nomenclature. The shortest resume I can give US 12L14 = EU 11SMnPB30, 11SMnPB37= UK EN1APB, 230M07PB = Leaded, the most machine friendly type ever, is what I use when I can US 1213, 1215 = EU11SMn30 = UK EN1A, 230M07 = as above, unleaded US 1021 = EU C16, C22 = UK 070M30, 080A15, EN3B = Bright Mild steel Sandvik AP20 is, I think, very different altogether Filing Rest (1).pdf

closer but still about 2 hours away.... good to know though thanks

Patience, friend,patience.

well the drive will be too long for me....

I meant at the shoulders.I could see it wasn't a hairpuller bracelet [emoji4] This is what it should have I think

okay, I have posted the gears and will add in some others to help you get a parts bin going. Where is the antique market?

I do indeed, lol.

Hi Happy hunting, have you go t a fist full of Dollars for the occasion??

Had you not lubricated the escapement at all? You should lubricate the impulse faces of the pallet stones, this will go on the teeth of the escape wheel and get spread to the locking faces and across all teeth evenly after running for a while. You can use 9010, or 941 (advised by Moebius for slower beat watches i.e. 18,000bph), or 9415, which is suggested for faster beat watches but works great for slow beat as well. But you need lubrication there for sure. Don't oil the pallet fork pivots.

Hi A nice handful for $12 worth every dollar.

3 hours plus of sheer enjoyment. Try and make it a whole day.

the Marlin will have a #25 movement. I can post the winding gears under my seller id on Ebay if yoou are interested.

7a28-7040 today

Thanks Mark, this site is by far the most comprehensive and useful on the internet for all levels who are interested in horology. Have you ever considered allowing advertising on the site from companies such as Horotec etc. to help with the costs.

Today I'm wearing my Tissot PRC200 mechanical chronograph. I got this at a heck of a deal. Going to change the bracelet as it's a bit too tight. Looks great regardless.

Yes we already have an auto-welcome for each new user and we actually encourage people to introduce themselves in that welcome message. So it's by design Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

Thanks Guess I need another donor then. That's a bit above my ability. What's the chance of them both being bent. Doh.

Ural with a mighty 16j Molnia 3608 crammed into its 40mm anodised aluminum/aluminium case. More the height of nonsense than the height of refinement. Regards.

It might be a bit like some guys modifying cars.... tell them its made out of aircraft billet and the price doubles but they'll turn their nose up at 6061 AL Afaik there is no advantage to a synthetic oil over regular mineral oil until the temps get over 135C, and if you're getting your lathe than hot you've got other problems. I've not heard anyone advocated synthetic oils for machine plain bearings, some very exacting like say Schaublin or Jones Shipman, as it just doesn't get hot enough to need it I agree with you, a slow speed, well made plain bearing is going to be forgiving so its all good. Of the many I've had apart, lots over 100 years old, I've only seen one that was destroyed and pretty sure it was just abused/not oiled

It's 100% ok for plain bearings to get warm in use. In fact many old ultra high precision machines were run for 1 hour or so before being put "on line" as they were adjusted to run at that temp. Synthetic automobile oil is an old and contentious subject in horology. I remember talking to a tower clock guy years ago who had gone to Mobil 1, and then reserviced a number of clocks for free after finding that the oil turned abrasive after a certain length of time. I haven't been able to find literature on it recently but there was some 15+ years ago. Auto oil is changed on regular intervals in addition to being filtered. The demands, as measuretwice spelled out, are very different. In a plain bearing watch lathe the oil goes in and goes out- "total loss". So really anything relatively thin will work. In a larger machine it's an issue, as motor oils are designed to keep contaminants in suspension to be grabbed by the filter, and most machine tools don't filter their oil. Contaminants fall out in the sump- which won't happen with a detergent based oil that keeps things in suspension. But back to watch lathes- almost any oil is ok, sewing machine oil is great, iso 10 or 20 hydraulic oil, awesome, 3n1 fantastic, Hoppes gun oil, killer, just no WD40.

No problem

If you like pictures and like to hold something in your hand I found you a PDF. Normally on modern watches the escapement should be fine unless you start changing components. Unfortunately as quoted above others seeking a quick solutions to unknown problems feel obligated to play with things especially banking pins. Banking pins are a common target because they're bendable or in the case of American pocket watches they can be rotated. So this means on watches like that you always have to check that there where there supposed to be. In the PDF below page 9 Section 5 shows the purpose the banking pins for horn clearance only. http://facweb.northseattle.edu/dmcconnon/Escapement/Escapement handout.pdf

Depth of lock is something that you get a feel for when inspecting escapements. It needs to be deep enough to ensure that it is safely locked, and you can move the pallet fork across very slightly, release, and observe the “draw” to see what the action is like. On modern watches like these, I very rarely adjust thw locking. On adjustable banking pins (or at least bend-able), you always have to check it and will often find that they have been mis-adjusted. It seemed to be a common misconception that opening the banking pins was a quick fix for mis-locking. Bear in mind that if the pallet stones were moved to change the depth of lock then this also adjusts the drop. The angle of drop is wasted energy from the escapement as potential impulse is not translated into the balance while the escape wheel is disengaged from the pallets.

Hi, I am talking grinding pallet bottom only and not the face.. So we can reduce the depth of the lock. I am not sure if in this case lock depth is ,, the ,, issue, so I suggested reducing oil viscosity to reduce drag throughout the said depth as well. If as usual considerable gain in amplitude is observed, the lock was having little adverse effect on developement of the impulse. Should OP put some diesel fuel on escape teeth and report the result, we have more data to decide on. Once the decision is to grind, I tell about my trick to grind pallet bottom with no dedicated tool at hand. Best

I do grind down the back side of pallet stones sometimes, when they are bottomed out in the fork and still need to go in more. You see this on really old stuff, high end, where there was a matter of pride in not having a gap between the bottom of the slot and jewel; also when replacing a jewel sometimes. On rare occasions it's necessary to regrind the impulse face to change the angle, again often when changing a jewel. The Levin book Practical Benchwork for Horologists has some good information on how and when to reshape an impulse face. I adjust the escapement, either moving the pallet stones, the bankings, or both, on I think probably 1/3 of the watches I do- some weeks it seems like I do pretty much every watch. I understand it seems daunting to the uninitiated, but it really is a necessary task on many watches. I will dig through my books and see if I can find a concise explanation of the steps for checking. Actually moving the stones is another issue, and here having certain tools available makes it much easier, but way back in school we just had simple pallet warmers and an alcohol lamp and a strong loupe.

Don't know what it's based on but you can't argue with a trace like that. It bears great similarity (albeit much more nicely finished), to the movement i'm looking at just now for a fella on here. Take away the auto works and it's a commonly seen chinese design movement but there are many variations and many names. is the watch a known brand like Parnis? they typically use a small selection of movement providers and might help narrow it?

Motor oil? aye aye aye!!!!! get some bearing grease too...which btw I have found in at few watches if you don't want to buy a synthetic watch oil you can use a synthetic lubricant with Teflon. I bought two pen sized tubes from Radio Shack 12 years ago and still have at least 1/3 left in each. and you have to by watch grease to use on the stem tubes and area where the set lever pivots. Also, just a dab where the winding gear meets the mainspring gear. Works wonders! Basic "Network 54 Vintage Timex Watch Forum" method 3 cleaners. ammonia , water, lighter fluid > soak rinse soak, oil grease and on a personal note - just back from cardiologist and all is going very well since heart attack 7 weeks ago. Dropped 10 pounds so far and feeling great. He gave me the okay to resume normal activities and can't wait to get back to the garden.