wls1971

£1,500 is a fantastic offer If you really want to sell I would take that, I have checked online via a specialist auction web site the price's these watches fetch can be very hit and miss as I already stated a similar fusee Camerer Kuss watch sold for £680.00 there have also been plenty that sold for less, but you also have to factor in the commission that a auction house would charge you that varies between 20 % and 30% depending on the auction house so you would end up with £476 at 30% commission, I really don't think you would achieve anything near £1,500 at a auction house even in a specialist sale. Its a nice watch but in horological terms it is not anything unusual as far as the movement goes, its pretty much what a good Victorian watch of the period would have been. Specialist auction sites for watches are Gardiner Houlgate, Fellows and Sons, Bonhams, Christies or Sotherby's If you want a valuation for insurance purposes you should get a reputable jewellers to supply you with one that would almost certainly be higher, because its based on what it would cost you to replace from a jeweller. Or you could just get it cleaned repaired and wear it .

The movement is a chain driven fusee movement a similar watch sold at auction 1/7/2016 for £680 and I would put your watch at £600-£800 as a auction guide in working condition but with all auctions that depends who bids on the day.If you have a gold chain with it that would increase its value greatly. It is dirty so may just need a clean but it's certainly worth having done

Camerer Kuss and co where London jewellers established in 1788 by two German immigrants they had various retail outlets within London, After 1914 the company was named Camerer Cuss the K was dropped from Kuss to hide the company's German origins. Your watch appears to date from 1879, the value beyond its gold content would rest upon what movement it has inside, they used mainly imported movements in there watch and have used some very notable company's to supply the movements so price can vary widely. To open the watch you need to put a thumb nail under the catch marked and lift upward, the movement will probably have a inner dust cover attached to it this is removed by sliding the large spring like lever. T

When you say you have cleaned the clock have you just cleaned the pivot holes and pinions because it still looks quite dirty to me, it has had some bad bushing work done in the past judging from the photos. I would start again on the movement and give it a good clean paying particular attention to the pivot holes and pinions and checking closely for wear in the train eliminate the possibility that you are loosing power through the train. The platform needs running through a cleaning machine, are the balance pivots in good condition ? are any of the jewels cracked ? its hard to tell from the photos . When running the hairspring should bounce freely between the curb pins.

That's the correct method for securing the hairspring on these cylinder escapements, You will need to provide good pictures of the platform before anyone can give you a assessment of whats wrong and needs doing.

Don't pull the crown just push and see what happens

They are tools concerned with the manufacture of balances, fitting hairsprings to collets , fitting hairsprings to balance they I think would have been manufactured specifically for manufacturers to do the same job over and over again rather than being used by watch repairers in general.

https://www.christies.com/lotfinder/Lot/the-william-shortt-regulator-william-hamilton-shortt-5039672-details.aspx £70,000 10 years ago with a estimate of £10,000 to £15,000

I have seen them before there are various ones on display in museums in the U.K, I have seen one at the Greenwich Observatory and the science museum has one in its collection and quite surprisingly they do turn up in auctions I have a Christies catalogue for a specialist horology sale in which one is listed. As for touching one I always heed the signs that say "Do not touch the exhibits"

by keeper joint I assume you mean the friction spring and end of centre seconds pinion ? if so a tiny drop of 9010 can be used the springs job is to provide just enough friction on the pinion to stop the second hand moving in a jittery fashion when the watch is running. No not needed

The end of the part 2611 must sit on the pin under part 2566 see drawing below

You can check the watch hand sizes by using a sight called Ranfft : http://www.ranfft.de/cgi-bin/bidfun-db.cgi?10&ranfft&&2uswk&Bulova_11BLC In your case the pinion is 0.18mm for the seconds hand. Yes yes with movement held in movement holder there is enough clearance on my staking set Yes

This earlier thread will be of use to you :

You should be able to find a seconds hand via Ebay or a parts suppliers, the only other thing to say when servicing these watches is that the drive wheel for the seconds hand sit on a extra long pinion on the third wheel it must be removed with care and needs to be pulled straight upwards a presto hand removal tool can be used for this I always replace them using a staking set other than that it should be straight forward to service this movement.

The spring would have held the centre seconds hand pinion in place, it is doubtful that they would have used this movement on a watch that had no seconds hand and left the pinion and drive wheel on the third wheel pinion, are you sure that the centre seconds hand is not missing ? pictures would help if you can supply them.