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Impulse Jewel Alignment. My Problems...


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First, I've watched Mark's video and read lots of webpages on alignment, but I still have a question:

I was working on one of my old Seiko's(5139) that I have assembled from three parts watches. I got everything cleaned and the train assembled. I visually looked at the Balance Complete and it looked good. After assembling the train and installing the Balance, it would only swing after I moved it and immediately back to rest. I then looked at the impulse jewel for problems and discovered it was completely missing—not broken but cleanly missing.

I had a balance wheel from another balance 5139 that I swapped to the balance cock and hairspring. I carefully aligned the new wheel with the old wheel before removing for the swap. I marked the new wheel with a Sharpie pen to indicate where the collet should be and the resting place of the impulse jewel. I then installed the new wheel in the exact position as the old wheel. I then adjusted for beat errors and the +- condition. Amplitude was about 252. It looked like I had a good runner.

I assembled the dial and hands and then it was quickly apparent the watch was galloping and running very fast. In a 60 second period it was running 70 seconds. Also, it would stop on occasion as it appeared to bind.

At this point all I can think to do is disassemble the train and visually align the impulse jewel with the pins. Is there another way to align the balance without disassembling the train. It is not a big issue to take it apart, but for future reference I wanted to see if there was a way to align without disassembly. By the way, there is no way to view the jewel and pins—even intense light and high magnification provides no view of the area..

Regards.

Edited by DavidMasters
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14 hours ago, Alaskamick said:

Just a mention of something that caught me out.

Did you remember to de-magnetise the watch.

Mine had fast running symptoms and that was the cause.

All the best, Mike

I have not demagnetized but will when I get back to the bench. Good suggestion and one that I need to make a routine, but for some reason it seems to not get done.

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