Reversed regulator

[Buffo]

G'Day,

I'm in the process of getting a mate's old Turkish pocket watch movement up and running again. I'm at the point where the movement is running well and keeping reasonable time, but I notice that the regulator seems to work in reverse. In other words, when you move the pointer towards "F" or "A" the balance wheel slows and when you move it to "S" or "R" it speeds up. Any explanation for this?

Thanks,

Rob

FNQ, Au

[nickelsilver]

Looks like it's missing the "boot" part of the regulator, i.e. it only has one pin. If that's the case probably the hs is staying more in contact on the slow side that the fast side.

[Buffo]

G'Day nickelsilver,

Thanks for replying to my question.

Both index regulator pins are present and the gap is small and pretty much spot on. When running, you can see the spring oscillating between the two pins (see attached photo).

[clockboy]

Is the H/S tight in the end stud also on your original pic the regulator adjustment arm does not seem to be in line with the regulator arm.

[Buffo]

G'Day clockboy,

Thanks for responding.

The end stud is tight and the the regulator adjustment arm is actually slightly offset compared to most other pocket watches I've seen (see attached photo).

I've placed the movement in its case and run it overnight. I notice now that what appeared to be a reverse in the regulator response might just be a case of the movement "settling in."

It's a very "low end" movement. The large jewels which appear in the first photos are just for "show." In reality there are no jeweled pivots in the whole movement. The big red rubies on the top- plate are some sort of end stones whose sole function was probably to fool the buyer. Even the balance wheel pivots are just metal on metal. I'm guessing the movement was manufactured in Istanbul, Turkey in the early 20th century. A fairly rugged, rough piece of work, but definitely not a precision instrument.

Thanks again,

Rob

FNQ,Au

[oldhippy]

You need both parts of the regulator and in line in order for it to work properly. The hairspring should be free inside the regulator pins and able to move freely no matter what position the regulator is at. This is not a compensated balance wheel so time keeping will not be spot on.     

[Buffo]

G'Day oldhippy,

The hairspring is free inside the regulator pins. I did close the gap slightly as it initially appeared too wide.

As can be seen by the last photo I posted, the the regulator was manufactured with the index pins offset from the indicator pointer. It is a bit of a "mongrel" of a movement, but it does seem to keep reasonable time... so far! 

Thanks,

Rob

FNQ,Au

[nickelsilver]

Are you checking with a timing machine while moving the regulator or just checking the rate over a certain length of time, comparing to another timekeeper? This is a very crude movement, you can't expect it to keep better than a few minutes a day.

[Buffo]

G'Day nickelsilver,

No timing machine, just "eyeball and ear." I'm afraid my methods are almost as crude as the movement itself! 

The challenge was mainly just to get the old Turk running again and the accuracy somewhere in the ball park. The bloke that owns the watch has never seem the thing run at all.

Thanks again,

Buffo

FNQ, Au

[nickelsilver]

7 minutes ago, Buffo said:

G'Day nickelsilver,

No timing machine, just "eyeball and ear." I'm afraid my methods are almost as crude as the movement itself! 

The challenge was mainly just to get the old Turk running again and the accuracy somewhere in the ball park. The bloke that owns the watch has never seem the thing run at all.

Thanks again,

Buffo

FNQ, Au

Ok, well, this thing could vary massively in rate over a period of hours and certainly over 24 hours. So it might be running a couple minutes/day fast fully wound and several minutes slow after 12-24 hours. Not figuring in how it behaves in different positions. So it is probably the case that the regulator is working correctly, but the watch is very unstable.