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Minute hand not moving when set

Calovera
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Calovera New Member

Calovera

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Posted

So...

Just come into possession of a lovely 1900c or so, Swiss quarter repeater. Had to get the repeater seen to the other day, the spring hadn't been replaced properly in the past.

Flash to yesterday evening, I noticed the watch had just stopped, even after it was fully wound. If I pulled the crown to set, and applied a little bit of forward force, the watch would start up again. As soon as I stopped setting forward, it would slowly come to a stop. I observed that the fork was ticking back and forth, but the escapement wheel wasn't moving. Unless force applied to set forward.

Next morning, had a look at the hands to see if they were clashing. There was a bit of a collision, but as I went to advance the watch time again, there was a nice crunch from the stem and the minute hand would no longer set. Hour hand moves still when set, but the stem feels a lot more looser now, a lot less force to set the, now only hour hand. 

Only upside is that the watch now runs again just fine. All hands move fine over the face, keeping good time aswell.

 

Any ideas on the issue? I've not got the tools or the know how to go poking about. Just wondering what might be the course of repair. 

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Nucejoe Distinguished Member

Nucejoe

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Fault at staff pivot on the mainplate side, damaged pivot or worn so short that it rubs and slight chance of broken jewel there.

Hour wheel jumping over the minute wheel at their interrace  explains the crunch sound, Check the min train.  

Good luck.

 

 

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saswatch88 WRT Addict

saswatch88

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Posted (edited)
35 minutes ago, Calovera said:

Okay thanks for the quick replies! It's going to go back to my watchmaker anyway. 

Any idea on the difficulty of the repair? 

not difficult if you have some experience, no experience i wouldnt try it...check for broken teeth on hour/min wheels and clutch/ratchet wheels. If any are broken you need to source a new one. and iam not familiar with this watch but is there a sub second hand or a center second hand? if so check the second hand and make sure it not binding up somewhere this could explain what i like to call the "ghost escapement" when power is applied to balance but then train gets jammed causing the escape wheel not to spin. there are other causes of this but i would rule those out since you now say its running fine and keeping accurate time.

also make sure the dial is secured tight and flat to the movement, if there is any wiggle room the hour wheel could be coming off the canon pinion. this could be a simple fix. if making the dial flat and tight dont work a new hour wheel may be needed. sometimes they get damaged when someone doesnt properly remove the hands and they can be too loose and wiggle causing it to slip and/or making hour hand bob and weave up and down as you change the time causing a bind. If you cant source a new hour wheel then try adding a couple more dial washers to keep it down

Edited by saswatch88
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Calovera New Member

Calovera

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I believe the watch is made by the morath bros of Liverpool. The watch itself is unnamed and only has a number printed onto the movement. Not sure how hard it would be to source a new wheel or clutch. 

It has a sub second hand. Thanks for all the thoughts, very interesting. 

 

I hope it doesn't cost too much. Was a recent ebay purchase and the repeater mechanism already needed work.

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