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1913 Silver Trench Watch.


Geo

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It arrived this morning and it looks better in the metal than the photo.

As Marc and I suspected, it is a cylinder escapement. I was worried that a tooth might be missing from it, as it runs for a couple of seconds and stops, but on close inspection it is perfect. A good clean and a new strap will make it good as new. At £37.85 including postage, I'm well pleased! :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

It transpired that the movement in the watch is a Fontainemelon 602 calibre with cylinder escapement. Here are a few photos, the first two were taken during the dismantling and the rest are the fruits of my labour. I replaced the mainspring and everything else was just given a good clean, lubricated then reassembled.

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After cleaning and assembly.

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The porcelain dial was in excellent condition with only the slightest of damage, luckily under the bezel where a knife has caught it in the past. There was also some brown staining from oil, this was easily removed with some household bleach. The crystal is original, easily identifiable by the small flat spot in the middle. I gave it the usual Autosol polish and it looks like new.

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I decided to leave all the historic marks on the case, and gave it a gentle polish with a silver cloth.

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For high end cylinders they used to use a Ruby cylinder,  how on earth they managed to machine it is as big a mystery as the Great Pyramid.

Wow, I didn't know that Roger. It beats me how they made the steel ones never mind making them from Ruby. They are really very delicate and fiddly to work with.

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That is great work there! Getting a garden office installed in the summer so should be able to so some more repairs then and have a very similar watch to work on you have inspired me to do that first

Excellent!

Take great care when removing the balance assembly, it bears no resemblance to the anchor escapement and it's very easy to cause damage to the escapement wheel.

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I came across this website  http://www.watchrestoration.com/miniPP1.html  while looking for information on cylinder escapements,  he actually made a new cylinder for a very small Patek Phillipe watch,  amazing.

 

Picture is of a Ruby cylinder,  it's not easy to see but there is a cylindrical piece of Ruby fitted into the steel cylinder.  It's not as I imagined where the whole cylinder was made from Ruby,  they have just used it in the high wear part,  but still amazing work.

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May I ask what you used to clean the dial?

Because these old dials are porcelain on copper, I use neat household bleach on a cotton bud then rinse with clean water.

Do not use bleach on more modern dials with a paint finish!

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