Ulysse Nardin vintage watch running fast

[cduke]

Hello All,

I have a vintage Ulysse Nardin watch from 40s-50s that is running very fast, about 2 hours in every 24 hour cycle.  The watch has been demagnetized, and the balance spring checked. The balance regulator has little effect on the watch speed.  Is this watch a candidate for a good cleaning or is there possibly another problem to check?

Thanks for the help.

[jdm]

17 minutes ago, cduke said:

The watch has been demagnetized, and the balance spring checked.

I would check it again, look at the timegrapher pattern, and even at the sound waveform, because likely the spring is touching.
In any case a 70 years old watch is always  a great candidate for servicing.

[Nucejoe]

Do you its history?   Was it running Ok before? 

One of the other possibilities is wrong spring has been slapped on.

 

 

[clockboy]

It may be a simple fix. If the H/spring is not inside the regulator adjusting pins it will run just very fast and moving the regular arm will make no difference whatsoever. Well worth a check. 9 out of 10 times running fast is an escape issue. If confident it is not the escape a loose cannon pinion will be the issue. 

[Nucejoe]

Can you post picture of HS from top of the cock view.

Oscilator runs fast if the active length of HS is shorter than should be, which happens  if the last circle of the coil get stuck behind stud  or boot of the regulator arm, another possibility is if two outer circles get inside the regualtor slot. 

I gather you mean hairspring look Ok by " hairspring checked" .  It can look alright but run fast if too short or stiff.

 

[oldhippy]

There also could be a tiny foreign body interfering on the hairspring.  

[cduke]

On 7/10/2020 at 2:27 PM, clockboy said:

It may be a simple fix. If the H/spring is not inside the regulator adjusting pins it will run just very fast and moving the regular arm will make no difference whatsoever. Well worth a check. 9 out of 10 times running fast is an escape issue. If confident it is not the escape a loose cannon pinion will be the issue. 

The spring was sitting at the bottom of the adjusting pins but was not seated between them.  I did move the spring to within the pins and it has performed better but is still running fast.  I will try moving the regulator to retard the balance wheel a bit as see .

Thank you all for helping me as I stumble through the basics!

[Nucejoe]

I move the regulator arm all the way back to or as near as you can to the stud holder   (you will be letting all available length of the hairsrping to oscillate,  almost " free sprung" ) a healty hairspring should run slow then( in full length) and regulate somewhere in between. In case it still ran fast, we should look for the reason.

Good luck.

[Nucejoe]

Moving the regulator arm through entire length of end curve, should change the daily rate about ten minutes or so.  Two hrs fast a day is not regulatable and indicates something is wrong.

[HSL]

46 minutes ago, cduke said:

The spring was sitting at the bottom of the adjusting pins but was not seated between them.  I did move the spring to within the pins and it has performed better but is still running fast.  I will try moving the regulator to retard the balance wheel a bit as see .

Thank you all for helping me as I stumble through the basics!

If the spring is low down it's a sign of the HS isn't flat either. 
If you move the regulator arm and it has no effect the hairspring for sure couldn't be right between the regulatur pins.

[cduke]

49 minutes ago, HSL said:

If the spring is low down it's a sign of the HS isn't flat either. 
If you move the regulator arm and it has no effect the hairspring for sure couldn't be right between the regulatur pins.

After moving the spring between the guides, it has slowed down considerably.  I imagine there are multiple issues with this movement.

Thanks again for all your great comments and help!