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Pocket watch won’t regulate!


bosstaki

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Hi guy’s, I’ve been trying to regulate this pocket watch for a few days now! It’s hours in front now! There no more adjustment left on the screw now & it’s running as slow as it can go! It’s for a friend of mine! The only thing i know about the watch is that he said he recently had a new main spring fitted & it’s been running really fast since he got it back from the jewellers! Cheers!

9B55FBFC-FF0F-436F-B414-02499B0CD0FF.jpeg

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12 minutes ago, bosstaki said:

 The only thing i know about the watch is that he said he recently had a new main spring fitted & it’s been running really fast since he got it back from the jewellers!

Can you check it on the timegrapher?
The logical action is to bring it back to who has repaired it.

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Hi Bosstaki,

Yes, jdm us right. Bring it back to the jeweller's. However since you have the lid open already it doesn't do any harm if you take a strong loupe and check the hairspring spiral. Are there any two or more spiral windings sticking together? Then it's either dirt or the watch got magnetized somewhere. This shortens the spiral and makes your watch run faster much beyond regulation. If that's the case it's a relatively easy fix. Have you exposed the watch to a magnetic field somewhere after you got it back from the jeweller's?

Greetings from Hamburg,

Alex

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1 hour ago, bosstaki said:

Hi guy’s, I’ve been trying to regulate this pocket watch for a few days now! It’s hours in front now! There no more adjustment left on the screw now & it’s running as slow as it can go! It’s for a friend of mine! The only thing i know about the watch is that he said he recently had a new main spring fitted & it’s been running really fast since he got it back from the jewellers! Cheers!

9B55FBFC-FF0F-436F-B414-02499B0CD0FF.jpeg

Also, dip the hairspring in lighter fluid do around 15 min if there is oil between the hairspring leaves. Did this on the latest watch repair and it worked wonderfully. One-dip should also work. Also check the regulator pins. They may be too close together.

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Run it through your de-magnetizer once or twice. They will run like a race horse if the hairspring is magnetized. That is the first thing I do if the complaint is running too fast. The hairsprings in old watches are susceptible to magnetization.

Check the amplitude. If it is very low, it will run fast.

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1 hour ago, AlexanderToerzs said:

Hi Bosstaki,

Yes, jdm us right. Bring it back to the jeweller's. However since you have the lid open already it doesn't do any harm if you take a strong loupe and check the hairspring spiral. Are there any two or more spiral windings sticking together? Then it's either dirt or the watch got magnetized somewhere. This shortens the spiral and makes your watch run faster much beyond regulation. If that's the case it's a relatively easy fix. Have you exposed the watch to a magnetic field somewhere after you got it back from the jeweller's?

Greetings from Hamburg,

Alex

Hi alex! Many thanks for the advice mate, the pocket watch was well magnetised mate! I give i a few goes with the demagnetiser & I’ve managed to get it regulated now! 

1B6CDEB8-7134-4024-8551-E067EBD113A0.jpeg

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I told him that he should have returned the watch back to the shop! He just wanted to take a look at it before he took it back! It turns out it was really magnetised! I passed it through me demagnetiser a few times! I’ve now managed to get it regulated! See picture! It’s the best I’m going to get it me thinks! Thanks for the reply mate

5CCFBC45-4D73-4D8B-A8DB-27D71AE39669.jpeg

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Magnetism for watches with steel Springs is always an interesting problem. Especially in a day and age when we have all these nifty electronic devices that have magnetic fields in them. Like things with speakers for instance. It's really amazed we don't end up with more watches magnetized.

then isn't that an interesting beat error? Doesn't seem like a little on the high side? Then out of curiosity what happens if you time the watch crown up?

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That looks to me like a crazy high amplitude given how out of beat it is. The lift angle may not be reported but if you can find it somewhere, or calculate it manually, it would be interesting to know what it is. The trace is clean at least, so they did not do an absolute butcher of a job.

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16 hours ago, JohnC said:

That looks to me like a crazy high amplitude given how out of beat it is. 

Indeed, not believable unless seen. With about 1.5 deg of amplitude per increasing lift angle deg it could be perhaps about 320, still very high. I think these are mostly academic exercises on a very vintage watch. If it runs well and keeps time that's all one really needs. 

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