Oiling Incabloc Combined Bushings

[Kalanag]

My JLC 889/1 has two combined bushings as bearings for thr escape wheel. Can somebody tell me how to oil these bearings without a automatic oiler? Thanks for any hint!

Karl

[watchweasol]

Hi  I should have a search on the watch fix site as our host Mark Lovick as I recall showed how to do this.  Usually it means dismantling the setting and oiling the cap stone and re fitting or the use of a bergeon oil pen to introduce oil through the jewel hole.  Probably Nicklesilver who is a professional will lend his expertise to the question.

[nickelsilver]

I used to have a Bergeon automatic oiler, but it has long since disappeared. I didn't like it as I could never be certain how clean it was at the tip.

 

For jewels such as these, or old fashioned assembled cap and hole jewels as one might encounter in any watch made before Incabloc or Kif existed, I put a small amount of oil on the hole jewel, then push it through to the cap jewel. There are specific tools for this you can buy from your supplier; I use tiny taper pins that are intended for hairspring pinning.

[ifibrin]

6 minutes ago, nickelsilver said:

I used to have a Bergeon automatic oiler, but it has long since disappeared. I didn't like it as I could never be certain how clean it was at the tip.

 

For jewels such as these, or old fashioned assembled cap and hole jewels as one might encounter in any watch made before Incabloc or Kif existed, I put a small amount of oil on the hole jewel, then push it through to the cap jewel. There are specific tools for this you can buy from your supplier; I use tiny taper pins that are intended for hairspring pinning.

How would you clean such a combined bushing? Pegging it with pegwood would appear impossible.

[HectorLooi]

4 minutes ago, ifibrin said:

How would you clean such a combined bushing? Pegging it with pegwood would appear impossible.

I ultrasound them in L&R #111 cleaner, rinse twice in #3 Rinse and finally benzine.

I also place a drop of oil in the jewel hole and use a broken oiler, which I sharpened to a needle point, to wick the oil into the setting.

[HectorLooi]

P.S. I keep the modified oiler capped all the time now because I kept getting stabbed by it.

[ifibrin]

6 minutes ago, HectorLooi said:

I ultrasound them in L&R #111 cleaner, rinse twice in #3 Rinse and finally benzine.

I also place a drop of oil in the jewel hole and use a broken oiler, which I sharpened to a needle point, to wick the oil into the setting.

So you wouldn’t peg it then? I imagine if this was a movement where the oil had congealed, cleaning with ultrasound only might not remove it entirely. Have to press it out with a jeweling tool then?

[HectorLooi]

23 minutes ago, ifibrin said:

So you wouldn’t peg it then? I imagine if this was a movement where the oil had congealed, cleaning with ultrasound only might not remove it entirely. Have to press it out with a jeweling tool then?

You have to try the L&R cleaners. They do such an amazing job that even fully assembled incabloc jewels come out clean.

[ifibrin]

2 minutes ago, HectorLooi said:

You have to try the L&R cleaners. They do such an amazing job that even fully assembled incabloc jewels come out clean.

Wow. Not having to peg jewels does sound very appealing! Sharpening peg wood is a very time consuming and tedious endeavor. How is the smell of the cleaners like? Very solvent heavy?

[ifibrin]

2 hours ago, Kalanag said:

My JLC 889/1 has two combined bushings as bearings for thr escape wheel. Can somebody tell me how to oil these bearings without a automatic oiler? Thanks for any hint!

Karl

 Back to your question, after you have cleaned the entire bridge/plate with the bushing jewel, you can oil the cup in the jewel on the opposite side with a normal Oiler. You then have to use a needle or a sharpened Oiler to poke the hole jewel through the oil cup, wicking the oil from the cup to the gap in between the hole jewel and the endstone.

Edited April 5, 2022 by ifibrin

[HectorLooi]

8 minutes ago, ifibrin said:

Wow. Not having to peg jewels does sound very appealing! Sharpening peg wood is a very time consuming and tedious endeavor. How is the smell of the cleaners like? Very solvent heavy?

I use it in jeweller's cleaning jars, which have sealed covers. So no smell escapes. But if you put your nose to the jar, then it's bad.

The only downside is we have to get it from the local supplier which charges 180SGD for 2.5L of each solution. And they don't alway have stock. It is classified as a hazardous substance and can only be shipped in, which take 2 months.

 

1 minute ago, ifibrin said:

 Back to your question, after you have cleaned the entire bridge/plate with the jewel, you can oil the cup in the jewel on the opposite side with a normal Oiler. You then have to use a needle or a sharpened Oiler to wick the oil from the cup to the gap in between the hole jewel and the endstone.

That's exactly right.

[VWatchie]

4 hours ago, nickelsilver said:

I used to have a Bergeon automatic oiler, but it has long since disappeared. I didn't like it as I could never be certain how clean it was at the tip.

Couldn't the tip just be pushed into a clean piece of pith wood and then be blown off (like an ordinary oiler), or am I missing something here?

Anyway, a disadvantage of the the automatic oiler that I have, the Bergeon 1A, is that the diameter of the tip is too wide for some very small jewel holes, like the those for the capped jewel holes of some Seiko and Orient watches (3rd and escape wheel). In those cases an Incabloc oiler (or similar) is really what's required. For anyone interested here's my video review of the Bergeon Automatic Oiler 1A.

4 hours ago, nickelsilver said:

There are specific tools for this you can buy from your supplier;

Here are some pictures of it:

Edited April 5, 2022 by VWatchie

[Kalanag]

Thanks for the helpful replies! 

Karl

[Kalanag]

Done! 

With a jewel hole diameter of just 0,15mm an automatic oiler would not work here I think.

 

[ifibrin]

Nice job! What did you use to wick the oil?