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Avoided Covid-19 but caught Watchmaker Bug

Hotdog

By Hotdog
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Hotdog New Member

Hotdog

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Hi, very pleased to introduce myself as Richard, who has become obsessed with watching watch repair and refurbishment videos...

I am kitting myself out with the tools I will need to enjoy a new hobby. Stuff like a Timegrapher, ultrasonic cleaner, case back and crystal tool, screwdrivers, tweezers, and lots of other tools and things including loupe, polishing equipment, microscope and even macro lenses for my camera...

One thing I haven't been able to get a handle on though, even after some Internet searching, is why, when so much effort goes into special oils and greases to lubricate spring friction points, pinions, jewels, mainspring and the components in the keyless works, etc. the gear teeth on wheels are left dry?

I would really appreciate an insight on this please. 🙂

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Michael1962 Distinguished Member

Michael1962

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Welcome to the forum Richard.

That is a good question. Initially I may have said brass (gear) against steel (arbor) does not have a lot of friction, but that does not follow to a pinion (steel) in a movement plate (brass). The only difference here is the size of the diameter. However, unless I am greatly mistaken, as the diameter decreases, the percentage ratio of steel to brass contact increases.

Jewels are used as the friction between a jewel and steel (pinion) is very low. If so, why the need to lubricate it? jewels are much harder than steel. The oil creates a film between the jewel and the steel that greatly aids in the jewel not wearing the pinion away. That sounds counterintuitive now that I read it back to myself, but I can think of no other reason.

Spring friction points would be lubricated due to the amount of force that the spring has against the wheel that it interacts with. The friction would be so high if the contact surfaces were dry, that the wheel would be greatly inhibited from turning at all. The spring's function is to stop its wheel turning in the wrong direction, so if it is lubricated so that the wheel progresses more easily, that does not have any bearing on the function of the spring.

As I'm knew to this, I may be completely wrong. I'm applying what I know as a mechanical fitter to a much smaller scale.

 

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Neverenoughwatches Distinguished Member

Neverenoughwatches

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On 5/20/2022 at 5:31 PM, Hotdog said:

Hi, very pleased to introduce myself as Richard, who has become obsessed with watching watch repair and refurbishment videos...

I am kitting myself out with the tools I will need to enjoy a new hobby. Stuff like a Timegrapher, ultrasonic cleaner, case back and crystal tool, screwdrivers, tweezers, and lots of other tools and things including loupe, polishing equipment, microscope and even macro lenses for my camera...

One thing I haven't been able to get a handle on though, even after some Internet searching, is why, when so much effort goes into special oils and greases to lubricate spring friction points, pinions, jewels, mainspring and the components in the keyless works, etc. the gear teeth on wheels are left dry?

I would really appreciate an insight on this please. 🙂

The  friction created by all the teeth meshing would be too much for the watch if they were all oiled. An oils viscosity applied to micro gearing as opposed to large gearing would have a completely different impact. Lubrication tends to be a less is more approach. More so i would imagine virtually impossible to stop the oil spreading throughout the watch, epilame everything?  It just doesn't seem practical. Even if it did work how much sooner would the movement need a service. Interesting experiment though to see how soon it would stop. Fairly quickly I'm thinking.

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