Balance / Balance Bidge Trouble Reinstalling

[bobolink]

I am assembling an Omega pocket watch and having trouble reinstalling the balance bridge.  All else is cleaned and working well.  I wound it and checked the fork and it is fine with good back/forth motion.  But the balance bridge is giving me heartburn.  Its 3 pins and they are very tight.  I do not force it and the staff is fine on both ends, straight and clean.  Jewels are good as well.  It is wound, all else is installed.

I dont want to force anything and am very cautions.  When I seat the bottom of the balance it sits fine in the jewel and fork but the top never seems to reach the jewel and I am terrified of pushing too hard as I learned the hard way on my first watch.  It is just seems to be a very very tight bridge I even put a touch of oil on the pins to help ease it in.   Unfortunately I dont recall when I disassembled it whether I had trouble lifting the bridge off.

I have not yet oiled the jewels and was waiting to see this go when I dropped it in.

Anyone have any tips and tricks for handling this?  I wanted to take the cap jewel off to better see the staff but it isnt coming off easily even with screws out.

Thanks,

Bob

 

[anilv]

Was the balance bridge hard to remove when you took it off? Could be a simple case of tight fit.

I would remove the balance and try to install just the bridge and sand a smidgen off the pins if too tight.

Anilv

edit .. just realised you mentioned you can remember if it was hard to remove the bridge.

Edited June 1, 2022 by anilv

[Neverenoughwatches]

3 hours ago, bobolink said:

I am assembling an Omega pocket watch and having trouble reinstalling the balance bridge.  All else is cleaned and working well.  I wound it and checked the fork and it is fine with good back/forth motion.  But the balance bridge is giving me heartburn.  Its 3 pins and they are very tight.  I do not force it and the staff is fine on both ends, straight and clean.  Jewels are good as well.  It is wound, all else is installed.

I dont want to force anything and am very cautions.  When I seat the bottom of the balance it sits fine in the jewel and fork but the top never seems to reach the jewel and I am terrified of pushing too hard as I learned the hard way on my first watch.  It is just seems to be a very very tight bridge I even put a touch of oil on the pins to help ease it in.   Unfortunately I dont recall when I disassembled it whether I had trouble lifting the bridge off.

I have not yet oiled the jewels and was waiting to see this go when I dropped it in.

Anyone have any tips and tricks for handling this?  I wanted to take the cap jewel off to better see the staff but it isnt coming off easily even with screws out.

Thanks,

Bob

 

Hi matey . I get this often on vintage swiss as well. As anilv has said remove the balance. Carefully undo the stud screw a couple of turns only as it is tiny. If it comes out you may have a task getting it back in or worse still lose it. Ease the stud out of its hole paying particular notice of how it fits back in, and then store the balance and its relative parts somewhere safe. You may be nervous about doing this, but it is something you will at some point have to deal with and learn. If so much so then put it aside for now and practise this procedure a few times over on something of little value first. Now you can work on easing up the bal. Cock pins without risking bal. pivot damage. 

[mikepilk]

This seems odd as the pins and holes look to be in good condition and Omega parts usually fit together nicely.

Is it possible that the cock+balance are from a different movement ?

What is the calibre ?

[Nucejoe]

I check the pins one or more could have been slightly  pulled out and should be fully pressed in the holes on the cock, furthurmore  you should keep the cock paralel to the main plate as you tighten the screw.

[ChrisRobinson]

No.  You don't want to be forcing this into place.  A broken pivot is the most likely outcome.

These three-pin-cocks seem to either work fine and you can get them to drop in place by nudging the cock with a piece of pegwood, or they simply refuse to cooperate. 

The best procedure (in my limited but real experience) seems to be to place the cock and get all three pins to start to locate, then gently nudge the balance pivot into place.  I think we mostly try to locate the pivots then try to locate the cock, which is fine...         ...until it isn't.

If it (balance) seems to be held while the three pins are in place, gently nudge the cock downwards but don't force it.  Wiggle wiggle make it jiggle.

An Amscope microscope is probably worth less than the price of that watch in good working and good cosmetic condition.  Just sayin'.  Inspect the pins and the holes for damage, and burnish/smooth as necessary.

Failing all that, I think you have do what everyone else is saying: remove the balance and test fit it to see if it actually goes on those three pins easily.  If it doesn't, then it probably means it has had the cock replaced along with the balance and most likely it will need more work and have  the beat corrected as well.  The good news is, it's possible to do all that.  You just have to identify the problem and (very carefully) correct it.

You can do this.  I can tell you have a deft hand just by what you wrote (you didn't try to jam it on there out of frustration).  You'll figure it out.

[Kalanag]

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Edited June 1, 2022 by Kalanag

[bobolink]

Thank you all for your help.  After so many tries I did several things.  I oiled the balance jewels (a different problem I will explain).  I also was able to better align the balance staff by turning the movement over and working upside down.  It aligned an started running, then gently with finger pressure pushed the bridge down.  It landed and was fully running.

Now the other problem.  I cant get the balance cap jewel off to oil it. The screws come out but I cant seem to find a way to get it off.  I will confess I did put a tiny bit of oil on the staff pivot before I put it in knowing I had trouble taking the cap jewel off.

Any suggestions on getting a cap jewel off one the screws are out?

Thanks

Bob

I just read some forum questions on getting off a cap jewel and now realize if I want to take it off I will have to take off the balance bridge again (OUCH!) and push it out from underneath. So I think I may leave it alone.  I did put a spot of oil in the jewel hole through the hairspring before I installed the balance bridge.  

I know thats not right but I cant take that bridge off again. 

I just dont want to go through getting the balance staff aligned again.

Please let me know your thoughts out there and be gentle.

[anilv]

Usually when working on a tough watch it is good to put it away and work on something else.

If it is running well enjoy it as it is and figure on revisiting the balance jewels in a few months time. I doubt it will see much use so no harm done.

Trust me it you will feel much better working on this watch in 2 or 3 months time.

Anilv