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What should I do for my first attempt at changing jewels

GregG
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nickelsilver Distinguished Member

nickelsilver

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4 hours ago, nickelsilver said:

Something you can do when you have a lathe is make a "false" setting. You bore/ream out to the perimeter of the original sink, then make a bushing to fit, with a bore for a friction jewel that's about the same diameter as what was visible of the old rub-in jewel. Cut the sink so it hits the border where the bushing meets the bridge/plate.

 

It's quite invisible, especially if you have german silver or brass for different color bridges- if the watch warrants it you can also plate the bushing. This is also useful for rub-in balance jewels just to be able to fit available jewels in what might be an otherwise too large opening.

Yes, if you're not working on a Patek Philippe just go for it and learn !

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GregG WRT Addict

GregG

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4 hours ago, Paul80 said:

Here is a video of someone doing a jewel change for the first time, I found it quite informative.

 

He is using the same tool I linked to on the Quality Chinese Tools thread 😉

Yep, that's exactly the video I was referring to in my OP.

While we're all on the topic of jeweling and endshake, I have a Waltham 1877 pocket watch that runs decently well, but not without it's issues.  The balance will spin (albeit only for a short while) if given a puff of air.  If I turn the watch upside down and give it a puff, it will run for a long time.  The pivots on the staff look fine.  But I did notice that after reassembly, there is an awful lot of endshake.  Could this be causing the problem I'm seeing?  And if so, how do I tell which bearing isn't seated deeply enough?

I don't want to force anything and risk cracking or breaking something.

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