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Ruhla Pocket Watch

Loei
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Neverenoughwatches Distinguished Member

Neverenoughwatches

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Loei said:

Indeed that is the missing part.

I'm not sure if that also causes the balance wheen to be unbalanced, I can find no reason why the top of the pivot of the weel is not touching the balance cock.
The parts are not bent or anything.

This begs the question, has this already been used as a donor for another watch. As a guess the bottom pivot is broken so the staff is lower than it should be to hold the top pivot in place or the top pivot is broken so not having a pivot to be held in place or both broken resulting in "The Wobbly Balance " With this issue then possibly a previous repairer or investigator has not wanted to venture into that repair or couldnt get a balance staff and subsequently robbed the stem and crown and also the pallet cock. These are the realities of buying pocket watches unseen, you pay your money you take your chance. I myself have just bought a beautiful Buser 105 WW2 military GSTP pocket watch for very little money. I very well expected it to have a broken staff pivot. Upon inspection this morning it did indeed have a broken top staff pivot. So now a 35 euro staff will be forthcoming. It is what it is, they are what they are 🤷‍♂️

27 minutes ago, Loei said:

I hope this helps.

 

20220725_144410.jpg

20220725_144418.jpg

Yep. Not much to hang onto on either end there matey.  At least you dont need the stem and crown now. Always a positive lurking somewhere . 

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Loei Member

Loei

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17 minutes ago, Neverenoughwatches said:

Yep. Not much to hang onto on either end there matey.  At least you dont need the stem and crown now. Always a positive lurking somewhere . 

Well, stem and crown are stil missing so will  be needing them ultimately.

Looks like I'll be looking for a donor movement with fingers crossed on a good balance staff.

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Neverenoughwatches Distinguished Member

Neverenoughwatches

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35 minutes ago, Loei said:

Well, stem and crown are stil missing so will  be needing them ultimately.

Looks like I'll be looking for a donor movement with fingers crossed on a good balance staff.

You are carrying on ? Good for you fella. Sometimes if you ask and the seller has experience he may have a look at the balance for you and give you an honest appraisal of it. There is a seller i often buy from, he always quotes the condition of the balance. We could source you a new staff but if you need the pallet cock as well you may as well hold out and see if a good donor can supply you with both. 

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Neverenoughwatches Distinguished Member

Neverenoughwatches

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1 hour ago, Loei said:

Well, now that you put it like that, unless I can find a nice donor movement this project will have very little chance of success.

So untill I can find one this project is going on hold. 😛

Sometimes that is what we have to do. I know there are guys on here that have had to wait a few years for something to come along. You were just a bit unlucky this first time, chalk it down to experience.  Even very experienced come unstuck from time to time, they will tell you that there is always something new to learn. I will assume that you didnt pay much for it and the knowledge you've gained has been well worth that. You still have a mechanical watch to learn from working or not. 👍

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Kalanag Super WRT Addict

Kalanag

Posted
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3 hours ago, Loei said:

I hope this helps.

 

The pivots are not broken. They are made like Timex pivots with tapered tips and therefore nearly unbreakable. The top bearing in the cock looks a bit disarranged which could be the problem.

I‘m sorry to say that this watch is not really worth fixing imho taking the overall condition into account. These watches were sold in giant numbers for very cheap in Eastern Germany before the iron curtain fell (and even cheaper after that). 

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jdm Distinguished Member

jdm

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5 hours ago, Loei said:

I hope this helps.

Yes both pivots are broken.EDIT. The are not, read below.

What you see is the body of the so called tampons which are fitted to the cylinder. Pivots are much, much thinner than that. Replacing them or the cylinder complete is no easy job because these would need to be custom made on the lathe. That is work for a good watchmaker.

If you want to learn watch repair I recommend that you avoud cylinder escapement watches and antiques in general, stick to what is recommended in our pinned topic

 

2 hours ago, Kalanag said:

The pivots are not broken.

You are correct, thank you for making me notice that. I had never seen this construction, easy to to notice as there is no hole. The other cylinder mov.ts I have seen all have pivots and hole jewels. 

Edited by jdm
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Neverenoughwatches Distinguished Member

Neverenoughwatches

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3 hours ago, Kalanag said:

The pivots are not broken. They are made like Timex pivots with tapered tips and therefore nearly unbreakable. The top bearing in the cock looks a bit disarranged which could be the problem.

I‘m sorry to say that this watch is not really worth fixing imho taking the overall condition into account. These watches were sold in giant numbers for very cheap in Eastern Germany before the iron curtain fell (and even cheaper after that). 

Thank you kalanag, this is new information for me, I'm very curious as to how the cylinder is held in position without pivots. What an outdated idea considering the watch is only around 50 or so years old. It must be very cheaply made. I've always been under the impression that German mechanics were of good quality.

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Kalanag Super WRT Addict

Kalanag

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21 minutes ago, Neverenoughwatches said:

…I've always been under the impression that German mechanics were of good quality.

That‘s why I mentioned „Eastern Germany“ as the origin which was part of the planned economy of the uSSR from WW2 up to 1990 😉

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Loei Member

Loei

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Hi again, just wanted to check all your opinions on this pocket watch I just found:
https://www.ebay.nl/itm/184206202055?hash=item2ae38b94c7:g:FT8AAOSwKH1eQYTh

It says UMF1 in stead of UMF83 but it looks rather identical to the watch I currently have.
It also has the pallet cock

Would any of you say it is worth the risk to get it running again or just leave my watch for what it is?

Thanks in advance.

By the way, to my opinion the watch is a little bit on the pricy side for me, would this mean that I'm trying to jump into a to expensive hobby for me? I'm beginning to get the feeling that the prices for these old non-running movements are higher than I expected.
 

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jdm Distinguished Member

jdm

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21 minutes ago, Loei said:

By the way, to my opinion the watch is a little bit on the pricy side for me, would this mean that I'm trying to jump into a to expensive hobby for me? 

Yes it is a bit expensive especially considering these were the cheapest watch even when new, and probably there is people that gives them away for charity or to those that will take care of them.

The initial cost for a decent set of tools including timegrapher could be 300 GBP and up, it that's expensive or not depends on the budget and the passion of each individual.

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Loei Member

Loei

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Posted (edited)
33 minutes ago, Kalanag said:

Here is an alternative offer:

https://www.ebay.de/itm/195231049096?hash=item2d74ad6588:g:xakAAOSwigNi18s4

Thank you, will keep an eye on that one!

 

It's not really emotional attachement, but I really like the look of the watch, it was the main reason for wanting to start with the Ruhla.
Well, maybe that does qualify as emotional attachement. 😛

Edited by Loei
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KarlvonKoln Distinguished Member

KarlvonKoln

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I think I may need to disagree about this being a cylinder escapement.  1) it has a roller "pin" (rather than a jewel) - cylinders do not have those.  2) the staff does not appear to be hollow, but simply has a cutaway portion.  I think this is a pin lever with a bent staff, and the conical pivots are not great but could still be serviceable if burnished correctly.
I'd be happy to be wrong about it, but I don't think it is a cylinder.

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