Strange Watch Behaviour.

[fjseal]

Hello all,

 

I have an Everite King that belonged to my sister-in-law's late Father. The movement is an AS 984. After replacing a few parts including the balance wheel and hairspring, the watch keeps great time sitting on the bench, however, when I wear it, it gains two minutes within ten or eleven hours. Hopefully it is not a loose cannon pinion. I have demagnetised the watch, and it is in beat going by the position of the impulse jewel between the banking pins. I don't have a timegrapher, yet.

Any ideas?

 

Thanks,

Frank.

P.S. If I get permission, later I will post a before/after photo.

[rogart63]

It could gain in time if you turn the watch upside down on the bench ?Try putting it on the bench in different angels and see if it gain time or loose time . If so you will need to find a medium setting . I don't think its a loose cannon pinion .It would loose time then . 

[Geo]

That's an odd one Frank, I would have expected the watch to loose time if it had been the cannon pinion. I'm sure the problem is to do with the balance. If you have demagnetised it, try removing it and give it a good wash in lighter fluid to make sure there is no oil contamination.

[mwilkes]

I think someone here mentioned a similar problem and discovered his magnetic anti-rheumatism bracelet was causing the problem!

[CKelly]

I also think the problem may be in the balance-hairspring. Try checking the watch in different positions on the bench. If watch runs fine say dial up and gains time dial down you might look for a cracked jewel. Another problem could be in the placement of the hairspring stud in its holder. If the spring is a bit high or low the spring could be coming in contact with either the balance bridge or arms on the balance itself and it's possible that it could only show up when changing position of the watch. If anyone is curious as to why I say this I recently had to replace a hairspring on a ladies Omega 484 and when I checked it on machine dial up it ran fine but went crazy dial down. If I remember right the hairspring was making a slight contact with the balance bridge. Spring was not bent so I thought well maybe I just pushed stud up too far when I installed balance. Pushed it down a hair and problem went away. A 484 is a pretty small movement and I had to look at it under 20x microscope to see it rubbing the balance bridge.

 

Charles K

[fjseal]

Thank you for all your replies. Charles had it on the money! I had previously raised the hairspring stud upwards a little, and when I returned it to flush with the top of the balance cock the problem was sorted. It is now keeping good time for a movement made about 1940. Like a ladies watch, the AS984 is a small one so another step in the learning process. Clearly, any timekeeping difficulty has to highlight the balance to be investigated first.

I'm looking forward to seeing my sister-in-law's face when she sees her late father's watch running.

By the way, isn't working on someone else's watch nerve-wracking compared to your first throw-away one!

I am trying to attach a couple of pics of the watch, wish me luck!

 

Frank.

[Geo]

Good result Frank!

[CKelly]

Glad you got it worked out and that the fix was an easy one. Nice watch by the way. There is an extra emotional attachment to a watch that belonged to a family member that does increase my tension level however those are the ones I enjoy working on the most.

Charles

[DouglasSkinner]

Been having a similar problem--also with a ladies movement.  Runs dial down, not dial up.  Runs on one side but not the other.

[fjseal]

Douglas,

I am new to watch repair, but the more experienced contributors will say the balance is where you should concentrate your efforts. If it's Incabloc shock-proofing, check the end stones are the right way up; one side, the face that you oil is flat, and the other is convex.

 

Regards.