Worn pivot holes

[arron]

Good day all,

I hope you are all doing well.  I am wondering if 1) it is common for un-jeweled pivot holes to become deformed on an old PW and 2) for the pivots to not protrude all the way through the pivot hole.  3) I'm thinking that this watch is not worth spending a lot of time trying to repair (because it's probably beyond my current skill set), but I'm open to ideas about how to fix the pivot holes.

Back story: I am working on a Waltham 7j Os pocket watch, serial 10968234.  After cleaning, it is running, surprisingly.  dial up and down i'm getting amplitude of 286 and 171 respectively.  crown up, i'm getting no timegrapher reading, but it continues to run albeit sluggishly.  crown down i get amplitude of 273.  as you can see in the pics, the pallet and escape wheel pivots do not go all the way through the pivot holes and it appears that the pivots have worn out of round the underneath part of the pivot hole. 

 

Thanks for your time.  Arron.

[arron]

sorry, it's not the pallet pivot hole, it's the 4th wheel and escapement wheel pivot holes.  Sorry for the confusion.

[RichardHarris123]

Looks like both the pivots and the holes are worn. I'm guessing it's been running without oil or dried up oil.  Metal on metal is bad, dried up oil and dirt forms an abrasive. 

[oldhippy]

The common thing with pivot holes that are not jeweled is wear not only to the hole but also to the pivot. As I cannot see the complete wheel it is possible that the pivot was worn and someone has shortened it, this could also cause the wear to the hole because on the up side it doesn't appear to show much wear. You will need to reamer out the hole and re-bush it but you will also need to change the depth of the oil well for the shorted pivot. The alternative as its a  Waltham is to find replacement parts the wheel and the top plate. 

Edited April 12, 2023 by oldhippy

[arron]

Thanks for the input.  I was afraid the solution was beyond my current skill set so i'll set it aside for now.  I was able to get it oiled up and now it's running decent in all positions, which baffles me given the condition of the pivots and pivot holes.  i wound it up last night and it's still running, go figure.  thanks again.  Arron.

[oldhippy]

The trouble is with it working in that condition the wear will only get worse and you might not be so lucky in being able to have it repaired.