Cannon pinion testing

[RichardHarris123]

Hello all 

I have read plenty on tightening cannon pinions but is there a  way of testing for the correct tightness?  

[Neverenoughwatches]

4 hours ago, RichardHarris123 said:

Hello all 

I have read plenty on tightening cannon pinions but is there a  way of testing for the correct tightness?  

You are from Yorkshire Richard, you should know everything there is to know about being tight.

[JohnR725]

4 hours ago, RichardHarris123 said:

I have read plenty on tightening cannon pinions but is there a  way of testing for the correct tightness?  

As far as I know there isn't an actual test as we don't have a micro torque wrench and even if we did all the watches are different.

Basically unacceptably tight is when you start breaking things. But unfortunately this is a subjective thing somebody once had me service a watch and I eagerly like the look at the watch movement and don't always pay attention to details like can the watch be set for instance. It wasn't was reassembling and I went to set the watch that are practically break something in the keyless because the Cannon pinion was on so tight.

On the other hand I have a Waltham watch small ladies pocket watch and I thought it was too loose so I tightened it up but now having issues with part of the mechanism doesn't want to stay engaged because it thinks it's pushing something with too much force. There has looking at another wall from the see how tight it wasn't decided that may be there supposed to be much more loose and regular Cannon pinion or the sliding parts and the keyless are very Unhappy. As one of my tasks today is open the Cannon pinion back up to see if that solves the problem. Or in other words put it back to the way it was before why thought it was too loose but I was only judging that by how it felt not by how it functions.

 

[Nucejoe]

 Compare amplitudes before and after instaltion of canon pinion and min train, I consider 5 degrees drop acceptable.

The oscilator should not stop or  slow down much  when you move the hands anticlock, neither should the seconds ( otherwise called min hand ) stop.

Not too much not to little resistance when you turn the crown in order to set the time.

a-In case seconds hand can be moved backward ( anticlock), check the locks on pallets as well and side shake on fork and escape wheel .

b-When teeth of a  gear in the min train jumps over teeth of the adjacent gear, I want to check canon pinion for overtightness.

 

 

Edited September 28, 2023 by Nucejoe

[RichardHarris123]

I thought I was asking a simple question but as always it turns out more complex.  So much to learn and even the experts occasionally get it wrong.