Old Pocket Watch Revision

[AlexanderB]

A friend gave me a huge (60mm) pocket watch that ran not well and the hour hand was missing. I made clear that I cannot guarantee that it will be successful. But I felt confident that I am able to manage to disassemble the movement clean it and assemble it again.

Unfortunately it did not go well. Honestly I feel bad about it and I should not have started this. This is for every hobby watchmaker that feels he or she can do this. I did not ask for money and wanted to do a favor. There are no bad feelings and all is well. No issues. But still. I should have known better.

[AlexanderB]

Here are a couple of pictures of the disassembly which went pretty well.

In order to remove the ratchet wheel I needed to build a tool.

Any ideas how this tool is named?

[AlexanderB]

More pictures of the disassembly...

[AlexanderB]

Assembly went uneventful until I installed the balance wheel. I needed to install the setting screw before I installed the set lever. BTW this is a keyless movement, that does not allow to pull the crown to set the time. Instead a pusher brings the setting mechanism to set the time.

 

[AlexanderB]

More pictures of the assembly.

[AlexanderB]

Then it happened... After installing the balance wheel I expected that the watch to run OK. I noticed that the balance does not deflect too many degrees. On the timegrapher the watch went >300s fast a day. I then uninstalled the balance wheel assembly again and reinstalled it again. I noticed that there was a tremendous play in the balance wheel. I also noticed a significant beat error.

I cleaned the balance wheel once more. By handling the balance I managed somehow to break the stone that gets kicked by the fork. I then tried to glue it with CA which did not hold, of course. 

In the end I drilled a 0.8mm hole where the stone was and inserted a 0.8mm steel rod. Devastating. It does not work of course. She ticks for 15min and then stops again. 

Honestly: even after having serviced more than 20 movements things like this happen. 

[AlexanderB]

Nevertheless I tried to get new hands. In vain. The watch is huge and spares are not available. So I thought about building a new hour hand.

Being a RC plane builder I have a CNC mill, fiber glass, and 0.25mm aluminum sheets. I designed a hand with Adobe Illustrator. I then built a template. Actually two templates. Between these two templates I put a piece of 0.25mm aluminum sheet.

I then filed carefully around the template and then removed the templates. After that I did some fine filing of the hand. The hand is a bit too massive but I think it looks quite well. The aluminum (I had no brass or steel in this thickness) is too weak to make a finer one. At least this has worked out and looks OK.

[szbalogh]

11 hours ago, AlexanderB said:

I cleaned the balance wheel once more. By handling the balance I managed somehow to break the stone that gets kicked by the fork. I then tried to glue it with CA which did not hold, of course. 

In the end I drilled a 0.8mm hole where the stone was and inserted a 0.8mm steel rod. Devastating. It does not work of course. She ticks for 15min and then stops again. 

This is sad but dont let this take the mood from watchmaking! 

Some questions maybe of use. Was the impulse jewel really broken? Not just slipping off its hole? You should try shellack or its solvent is spirit as a glue. I see You have an oval impulse jewel. There are a lot of broken movements like this on e-bay for cheap, a possible impulse jewel source. Or You can make your own jewel

But if the impulse plate is already drilled maybe You can fit a D-shaped one. But make sure it has the correct height and distance from the fork. Dont force the balance if it wont move, put the jewel a bit backwards from the fork.

You cant simply leave that jewel like that 

I see that the overcoil hairspring also has some distortions, especially the outer coil. If it sticking to something it can cause low amplitude. So check carefully if it is flat and moving free. Better if You do this without the pallet fork installed. Dont forget to remove tension from the train before removing the fork!

[AlexanderB]

Thank you for your kind comment. No, it won't take the mood from watchmaking. It definitely will take the mood from servicing watches of others. It's just too risky.

There are a few things I did and checked:

• I installed the balance wheel without the fork. I already found that there was more resistance than expected. The pivots need replacement I guess. I took away the cover stone from the dial side before cleaning and lubricated it with Moebius 9010. I did not dare to take away the cover stone from the cock because I would need to remove the hairspring. This is something I need to practice.
• I looked at the hairspring and it is flat.
• The impulse jewel was broken. That was clearly visible.

At least I learned something the hard way.

[szbalogh]

This hairspring is easy to detach. Just do it

Both balance hole- and cap jewels need to be cleaned to make sure there is another problem. The balance pinion seems ok to me from the picture, if the other one is like this.

[oldhippy]

The tool I had for removing the disk on top of the ratchet was like this. About the size of a large watchmakers screw driver, at the bottom end it had to prongs, just above that a threaded sleeve over the main body of the driver and you screwed the sleeve up wards and the prongs would open to the required width, insert and turn. If you are replacing anything in the escapement you should replace with the same type, so a jewel should be replaced with a jewel, impulse pins are not as easy as you think every thing has to be the correct size and depth. One other thing that dial looks to be one sided to the center and could rub causing problems. Nice clear photos.    

[vinn3]

sad day in Watchville.  a very good intention and a lesson learned.  a good lesson on any forum.  its safer to only work on your own stuff.   good presentation and very good pix..  vinn

[AlexanderB]

Thank you all. This file is closed. I returned the watch. The owner was happy to see a good clean shape and the new hour hand. Since this pocket watch did not work before and after, he was happy to find it cleaned. He also loved the pictures. 

Nevertheless: I won't touch a movement that is not mine. I regulated two cheap watches for him as well and that went well. It was not too complicated. Disassembly is another story.

 

[TimFitz]

Good lesson , one that I will remember. Thank You for being brave enough to share with us.