Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Posted

Greetings to you all. I have been restoring my Hamilton 912 pocket watch using some part movements. I have replaced all the jewels, installed new mainspring and installed a new hairspring.

 

I have been having trouble getting the watch to start.

 

The mainspring is pushing power through the entire train with the pallet fork removed, but for some reason it is not starting the balance.

 

Any ideas?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Posted

Assuming the train is driving all the way through to the escape wheel with enough torque, you will need to investigate the action of the locking/unlocking of the pallets by flicking the lever left and right. You need to inspect it with an eyeglass. There are references online and in watchmaking books about how the lever escapement should operate, so I won't repeat that here.

If the pallets are locking/unlocking correctly, then inspect the balance. Does the impulse jewel look ok? Check the balance can swing freely, and if you need to, remove the pallets to demonstrate that the balance will oscillate freely without stopping suddenly. With the balance fitted, check the safety roller action: can the balance rotate through the "lift angle" without the guard pin fouling the safety roller?

Posted
Assuming the train is driving all the way through to the escape wheel with enough torque, you will need to investigate the action of the locking/unlocking of the pallets by flicking the lever left and right. You need to inspect it with an eyeglass. There are references online and in watchmaking books about how the lever escapement should operate, so I won't repeat that here.

If the pallets are locking/unlocking correctly, then inspect the balance. Does the impulse jewel look ok? Check the balance can swing freely, and if you need to, remove the pallets to demonstrate that the balance will oscillate freely without stopping suddenly. With the balance fitted, check the safety roller action: can the balance rotate through the "lift angle" without the guard pin fouling the safety roller?

 

The impulse jewel was loose but don't think that will solve this. Will fix that as soon as I can get my hands on a roller remover to properly fix it.

 

The balance moves nicely till it comes in contact with the pallet fork perhaps the guard pin is causing some sort of friction? Too high too low? Don't know will have to examine somehow.. if the guard pin is too high do I just move the roller table up on the balance staff?

 

Been working on this one for the last two weeks now for about 5 hours a day before I decided to ask for help, but it is kinda driving me crazy now.

 

I have a copy of De Carle's Practical Watch Repairing and the John Tope's Watch Repairing course. I need to get myself a copy of Fried's book I just wish it was available in digital form. I highly dislike having physical books..

 

Thanks for the help!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Posted

Physical books are the best! I'm glad you like digital ones. 

It's difficult to inspect the safety roller operation. Sounds like you need to try and establish what the issue with the guard pin is, if there is indeed a problem. They can be bent, too long, etc. A loose impulse jewel will not help matters as it may lead the safety roller to be out-of-synch with the guard pin, if that makes sense.

Posted
Physical books are the best! I'm glad you like digital ones. 
It's difficult to inspect the safety roller operation. Sounds like you need to try and establish what the issue with the guard pin is, if there is indeed a problem. They can be bent, too long, etc. A loose impulse jewel will not help matters as it may lead the safety roller to be out-of-synch with the guard pin, if that makes sense.


Yea. Physical books just take up too much space for me, but it seems with this special book I will have no other choice. Will take a closer look at the guard pin this weekend after I fix the roller jewel. There have been a great many issues I have had with this little movement trying to use the best condition gears, jewels, etc. it has been hectic. With this process I discovered that the movements are not even 90% identical the gears and jewels all have various sizes that can be dramatically different from one another. but it has been a good learning experience. Will follow up with my findings this weekend. I kinda need a break for a couple days. It has been a tiring two weeks. I swear I even dream about the possibilities of why it is not ticking... hopefully fresh eyes will do some good.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Posted

Well it seems I might have figured out what was going on with this. Firstly I took a closer look at the jewels on the balance cock and on the plate. The plate was fine the balance cock was just ever so slightly out of alignment. Once that was fixed the balance started rotating much better. After running some tests I began to notice a small tick sound which I discovered to be the balance ever so slightly rubbing on the pallet fork plate. So I fixed the balance arms so they where no longer rubbing on the plate. Re seating the roller jewel proved to be a very tedious task that I have not yet accomplished. I am awaiting a special tweezer that I hope will allow me to install the roller jewel with more precision. Will update next week.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

  • 2 months later...
  • Recently Browsing

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Topics

  • Posts

    • Escapement adjusting always interesting and depending upon the reference always confusing. Okay maybe it's not always confusing but it does lead to confusion. I have a PDF below it's actually a whole bunch of separate stuff including a hand out that came from a lecture that's on you tube. Then from that we get this image Consequences of doing things especially if you do things out of order or you do things for the wrong reason. Oh and even if the watches working I made the mistake one so showing my boss how tweaking the banking pins on a full plate on the timing machine made the amplitude get better and now he thinks that's what they're for and I don't think a fully grasped exactly what horn clearance means. Consequence of doing things. Notice what it says about opening and closing the banking pins and total lock? So yes I've had that on a full plate where it won't unlock at all and that's the banking pins or a combination of things basically. So banking pins unfortunately get moved. One of the ways to tell if it's been moved is the look straight down at the end of the fork with the balance wheel removed. Power on the fork push at the one side look at it push it to the other side also look at it and compare anything with the center reference the balance jewel and see if both sides of the same. No guarantee after the same there in the right place but at least are the same typically when people play with things one side will be way off from the other because they had no idea what they were doing at all because of course it's a full plate and you really have to paying attention and even then there's still hard to do. Then the other thing that comes up like it shows below is people often adjust the banking pins to do all those other things as opposed to horn clearance which is all that it's therefore and maybe bonus Guard pin clearance although you're supposed to deal with the guard pin is a separate thing like single roller gets bent in Or out or sometimes physically gets moved in and out. Some full plates older escapement's typically pallet forks held together with screws and you can actually unscrew and move the entire assembly in Or out more complications to deal with.     Escapement handout wostep nscc.pdf
    • If he was much younger and some sort of sports player it wouldn't be a problem. They would be in there and doing surgery and he'd be back on the field in no time. Unfortunately when you get older little things are bad and big things can be really bad so not good at all.
    • Where I work everything incoming watches whatever detailed descriptions are taken entered into a computer program and photograph of each item. Then ideally although it depends on who's doing the paperwork detailed descriptions can be quite good other times there lacking. Like I really like it with pocket watches if they would record the serial number it avoids confusion later on. Then when watch repairs are completed that is also entered in. It's one of the amusements I learned when I was in school instructor had a shop and commented about the important aspect of keeping detailed records of repairs. Because oftentimes a customer who got a new crystal will come back later on when the watch doesn't work and expect you to fix the entire watch for free. Then you can remind them that they just got a crystal. Strangely enough that keeps coming up or occasionally comes up where I work now. One of the problems of using the service marks on the case is that in the case of pocket watches oftentimes that's not the original case. Then case marks? What I was doing warranty work for a company I used to describe a code number in the back of the case and it would tell me the next time I see the watch that basically what I did I made no attempt at keeping track of customers because we had literally thousands of them I think they sold 30,000 of these watches and they would come back by the hundreds because they had a lifetime warranty. Yes that's a story all of itself but I would put a code number that would reference what was done to the watch the last time and think I had a date in there somehow so it did tell a story if you knew the code. Another shop I once worked out the number would reference the page in the book. So other than knowing we had been in there you would have no idea what happened because you have to go look at the page in the book to see what happened. Then the problem of how you examine a watch you should examine the watch in detail every single time to avoid complications. Although on vintage watches and this is a of amusement I have at work when people ask something and I say of the watches done when it leaves. This is because on vintage oftentimes problems won't show up until the watches much farther into the repair like it's now running and you discover things that you can't discover before because it wasn't running to discover them that also become sometimes difficult to have exact rigid prices are estimates of repairs or in the case of a pocket watch you may not find out if a casing problem to later on when you case it up in the watches running. I was just thinking for all those people that would like to leave a mark maybe you should learn to do what some of the past watchmakers did? Leave a mark but leave it in such a way that no one will ever find it? Typically not done for repair purposes but done for other reasons like identifying it's legit. I have a friend with a Gruen watch and one of the Roman numbers the bottom line that just looks like a line under extreme magnification actually says Gruen watch company or something equivalent. So here's a link showing how to mark your watch without being seen although that's not the actual title. So if you can learn micro engraving you can engrave the watch someplace probably just about any place you just have to remember where you put it. https://cnaluxury.channelnewsasia.com/obsessions/how-to-prove-if-watches-are-authentic-secret-signatures-182516  
    • I have acquired a Citizen Leopard 36000 watch. My reason for purchasing it was my desire to own a timepiece with a 36,000 BPH movement, and the price was reasonable. Another motivating factor was gaining hands-on experience with the mechanism. The watch is in good condition, but I intend to fully disassemble it for maintenance. First and foremost, if anyone has prior experience with this particular model, I would greatly appreciate their insights. I do not have access to Citizen’s specialized lubricants and will need to use the ones available to me, such as 9010, 8000, and 8300 grease. Additionally, I do not possess the appropriate oil for the pallet jewels and will only be able to clean them.
    • Hello all, I am working on an older Valjoux Chrono. It doesn't have a stamp on the movement anywhere but I believe it is a Valjoux 72. I installed the train of wheels and they will not turn. The problem appears to be the 4th wheel and the escape wheel are not interfacing correctly. I had to replace both of these parts as the pivots were broken on each. I sourced genuine Valjoux/ETA replacements. I think the problem is with the escape wheel as all the wheels turn perfectly if I remove just the escape wheel.  My question to those with more Valjoux experience is am I mistaken? Is this some other model altogether and I have the wrong part or parts?    
×
×
  • Create New...