Little motion on balance wheel

[arkobugg]

Cheers mates.

Im working on a Rolex cal. 2030 lady watch.

When put togheter I see that the one end stone on the pallet fork is misplaced. And the balance wheel have very small movment sideways. And stopps after 6-7 seconds.

 

Is the reason that the end stone is msiplaced?

Must I buy new pallet fork?   This cannot be glued?

Shall I replace the escapment wheel as well?

 

 

As usual, thanks for alle help....

 

Armand

 

[rogart63]

That doesn't look that good. You need to replace the fork or shellac the jewel  back in place. As the movement is pretty small that could be a real challenge? 

The jewel could be fixed in place with shellac. 

Edited May 25, 2017 by rogart63

[anilv]

Straighten the jewel in the setting, use the other jewel as a guide to ensure that they are level.

Install the pallet fork. (don't install the balance).

Wind the barrel half a turn and using a dry oiler to push the pallet fork from left to right, observe the locking and unlocking of the jewels. One should enter just as the other releases.

If the stone is too deep in the fork, you will find the escape wheel may skip a few teeth or may even do a full rotation. For this reason do not turn the barrel screw more than half a screw because if there is too much power in the mainspring the escape wheel can be damaged.

If the stone is to far out then the escape wheel will not turn.

Once you have the stone correctly placed then its held in place by shellac. Don't use super glue or anything else.

Warning. This procedure only works if the other pallet jewel has not been moved. If the other has also been moved then it gets a lot more complicated.

Anilv

Edited May 26, 2017 by anilv

[arkobugg]

Hello Anilv,

Thanks for great answer, I will follow that you have told me. But when to fasten the end stone with shellac, does I clean alle the old Shellac away. And then just put some Shellac on the surface like the old one was placed? And the heat it up, to it melts around the end stone?   Can I just put in a small metal plate, and heat it gentle up to it melts?

[anilv]

Tough question.

Shellac can be melted and reused several times in theory but I've found that the resulting hardened shellac is a bit more blackish instead of honey coloured. I think this is due to surface contamination over the years.

If you have some fresh shellac handy then I'd say replace the shellac but if you don't have any on hand then I'd say try re-melting it and see how it turns out.

Be careful how you heat it.. not too much heat is required.

Anil