Preventing cracked jewel

[joelcarvajal]

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you all had a great Christmas.

 

I'm working on an Elgin 554. After disassembly, I inspected the jewels and found the one where the fourth wheel passes through damaged.

 

I suspect I cracked it when I was removing the second hand connected to the fourth wheel pivot. I think as I was removing the second hand, the shoulder of the pivot pressed on the jewel.

 

The distortion on the jewel's surface - bent towards the dial side, supports this theory.

 

Question: I would like to seek your advise - How to remove the subdial hand without breaking the jewel?

 

I'm thinking, while the dial is still attached, pull the fourth wheel after removing the train bridge. What do you think?

 

Looking forward to your advise.

 

Cheers!

Joel

 

 

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[oldhippy]

I expect the jewel was already cracked as they are quite tough.

[MrRoundel]

If the second hand isn't fused to the 4th wheel arbor, it should put that kind of stress on the back of the jewel. If it is fused, and can't be coaxed off the arbor without stressing jewel, maybe you could put a drop of thin oil, penetrant, on the top of the second hand, where the arbor passes. Maybe that would loosen the bond to make removal easier. That said, again, under normal circumstances, it shouldn't be that hard to remove the second hand. Good luck.

[joelcarvajal]

If the second hand isn't fused to the 4th wheel arbor, it should put that kind of stress on the back of the jewel. If it is fused, and can't be coaxed off the arbor without stressing jewel, maybe you could put a drop of thin oil, penetrant, on the top of the second hand, where the arbor passes. Maybe that would loosen the bond to make removal easier. That said, again, under normal circumstances, it shouldn't be that hard to remove the second hand. Good luck.

Thanks for the advice!

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[joelcarvajal]

I expect the jewel was already cracked as they are quite tough.

I hope that is the case. I just ordered a would-be donor movement and I hope I won't damage it.

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