Application of Lubricants

[KayMan]

Hello folks

I've been repairing watches for nearly 2 years now and the more I learn the more I realise I still don't know.  I have more or less settled on the Seiko 5 as an affordable range of watches to work on.  I get on fairly well with them but there is an aspect of lubrication that I still need to learn, which is how to apply some of the lubricants.  Specifically how should Moebius 8217 be applied to the barrel wall? I generally just smear some on with whatever comes to hand such as a bit of pegwood.  Likewise mainsprings, for which I use 8200.  What is the best way to apply it?  Finally 9415 - due to damaged eyesight I find it difficult to apply to the pallet jewels, so would it be ok to apply it to the escape wheel teeth, which I can see more easily? TIA

Kevin

[jdm]

7 hours ago, KayMan said:

  I have more or less settled on the Seiko 5 as an affordable range of watches to work on.  I get on fairly well with them but there is an aspect of lubrication that I still need to learn, which is how to apply some of the lubricants.  Specifically how should Moebius 8217 be applied to the barrel wall? I generally just smear some on with whatever comes to hand such as a bit of pegwood.  Likewise mainsprings, for which I use 8200.  

Seiko 7S / 4R/ 6R have a sealed barrel, lubricated for life. In most cases there is no need to mess with them. As an experiment take and compare timegrapher picture of a same mov.t, serviced without and with the barrel opened and lubricated. 

[MrRoundel]

I believe that some watchmakers do oil the escape wheel teeth rather than the pallet stones. At least they did with pocket-watches. I know that Mark oils the pallets. For that reason I have started doing the same. Admittedly, I oil them before putting the fork back in the watch. While this may pose some risk of losing the oil during installation, I find it's much easier to hit the ends of the pallets while I hold the fork in tweezers. Maybe it's a bad way, but that's what I've been doing lately. Good luck.

 

[KayMan]

Thanks for your suggestions.  I'm currently without a timegrapher but hope to acquire one quite soon, when I shall try out jdm's suggested experiment.  I hadn't thought of oiling the pallet stones before installing the fork, but I shall try it.  Failing that I'll see how I get on with lubing the escape wheel.  Cheers, Kevin

[Tiktok]

I have in the past always oiled the pallets the traditional way, oiling the pallet face with a bit of power on the train and skipping through a few teeth and repeating it until the desired amount is applied. I also use fixodrop(epilame) on all of the escape wheel and also on the pallet entry and exit jewels(not on the pallet pivots or fork).

Without a doubt fixodrop will make your oiling alot neater and tidier.

Some of the Swiss brands are teaching a different method in house and encouraging you to oil the escape wheel teeth rather than the pallets. This method I have found once practised gives a lot more control on the amount of oil applied and makes a very neat job putting oil evenly on every tooth and giving a perfect stripe of oil across the pallet face where the escape wheel teeth slide across and not getting any oil riding on the top and bottom of the pallet jewels.

This method is done by using fixodrop as usual and the putting the pallets and balance in, wind up the watch and let it run. On most Watch's there is a hole to inspect the escapement from the dial side, whilst the watch is running you can touch the oiler on the escape wheel teeth as it turns letting the escape wheel teeth pull the oil off the oiler, only use a small amount of oil and build it up with small amounts, you don't want the first tooth you touch pulling a big blob of oil off and it running down the tooth. The idea is to just have a small amount of oil on the edge of each tooth which will in turn deposit it on the pallet jewels exactly where it needs to be.

Some calibres are easier than others for this method depending on access to the pallet jewels to get the oiler in from the dial side whilst it's running. Be careful not to put the oiler in too far and miss the escape wheel teeth or you will touch the bottom of the balance wheel and get oil on it.

 

 

[Pip]

I have in the past always oiled the pallets the traditional way, oiling the pallet face with a bit of power on the train and skipping through a few teeth and repeating it until the desired amount is applied. I also use fixodrop(epilame) on all of the escape wheel and also on the pallet entry and exit jewels(not on the pallet pivots or fork).
Without a doubt fixodrop will make your oiling alot neater and tidier.
Some of the Swiss brands are teaching a different method in house and encouraging you to oil the escape wheel teeth rather than the pallets. This method I have found once practised gives a lot more control on the amount of oil applied and makes a very neat job putting oil evenly on every tooth and giving a perfect stripe of oil across the pallet face where the escape wheel teeth slide across and not getting any oil riding on the top and bottom of the pallet jewels.
This method is done by using fixodrop as usual and the putting the pallets and balance in, wind up the watch and let it run. On most Watch's there is a hole to inspect the escapement from the dial side, whilst the watch is running you can touch the oiler on the escape wheel teeth as it turns letting the escape wheel teeth pull the oil off the oiler, only use a small amount of oil and build it up with small amounts, you don't want the first tooth you touch pulling a big blob of oil off and it running down the tooth. The idea is to just have a small amount of oil on the edge of each tooth which will in turn deposit it on the pallet jewels exactly where it needs to be.
Some calibres are easier than others for this method depending on access to the pallet jewels to get the oiler in from the dial side whilst it's running. Be careful not to put the oiler in too far and miss the escape wheel teeth or you will touch the bottom of the balance wheel and get oil on it.
 
 

Sounds interesting, are there any videos of it that you know of?


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[Tiktok]

2 hours ago, Pip said:

Sounds interesting, are there any videos of it that you know of?


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There is no video that I am aware of but easy enough to practice from my explanation. 

[mousekar]

Go to 40:30 to see the lubrication of the escapement as described by Tiktok. The whole video is pretty useful though! The person who posted it, “perplxr” has a lot of very useful videos from watch maker schools and worth checking out.
I’ve attempted to lubricate the escapement this way and can say it’ll take some practice. I was also not aware of the fixodrop trick. So I may try it again knowing this.



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[Tiktok]

5 hours ago, mousekar said:

 

 

Go to 40:30 to see the lubrication of the escapement as described by Tiktok. The whole video is pretty useful though! The person who posted it, “perplxr” has a lot of very useful videos from watch maker schools and worth checking out.
I’ve attempted to lubricate the escapement this way and can say it’ll take some practice. I was also not aware of the fixodrop trick. So I may try it again knowing this.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

That's a good video of how to oil the escapement, remember that's a large pocket watch movement though and everything is on a much larger scale than a normal gents size watch movement, use smaller amounts and build it up to start with otherwise if one tooth sucks a big blob of oil it will make a right mess of the pallet stone and run down the tooth.