Verge Pocket Watch Balance Staff

[Scouseget]

Hello from very smoky Edmonton, which is downwind from the over 600 wildfires currently burning in British Columbia. But I digress..........

I've been given a couple of late 18th century verge fusee pocket watches to fix, and have had good success with one of them, which is now reassembled and running amazingly accurately given its age. The other one is a different story however, and the main problem is that the balance staff is damaged beyond repair so requires replacement, however Walmart is currently out of them!

Anyway, obviously the only way this watch will run again is if I can make a replacement staff, and while I have the watchmaker's lathe, and tools, I don't have the expertise and there just doesn't seem to be anything on the internet, including YouTube, on how to go about doing this. Given this, does anyone have a link they can post showing this, or failing that, any other suggestions regarding this issue? Can anyone suggest a book that clearly shows how to go about this?

The photo shows a typical verge balance and you can see the tricky staff with its two pallets.

Thanks, and best regards

[oldhippy]

You need to find a specialised watchmaker who repairs and makes parts for fusee pocket watches.

[nickelsilver]

If the pallets aren't severely worn it's by far easier to repivot.
The last edition of Fried's book shows a method of making a verge staff but it counts on having a milling attachment.

[duncanbootmaker]

G'day Scouseget,

I know you posted several months ago, but in case this would still be useful or, at least , interesting, here's a link to a Tasmainian's web site where he has translated a bunch of 18thC watchmaking books, some covering making a complete verge watch from scratch, and provides them as free PDFs; no strings attached.

http://www.watkinsr.id.au/18th.html

I made copies of the files, and then deleted the text from the duplicate. When reading them I open each one and have the complete book in one window, and just the illustration plates in a second one, so I don't have to scroll back and forward. And as there are only 12 - 20 plates per book, I've printed them out (2 per A4, in booklet mode,  that I then stapled together into an A5 book with folded card cover) so that I can read the text on my iPod, when I'm out places, and look at hard copy illustrations

I've been hunting through the 'net trying to find a page I looked at recently that showed making a verge staff on the lathe, but no go yet. What he did was turn up the staff with a bulge at the location of each flag, then filed away the excess. They made mention of, I think, a French technique where they would file the leading face of the flag right down to the center line of the staff, thereby being able to get the staff's pivot line closer to the crown wheel's teeth.

I hope this has been a help.

Cheers
Duncan

[Scouseget]

18 hours ago, duncanbootmaker said:

G'day Scouseget,

I know you posted several months ago, but in case this would still be useful or, at least , interesting, here's a link to a Tasmainian's web site where he has translated a bunch of 18thC watchmaking books, some covering making a complete verge watch from scratch, and provides them as free PDFs; no strings attached.

http://www.watkinsr.id.au/18th.html

I made copies of the files, and then deleted the text from the duplicate. When reading them I open each one and have the complete book in one window, and just the illustration plates in a second one, so I don't have to scroll back and forward. And as there are only 12 - 20 plates per book, I've printed them out (2 per A4, in booklet mode,  that I then stapled together into an A5 book with folded card cover) so that I can read the text on my iPod, when I'm out places, and look at hard copy illustrations

I've been hunting through the 'net trying to find a page I looked at recently that showed making a verge staff on the lathe, but no go yet. What he did was turn up the staff with a bulge at the location of each flag, then filed away the excess. They made mention of, I think, a French technique where they would file the leading face of the flag right down to the center line of the staff, thereby being able to get the staff's pivot line closer to the crown wheel's teeth.

I hope this has been a help.

Cheers
Duncan

Thanks for this Duncan, it's going to be very helpful and will remove the excuse I've been mentally making to myself to keep this project on the back burner. This will supplement an article I was able to find by Henry Fried, entitled "The Verge Fusee Watch - Part II, How to make a Verge for a Watch", which is available for download from the NAWCC library for members.

I like your idea about splitting out the text from the illustrations so don't need to keep flipping between pages, something I've always found frustrating and time wasting.

Richard Watkins website is a treasure trove of excellent info on pocket watches, which I find I'm increasingly drawn to as I have a few friends who have purchased old British and American pocket watches  over the years and have foolishly chosen to hand them over to me for repair and maintenance. 

Again, many thanks. I'll let you know how the fabrication of the verge goes.

Best Regards

Roger

[duncanbootmaker]

Glad it was a help

Cheers

Duncan

[duncanbootmaker]

I did a couple of sketches of what I could remember about making the verge blank. Apologies to whoever posted this idea somewhere on the 'net. I can't remember or find it again.

 

 

And the filed back to the center line idea. I'm no expert so the side view of the verge and crown wheel may be all wrong

Cheers