Advice on locating replacement Jewel for v61

[Resurgance]

Hi there, am new to forum.

Am smitten by these beautiful machines - my first mech was a lovely unusual Rotherham, my second I purchased just on looks for next to nothing only to find out it is a mostly intact repeater minus gong. The rest is history. 

Within an hour of getting a lovely c1930 Heuer chrono pocket watch ref.701 with a v61 movement, that had survived 90 odd years just fine; I showed it to a friend who tried to turn it over with the back open and fumbled it.

It only works now when looking at the movement, my untrained ear and diagnosis is that the Upper balance jewel is cracked.

My question is simply around finding the correct jewel to replace this; is this an off the shelf jewel that can be replaced, can I find a balance bridge complete? Or does something have to be custom made? 

On another unrelated quick note I dont suppose anyone could tell me if I can use a Landeron 48 balance wheel and bride in a 248 movement?

I am a complete watch novice but am very technically minded, a fast learner, and am also able to pull back and call for help if things are going pear shaped.

Would like to attempt this myself and have bought something jewel setting tools am just minus a press currently.  Will reach out but locally the knowledge is slim I live in top of the South Island in New Zealand- Nelson. Small place.

Thanks for looking

Stew

 

 

[oldhippy]

Hello, Resurgance

On this friendly forum before making a post for help or advice. We like new members to introduce themselves. So tell us a little about yourself. 

[nickelsilver]

How did you come to the conclusion the upper balance jewel is cracked? And which one, the hole jewel or cap jewel? From the pic the cap jewel looks ok but pretty fuzzy. It would be odd to break a jewel from accidentally touching the movement (is that what happened or did it drop?).

 

At any rate I'm not sure if this piece has rubbed in or friction jewels. The former are tricky, the latter fairly simple to change.

 

Given the regulator is moved way over toward "-" my guess is it shifted during the fumble, and was a bit tight on the hairspring, and your hairspring is a little tweeked now. Try moving it to the center of the balance cock and see what happens.

 

 

[StuartBaker104]

According to Jules Borel, there are 3 different balances you could have in a Landeron 248, but they also all appeared in Landeron 48s, so if you have the same jewel type in both I'm sure they would be interchangeable. http://cgi.julesborel.com/cgi-bin/matcgi2?ref=LAN_248

Always best to keep different questions in different threads, so if you want to go further with this, please start a new one

[Resurgance]

Hi guys thanks for the replies, 

Oldhippy I'm very new to this, what an incredible trade and I am constantly amazed by the workmanship from so long ago, the prices the high end movements fetch and conversely the low prices i have been paying for movements that someone long ago spent a great deal of time on.

Am an electrician and a father with many interests; film photography, stargazing, light engineering and racing rally cars, among other eclectic interests. 

NickelSilver it was dropped unfortunately. The movement had stopped and lazily started again when prompted gently. Must have fallen on the movement side with face up - i do not know for sure about this just a guess based on no play but a slightly irregular sound, what looks to me like reduced amplitude, no play but balance wheel stops when watch is inverted to look at face. From what I can see it is a rub-in job.

 

StuartBaker104 thanks for info and yes I will investigate this further and ask a new question on appropriate section. I bought a nice 248 with a missing balance wheel for an attractive price. Am guessing it'll be more involved than what I anticipate but at the end of the day these movements are so aesthetically pleasing to me I am not super fussed. Am just preparing for my foray into actually working on them so have a long way to go. Have got some jewel setting tools, but still need to locate a jewel press.

Thanks again all