English Verge / Fusee Pocketwatches (service and repair)

I’ve been working on the “A. Goldsmith” piece today. The new glass for the case arrived and turns out it is a great fit!

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Aside from that, I’ve been running everything through my ultrasonic cleaner and carefully checking each part for damage or malfunction. The Fusee cone had a problem. It is supposed to turn freely in one direction but latch in the other to apply force to the going train (like a ratcheting wrench). Unfortunately, it was spinning in both directions.

I took it apart to find that the ratchet wheel was broken and out of place and as a result, the pawl had been able to turn the wrong direction.

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It looks as though someone tried to fix it in the past with solder but didn’t pin it. So I pressed the ratchet wheel into position, fashioned some pins to prevent future movement, set them into place, and filed them flat. I couldn’t pin one location due to the solder.

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Everything is cleaned up, reoiled/greased, and assembled. There a nice clean ratchet action now.

 

Due to the way it is pinned and soldered (appears to be silver solder) I have a pretty high degree of confidence in it now. I probably will need to wear it for a week or so, you know, for shakedown testing on the repairs!

 

@ArtS had another old movement delivered to me yesterday. This one has a rather large dial for possibly converting one of the better parts movements (Brockbanks?) into a desk clock. The movement itself is in rough shape and missing it’s balance. I was thrilled to see that the design and size are extremely similar to the John Snatt movement and it’s “contrate wheel” was completely intact. One pivot on the Snatt piece’s pinion is broken, the other pivot severely worn and bent, and the pinion leaves (teeth) are in poor condition.

After a long bath in some cleaner, some detailing with a fiberglass bristle brush, and a second clean, it was clear to see that the new component is in much better shape and the same dimensions. One pivot was worn and oversized but I’ve got tools for that. I set up my antique pivot polisher and several grades of files, a burnisher, and some extremely high grit count paper. The pivots are square and polished again and fit perfectly into the Snatt bushings!

All that remains to repair for the Snatt item is the pin in the Fusee for the chain hook and to get some new brass taper pins to lock the movement together.

 

I finally managed to get the Fusee from the John Snatt piece taken apart. The taper pin was all mashed up and took a lot to get it popped out. Then, I could access the whole cone to replace the pin for the chain’s hook. I needed a nice piece of hardened steel… why not recycle? I took the pinion from an old gearing assembly and filed off the pivot.

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It was a perfectly snug fit into the pin hole!

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After that, I clipped the remainder of the pinion off.

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Then I filed it flat to the bottom surface after making sure the top was flush with the surface into which the chain would seat.

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If you look closely you’ll see the pocket in the last layer of the fusee’s path (left side) and the polished steel pin now in place.

 

I just ordered a chain for that exact purpose and I absolutely plan to post in the “what watch are you wearing” thread!

 

The A. Goldsmith piece is not long in (as many) pieces! Better yet, it runs. I have to deal with the ratchet wheel that acts as the tensioner/stay for the mainspring barrel. The donor part has too large of a square hole in the middle for the arbor.

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I will mount a dial to it which is in better shape that how it had arrived. Then it will be time to finish repairing the cases. The bow was bent all out of shape, and the latch on the outer case needs repaired.

Next up from this lot will be servicing the best timepiece that Art sent. All I needs, as I understand, is a new minute hand, and a full service.

 

Proof of life…

 

Ask and ye shall receive!

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While I try to figure out how best to fabricate the Goldsmith’s ratchet wheel, I decided to keep plugging away at the John Snatt No. 1729.

It took a long time to get the balance wheel pinned (by the hairspring) anywhere close to a proper location, but after that I assembled the running gear.

There are a lot of timing and running adjustments left to make. The mainspring slips before getting anywhere near full tension, but…



That, ladies and gentlemen of F-chat, is beauty to my ears.

I know that there is a tremendous amount left to do on these pieces. I have to say though, that I do feel a bit proud of myself as I watch them starting to come back to life, step-by-step.

 

I have to admit that Art’s Google-fu and eBay-sploration skills are better than mine. I found another parts movement (or two, or is it three now?) in my mailbox. One came with the perfect sized ratchet wheel for the A. Goldsmith piece! It was a snug fit to the square pillar off the mainspring and the teeth matched up to the click/pawl.

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Thanks to that little Blued-steel beauty, this timepiece will now take a full wind on the Fusee!

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I am working to refit that donor dial to the dial ring. Very close, but not quite there yet.

 

The Goldsmith piece has been running well ever since I wound it prior to my last post. Through the incredibly scientific method of:

1. Taking a slow motion video of the balance from over head with my phone.
2. Replaying the slow-motion video on my phone.
3. Placing a post-it note on the screen where it appears to go through the center of the balance pivot and through one of the wheel's arms at its furthest swing to one side.
4. Repeating step 3 on the other extent of the swing.
5. Measuring the angle between the edges of post-it notes from steps 3-4 with a protractor.

I get a full swing of the balance of 107 degrees or an Amplitude of 53.5 degrees. Considering the flags are between 90-100 degrees apart (I did not measure them before assembly... didn't think do to that) on the balance staff, this means that the balance is actually pushing the escape wheel backwards about 3.5-8.5 degrees at each impulse. On the Brockbanks pieces that I got running earlier in this thread, it is quite interesting to watch the seconds hand (this movement doesn't have one) because it recoils a touch with each beat as the balance drives the escape backwards. That is not something you see in a modern movement because of the updated designs; that recoil wastes energy.

 

From what I have read I am under them impression that the amplitude it has currently is right in what is considered the “sweet spot” for this type of movement. Did I misunderstand or find bad information? I know it will never swing like a Swiss lever and am not trying to get it there.

 

The John Snatt continues to give me a hard time but I have had some minor victories.

The Good:
I have been able to get the hairspring on the balance much more flat/level. In the last video I posted of it running, the outer coil of the hairspring was dragging on the face of the plate.

I found that the lower flag on the balance staff was actually hitting the balance cock where it had been ever so slightly bent. Some careful work with pliers was able to work that out.

The Bad:
The current issues I know of involve the mainspring which pulls in from where it hooks to the barrel causing it to slip after about 1/2 of a full wind. That’s a slight improvement over earlier but not acceptable. I think I need to touch up the leading edge of the cleat on the spring so it hooks onto the barrel better. I’ve already dress the latching spot on the barrel and that helped. I may need to shim it a touch to increase the pressure where it latches in. Unsure so far.

The real kicker though is that I need to adjust the lower balance pivot to be closer to the escape/crown wheel. It is only engaging at about half the total depth of the flags. This cause a higher beat rate than appropriate and a low amplitude.

I will be sure to take photos as I work on these adjustments and share them.

 

Here is a photo of the engament, or lack there of, of the escape/crown wheel on the flags of the balance staff. Please forgive the quality as it is a photo from my phone of the monitor onto which my microscope was displaying.

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Not only can you see the wear on the flag from 250+ years of life, but you can see that the tooth of the wheel is only contacting at around 1/3 the depth of the tooth.