As a Professional Watchmaker, I think I have one of the best jobs in the world. I am independent and not tied to any manufacturer, I am privileged that customers allow me to work on and repair their watches that are important to them, and to top it all off, the daily routine at the bench always presents something new and exciting. The following examples are simple day to day horological activities, this is the 'norm' for me and this type of work keeps my skills honed. Spare parts for all watches eventually run out, today’s new watch will one day be a vintage piece, when replacement parts are no longer available, the only solution to a customers problem is find a professional who is able to fabricate new parts and repair the existing ones. So lets have a look at a typical day at my workbench and the work I have to carry out on customers watches. An Angelus Chronodato The movement was in excellent condition overall, but for some reason the 4th wheel pivot and arbour had moisture and suffered corrosion. It's beyond repair by any means other than replacement of the pivot/arbour. First up, a general view of the movement disassembled. The 4th wheel mounted in the lathe ready to be repaired. I will cut off the damaged arbour, then cut a 'V' notch with no centre pip, this notch will help ensure the next step – drilling – is centred properly on the pinion. Cutting away the damaged pivot Measuring the length of the removed pivot/arbour. Size comparison of the removed rusted pivot/arbour compared to my index finger. I make my own drills, first I select a 0.25mm (¼ of a mm in diameter) flute carbide drill and with a diamond stone, I will turn the flute drill into a pivot drill. I have to do this because a fluted drill will catch too much and snap off in the pinion during drilling. A pivot drill shape is controllable. Drilling the hole Here you can see the results, the hole measures just over 0.25mm in diameter, and it is 4X the depth of the diameter, in other words, the hole is 1.00mm deep. Normally only 3 times is needed, but the wall diameter between the hole and the pinion leaf root is not excessive, so a deeper hole is better, as well, in a normal pivot the length is short, this is a very long pivot because it has to hold the running seconds hand. Then I make a new pivot from high carbon steel, and it gets pressed into the 4th wheel, and it's ready to go back in the watch after a bit of final polish and burnishing, job done! New staff for a pocket watch A really nice pocket watch arrived and had suffered a broken balance staff. First task, harden and temper a piece of virgin Swedish high carbon steel, tempered to a dark blue as you can see. The staff is turned down and the balance test fitted Before parting off the bottom pivot is rough shaped and a V notch cut to allow centring in the lathe once flipped round. Once flipped the bottom pivot is made and the roller table is test fitted. Here is the staff before final polish. Here the staff is riveted onto the balance arm and the pivots are burnished to compress and harden them. Next the staff is 'poised' which is to make sure it has no heavy spots, think of balancing the wheels on your car tires. Once installed a minor adjustment to the end shake was needed, and the timing printout was good in all positions. Epoxy repair for a stripped crown What should you do if the crown is stripped and the stem doesn't stay secured any more? Well nothing wrong with a bit of epoxy to solve the problem...for a while at least… Amateur work and I see it all the time, too often actually. There were other issues with the watch, but that's for another time. After a few winds the crown separates from the stem, no surprise. So I needed a permanent repair. First up, drill out the crown for the installation of an insert. With that out of the way, next I made a new bushing and tapped it to fit our existing stem. Test fitting the crown onto the new insert. Installed and working as it should. Rusty pivot After a ultrasonic clean, 2 rinses and blow dry, inspection of the disassembled movement showed some rust on a pivot. Replacing a part for such a minor issue is unnecessary, it's best to keep the original parts and restore them. Here is a view of the rust. And with some careful reworking and polishing using diamond pasts of various sizes, the pivot is restored, end and side shakes are checked and adjusted if needed, and more importantly the watch maintains it's originality. That's all I have time for this instalment, till next time, thanks for reading. Rob
Thanks, Rob, for a glimpse into this tiny, intricate world. You're definitely a guy with steady hands. a side note: if I ever register a profile on another watch forum, I think I'd like my name to be Rusty Pivot.
Thanks everyone. Would like to get more of these done up, findind the time is the problem. My hands are not as steady as they used to be, too much farm activity lately involving heavy lifting, but they are steady enough for this work. I like the handle "Rusty Pivot" would be a good UFC name... "I'm gonna RUST you up..."
Great photos giving just a little insight into how delicate these timepieces really are! Amazing how everything fits together so perfectly and can last for generations if cared for properly.
Always thoroughly enjoy these segments. Allows us to see the very fine work needed to keep these watches moving. On a side note, that pocket watch looks like it was made next state over form me. Maybe about 50 or so miles away. Again, thank you Rob for the nice commentary and visuals.
Thank you. Did you note what is in the shield and the name of the RR? Not all that common to have a genuine RR watch with the company markings. It's sad that all the once great watchmaking factories that were world leaders 100 years ago... are now gone, what a shame...
Hi rob, wonderful explanations and photos. It must be very satisfying to master these problems that each watch presents. Cheers, Buster
Absolutely awesome! We're so fortunate and lucky to have you and @Archer taking the time to do these writeup's for everyone. I'm still learning the terminology and don't know half of what is going on some of the pics, but this is really amazing. Well done!
Rob, I was interested to see that you fabricated the friction staff for the CPR 1908 Waltham rather than to use a readily available replacement staff. Perhaps this decision was necessitated because of supply problems in France? I have several watches in my collection for which I have been obliged to fabricate staffs. One Keystone Howard series 5, an E Howard N size 5th model, and a Brandt (Omega) grade CCR. Being able to fabricate the parts comes in very handy when spares aren't available, but I do this only as a last resort. Some years ago, I needed a staff for a Russian marine chronometer, but after much fruitless hunting, decided I would fabricate one. Problem! The staff was 28.5 mm long! How to do it? Necessity being the mother of invention, after considerable thought, I fabricated a jig which worked beautifully. I used the head stocks from two Boley lathes on one lathe bed, and applied the jig which you will see in the pictures.