Two steps forward one step back, have another beer Jim

 

Glad you are getting through it. I could point out again that I did warn you, but that would be cruel...so I'll refrain.

 

As much as the parts searching (and wait) mght frustrate you, there's plenty of folk finding this a very interesting thread (journey) - keep going, it'll be worth it in the end - at least you can say you've completed what many would not want to approach/said couldn;t be done !

Have another beer

 

Were getting there

 

Yep. Saw that.

Should only take another couple of weeks to get here .

 

Whew, a busy few days, but at last I can spend a bit of time on this baby.

I had a pic from mainspring installation, forgot to put it in, so here it is as a big thankyou to @michael e for his generous donation.



The blue ring is the collar that held the new mainspring, there's a clean watch crystal with braking grease used to lubricate the barrel walls.
The mainspring was pressed into the barrel with the end of a pin vice and I'm about to fit the arbor in this shot.

 

Now that the new click spring has arrived it was a quick install of the spring and fitting the auto assembly so I could wind on a little power to lubricate the pallet stone.

This done, I could put the balance in, but...............another "feature" of this movement I found out is that the auto mechanism (bridge included) must be removed to safely install the balance.





Anyway, after taking a break and counting to ten, off with the auto bits and I got the balance in place and ticking nicely.



I now have the movement completed and ticking away, next step is to let it settle for about 24 hours and then I'll check timing.

 

Nudging closer to completion....

 

Great progress Jim

 

Only 10?

 

Ah dang it! If the beat error was below 1 m/s I could probably live with it but I can't let this go out.



So I'll have to let it run down before I get to it as there's no safe way to let the mainspring down because the auto wind bridge covers the click that has to be released, so the assembly must be removed, but that also holds the crown wheel down, so as soon as you apply torque with the crown, the crown wheel lifts and lets go.

I have to pull it all off anyway as the intermediate winding wheel is in the way of balance removal/installation.



I'm convinced that this caliber was designed by a committee.

A committee that never held design/integration meetings.

 

@JimInOz, Your blow-by-blow descriptions are fascinating and I look forward to more. I was particularly intrigued by your using your wife's vacuum food storage device as a pressure tester.

I have cobbled together a pressure tester based on this post on the Chr Ward forum https://www.christopherwardforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=10816. I used a pressure gauge instead of a safety valve. A couple of shots:





I put the whole thing together for about $50 USD and it's been reliable as I test each of my divers before a trip and after may trips, I've had no problems.

BTW, I snaffled a picture from above showing a heavy glove and posted it on WUS on a discussion about removing bezels and not gouging your flesh. I attibuted the picture to your nym so I hope that was alright. I was removing a bezel from an SKX a couple days ago (with bare hands) and was concerned about a slip and a trip to the hospital so your picture rang particularly well at the time.

 

I saw that on CWF and thought of making one but other things got in the way. I couldn't find the clear filter housing at my local hardware either so maybe I'll look at it when I get this one out of the way.

 

Loving this thread.

Don’t understand it, but loving it.

Thank you.

 

This looks a bit better.

I had to strip the auto section off, take out the balance and the pallet lever, put the balance back in to see where the roller jewel was sitting with the mainspring at rest, remove the balance, remove the hairspring from the balance cock, adjust the hairspring by moving the collet a smidge, and then reverse all steps and wind the movement to get an idea of where I am.

Now I just have to wait for the spring to run down so I can make another small adjustment.

I'm glad the owner is a patient man .

 

When you barrack for the Lions you need to be patient, looking good Jim