Repair broken fusee chain

[xylo]

There are a number of NAWCC members who specialize in collecting English fusee's, but I don't know how many are in the business of offering repair services.

I collect the older verge fusee's and have a dozen or so lever fusee's, but I only work on my own and have never repaired someone elses fusee.

Replacing the chain with another one of the proper size would probably be less expensive than to repair the present chain.

As far as the case goes, you may be best off to try finding one the proper size at one of the marts (the NAWCC E-Mart might be a good place to start), or on eBay.

I'm sure others will chime in and offer their services or advice in due time.

We have several members from England who just might have a case to fit.

[John Pavlik]

Hi Steven,

First, as said, you may want to try finding a replacement chain. I may have one for you if you can measure the old one. Needed are the link "thickness" and the overall length of the chain. Length can vary a bit but thickness is important as it needs to fit the grooves of the fusee to wind properly. Finding a case will be difficult at best. Most of these watches were made of varying sizes with not much standard. Cases were "fit" to the movement. I have only been able to fit a couple movements to cases, and then the numbers of the case do not match the movement. Usually the hinge needs hand work to fit and the key winding hole very rarely lines up right. If you can let me know and I will look for a chain....

[Dr. Jon]

YOU can repair a broken fusee chain. I did it a long time ago and it did seem to work. DE Carle has soem stuff on this in Practical Watch repair.

The repair is done by making a rivet I used s pin for starting stock and cut it to about the right length and then riveted it in place.

You will probably have to tighten the links too. You do this with a staking set. Set uo a flat stake and a flat punch and gently tap each link.

Chains were made by children and women in shelters, they are not that hard to repair, although how long the repair will last and when another link will fail makes life interesting.

[cogito]

If the fusee chain broke at one of the hooks (typical of excessive mainspring load on a weakened chain) and the holes are intact in both the hook and corresponding chain link, you can repair it with a snip of fine diameter wire (found at Lowes, Home Depot, or hobby shops) threaded through the hook hole and chain holes. Once the hook and chain are together with the wire, you can snip both edges close to the chain, then file them down gently. Leave about .25 mm of wire on either side of the reconstituted fusee chain, then use flat taps in a staking set to flatten the remaining wire to the edges. Don't flatten too much, though, as this will hamper the chain's ability to flex at the repaired pivot point.

Hope this helps,
Jeff Browndyke
Mystic, CT.

[Jon Hanson]

Bobby Weinstein is quite proficient at repairing these f chains.

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Jon Hanson, nawcc#8801
Founder & President, NAWCC chapter 149, The Early American Watch Club