Ok, so I am self taught, but I am not a newbie when it comes to carefully maintaining and repairing my own pocket watches. However, there is one thing that I struggle with every time: putting 18 size full plate watches back together again. My problem is the part where the gears are all neatly in place and then you put the top plate on. There are always one or two wheels or pivots that will slightly move at the last moment, and not center on the hole they’re supposed to slide into. Especially the pallet fork is wobbly and moves about with even the slightest rotation of a wheel. As a result, I already once had a bent pallet fork pivot.
So my question: what actually is the best practice for putting the final plate on and have all gears at once or subsequently slide into their respective pivot holes, and get the pallet fork right at the same time? I always assumed that for assembling the bottom plate should indeed be on the bottom, you build up from there and last put the top plate on, but I suspect the other way around could maybe work better, that is top plate on the bottom and build up from there.
Any suggestions would be most welcome!
So my question: what actually is the best practice for putting the final plate on and have all gears at once or subsequently slide into their respective pivot holes, and get the pallet fork right at the same time? I always assumed that for assembling the bottom plate should indeed be on the bottom, you build up from there and last put the top plate on, but I suspect the other way around could maybe work better, that is top plate on the bottom and build up from there.
Any suggestions would be most welcome!