Unidentified flying (Running fast.) object.

[MrRoundel]

Greetings all. The so far unidentified 6 3/4 ligne movement that I inquired about in the "Wrist Watches" section is running very fast. I demagnetized it, as it did show magnetism being an issue, but it isn't making up for gained time, so to speak. The movement seems to have two movable parts on the balance cock. One contains the stud. The other had the regulator pin/boot combo. It seems that I have seen this before on an electronic ESA 915* model, but don't recall what I did with it to regulate the rate.

Is the arm holding the stud for adjusting beat error and the one with the pin/boot for adjusting rate? Maybe this is obvious, but I'm a bit thick. Thanks for any help. I'll attach the image that shows the top of the balance cock. Cheers.

 

[Skutt50]

Is the arm holding the stud for adjusting beat error and the one with the pin/boot for adjusting rate?

Yes.

 

[MrRoundel]

Thanks, Skutt50!
Oh, BTW, I almost made a fatal (to the balance) mistake in trying to clean the balance and HS w/o removing them from the cock. I carefully lowered just the balance into a jar of OneDip. The jar was only 1/3 full so I had to lower it further than I would have liked due to the tenuous grip I felt I had on the rather thin balance cock.

For a moment it seemed like it would work. Then I tried to lift the balance from the liquid. Boy, that OneDip sure wanted to keep the balance. It wouldn't lift easily. And with the hairsprings on these little movements being so delicate, I felt that I'd distort it by engaging in a tug-o-war with the OneDip. While I considered my options, the decision was made for me when the assembly dropped into the jar. It wasn't a heck of a lot of fun retrieving it without getting a large whiff of OneDip (Not particularly healhthy to do.). I got lucky that the balance cock landed with the balance wheel on the top so I could lift it out by the balance cock. Once I did, and inspected the condition of things, I saw that one of the HS coils had decided to hang itself over the stud screw. Things looked bad for me.

After a few choice words with powers in the universe that might be (Call me an agnostic.), I took a deep breath and thought about it. I was able to place the balance cock on a balance tack upside down so there would be the least amount of "hanging" pressure on the misbehaving coil. I was then able to use my #5 tweezers to grab the coil and free it from its nearly final resting place. It looks like I dodged a bullet. Next time I'll remove the balance assembly before dipping. The easy way usually seems to be the easy way to mess things up.

Now I must re-center myself before dealing with replacing the balance. This movement has an odd pallet bridge that works to block the bottom of the balance from moving in along safe horizontal line. It makes you have to tip the movement in the extreme, while being super careful about not hanging the HS on the center wheel. Snarge and giggles...

 

[Skutt50]

I am glad you got it sorted out.

Personally I try to avoid having the balance dangle in the balance cock. I am not worried when it comes to fast beating movements (with stiffer hairsprings) but when it is an 1800bph balance I don't lift the balance in the balance cock. I have had a couple of hairsprings turn cone shaped on some posket watches so to be on the safe side I hold the balance and cock together with the tweezers when removing or inserting them......

 

[MrRoundel]

Thanks, Skutt50. I agree that it's best not to dangle the balance. Sometimes I'll try to get my tweezers in to hold the balance against the bottom of the balance-cock and it doesn't seem to work. This particular little movement has a pretty fast beat per hour design. IIRC, it was over 23,000 BPH. Just watching he balance oscillate you can tell it's a mover. Of course to pickup up 10 minutes or so per hour it must have really been moving.

I never knew that a watch with a slower bph number would have a weaker spring. I'll bear that in mind as long as I can. Cheers.