The movement is ready to be disassembled.
I first start with the balance. The hairspring stud is removed from the balance bridge.
Then the balance bridge is removed.
The traditional single roller, and round impuls ruby pin, that acts on the escapment lever. The knotch in front of the ruby is the recess for the safety stop (keeps the balance from overbanking).
Escape wheel and escape lever bridge. This is shaped as a semi circle, not often seen. They are usually more in the sape of an open 'L'.
Escapement components.
Something I have not seen before, is the squre cutout for the escape lever. The corners are usually circuluar, a sign of being milled out with a round tool bit.
Instead, this was finished by hand with a file to form a square. Then, as is seen here, a bevel was created to accomodate the middle section of the escape lever. On the right are banking pins which regulate the amplitude of the balance swing (by limiting the arc of the balance impulse jewel via the lever).
I have removed the gears from the top of the movement to liberate the two-part center wheel pinion, here it is depressed.
On the back of the movement, one can see the center wheel pinion with it's typical washer. This is traditional of English watches, and is meant to facilitate repair if the pinion is broken during removal of rusted hands, etc.
Checking for a typical English movement problem - A mainspring barrel that doesn't sit properly on its arbor.
This creates a 'wobble' and makes an uneven distribution of power in the gear train. This watch suffers from this, and fortunately it is an easy fix. Here you see that the mainspring barrel is not perfectly perpendicular in its movement.
The traditional shapes of English watch plate screws. The pointed ends are typical of English work.
Now removing the 3/4 plate.
Underneath the plate, the watchmaker made this sign, presumably before the movement was numbered, so that they could mate it with its mainplate.
The serial number stamped on the 3/4 plate. Above, is the recess for the extra thick mainspring barrel.
A look at the gear train.
To remove the mainspring barrel, the pin holding the ratchet wheel has to be removed (this pin is a modern replacement, usually it's a steel or brass splinter).
The Geneva mainspring safety stop. The mainspring barrel is traditionally never gilded, left in bare brass, and always left with a unique finish, as is the case here.
The other side. Somebody inscribed an arrow on the plate, presumably to remind them of what way the mainspring is reinserted (this could have been done on a piece of paper...).
A bare mainplate, showing the holes for the geartrain.
A look at the top of the movement, without the ratchet wheel.
Evidence of the mainspring barrel not seating on the arbor correctly, are the wear marks from the ratchet wheel rubbing against the brass plate.
Here is the back of the ratchet wheel, showing area where it rubs. This needs to be rectified for proper timekeeping.
A view of the center wheel, emphasizing the hollow center pinion.
Examining the pivots and pinions on the wheels, this is the 3rd wheel (after the center wheel).
This is the fourth wheel, that shows the pinion that carries the seconds hand.
The escape wheel.
And the escape lever. The piin on the top left hand is the safety pin, that prevents the escape lever from accidentally moving opposite the direction of swing, and hence blocking the balance when it returns from its swing.
The mainspring barrel will be opened.
The Geneva safety stop is taken off, and the lid of the barrel removed.
The safety stop (so that the watch is not overwound) is removed so that the arbor can be freed. Here the typical English steel mainspring barrel, which is short in lenght and very strong.
Examinatino of the barrel interior hub seating, it has some scarring.
The scarring on this portion of the hub appears to be from the lip of the mainspring running against the hub.
The lid of the barrel shows typical uneven wear.
The barrel is placed in a special cylinder collet for holding wheels, or barrels.
The seating is rectified, with less than .2mm of thickness removed.
The finished barrel hub.
Refinishing the lid.
The lid rectified.
The barrel is reassembled and checked on the movement.
The barrel now runs true.
