The Rooms Above...

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The Main Event...

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Getting to Know you...

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The Life and Death of Horatio Harvey...

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Sabbaticus Crump and his Marvellous Books...

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Mikey's Magical Watch...

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Ebb & Flo...

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Time for Some Cereal Serials...

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Crown Wheel and Barrel Arbour...

The Barrel arbour's aesthetics, assuming it wasn't damaged, were never going to be a major concern given its hidden position in the very core of the pocket watch. As it happens though, the arbour is rust and blemish free and looks fresh as a daisy so needed no attention whatsoever.

The crown wheel, which, along with its big brother, the ratchet wheel, is highly visible and sits atop the 3/4 bridge in full view. And so imagine my angst when I noticed the crown wheel's extensive rust and pock-markings. It was also scratched to high heaven and covered in congeled grease, needing several trips through the ultrasonic cleaner before its true state was apparent.

Thankfully, the damage was superficial and rectifiable with a simply rub down. The crown wheel is now finished with a fresh straight grain on 600 paper and looks ready to go.

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Two Exciting Springs...

Got a couple of interisting parts for you today: an unmatching pair of springs.

But what do they do?

Well, I'll get to that, but first let me prattle on about aesthetics, because, as you might have guessed, the look of a thing is always my first consideration.

These springs are made from stainless steel, which I would wager has been hardened in some way (probably to at least 290 degrees, but, judging by the stubbonness of it's scratches, I would say hotter by far). The springs, although functional, had some of the most marked signs of wear and, as mentioned, their hardness has made it incredibly difficult to bring them back to beauty.

Parts like this may not ever have been particularly attractive in the original set-up of the watch, but since they are both highly visible, I am attempting to polish them to a lustrous shine - something that is taking an awful lot of elbow grease and patience; a job exasipated by the fleeting moments I am able to spend sanding and buffing due to a stack of work I have been left to face.

To take out the scratches I'm using a pretty abrasive paper (180 grain) and running up to 600, before using the fibre mop of a polishing machine to round the edges and polish the surfaces. Given their awkward shape, it has been difficult (thus far impossible) to achieve a uniform finish.

But I live in hope.

Truth be told, I don't mind if they aren't identical, nor even if they have inconsistencies individually. All that matters is that they look passable and do their job.

Ah yes: their job. What do they do?

Well, one of is effectively a 'click' spring (a common part in all modern watches, normailly hidden behind the 'click wheel' which performs much the same function as this mighty pocket watch spring. Quite simply, the springs stop the watch from unwinding itself by applying a break to the ratchet wheel, which is attached to the barrel arbour and thus preventing the mainspring from unravelling. The 'brake' slips from tooth to tooh in only ONE direction when the watch is round.


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Wheely Fortunate...

In all honesty, this watch has not, as yet, presented all that many challenges. This is perfectly typified by these three wheels that, aside from irreversible cosmetic damage (unless I risked sanding or burninshing the surfaces, which, for reasons I will soon explain, I'm not going to)are perfectly functional and remarkably undamaged.

The two brass wheels - the centre and third wheel (large = centre, small = third) - were both slightly out of true (that means that, when spinning in the watch, they are not completely flat) and so needed 'truing'.

For this task I used a BHT Trupoise: a specially designed tool for the truing of bent wheels, the Trupoise is, regrettably, no longer manufactured by BHT or, for that matter, anyone else. I am yet to make one of my own (it's a bloody laborious process) but I might get round to it if I can't get my hands on a proper one before the end of the year.

The escape wheel (that's the silver one at the top there) is made from hardened steel and in pretty amazing condition considering it's job is to withold the stored power of the mainspring back until the balance wheel - kept vibrating by the hairspring (or balance spring) - gives impulse to the pallet, which in turn allows the escape wheel to release the gear train.

In short, for a part charged with so much stress, it has weathered its circa 100 years well.

As promised, I will explain why I don't think refinishing the surfaces of these wheels is worth the hassle. There are wo main reasons: the first is, very simply, a lack of asthetic necessity (both brass wheels are hidden by the 3/4 bridge I have just refinished with a perlage design), and secondly, if I ballsed it up, I would be royally screwed.

Making wheels is a difficult process that requires a 'dividing head' and a super-powerful lathe. I have access to the second, but the dividing head fitted to the available machine is a fiddly, bastard of a thing with no instruction manual.

So I don't want to get into wheel making until I have a competent master to show me the way.

For now, I'm more than happy to let these wheels stay as thay are. As long as they do their job and run the watch onceeverthing else is repaired/refurbished, I cannot ask of them any more.


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