Homage Forum

unreformed66 wrote: ↑March 25th, 2019, 3:28 pm Truing a balance wheel can be a pain in the ass depending on how screwed up it really is but unless the rim is broken or something else catastrophic it should be able to be trued in both the flat and the round. That's the FIRST step in positional adjustment. Then it has to be poised. Then you can go on to regulation. I've got 616 balance staffs as well, I bought a bunch when they were readily available. I wonder if perhaps your "watch guy" just didn't want to mess with it? And if the staff is "bent" it's never going to run correctly.

+1

Yoda wrote:

unreformed66 wrote: ↑March 25th, 2019, 3:28 pm Truing a balance wheel can be a pain in the ass depending on how screwed up it really is but unless the rim is broken or something else catastrophic it should be able to be trued in both the flat and the round. That's the FIRST step in positional adjustment. Then it has to be poised. Then you can go on to regulation. I've got 616 balance staffs as well, I bought a bunch when they were readily available. I wonder if perhaps your "watch guy" just didn't want to mess with it? And if the staff is "bent" it's never going to run correctly.

+1

++1
Dynamic poising... But first:
Check pivots ob balance staff, check clearance of staff and both jewels, check balance bridge as well... Truing balance should come after that...

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I usually make it flat and round before fitting it to the staff it will be riveted to in the end, that way I don't need to risk the staff used in the watch. I have made a series of "staffs" I use for this purpose, there was a time when I was a bit more "enthusiastic". After that I fine tune the wheel.

Thanks guys I’ll get a new staff and ask him to true the wheel and hopefully that will be that, with the new staff it might run a hell of a lot better anyway?

I have nothing to add other than I jumped in to bring the heavy hitters in to help, but DAMN I'm finding this interesting.

Superspark69 wrote: ↑March 25th, 2019, 3:59 pm Thanks guys I’ll get a new staff and ask him to true the wheel and hopefully that will be that, with the new staff it might run a hell of a lot better anyway?

That should be the outcome, if he is up to it.

blueradish wrote: ↑March 25th, 2019, 3:59 pm I have nothing to add other than I jumped in to bring the heavy hitters in to help, but DAMN I'm finding this interesting.

It is.

As an aside, here's what I found on one 616 that I did for a customer recently. I find this kind of crap ALL THE TIME on the Cortebert movements for some reason. Is this accepted watchmaking practice in Eastern Europe or something?



Here's another one. Also from Eastern Europe.



Notice how much space there is around the balance staff where the roller is "attached"? Both of these were GLUED on with epoxy.
And another. Nice pivot huh? These came to me at the same time from the same customer.


Here's a 6497 balance that somebody tortured to death. This one was actually broken although you can't see the break in the picture. It really WAS irrepairable.

I can't talk for the others, but NO is the answer to your question regarding myself.
There are a lot of garage watchmakers out there, but not in my area.
When I look at the pictures, I wonder how the hell parts end up looking like that in the first place....

What a fascinating thread!

I have nothing to add other than "I am in awe of the skills and knowledge on this board."