Maybe as a working watch maker I miss a lot, which wouldn't surprise me, but I'm surprised to hear this. I thought the sole function of epilame was to keep mineral oil from spreading if you used it for lubrication. In fact the first time I ever hear about epilame was from a watchmaker friend in Russia who told me that they used to use it, but since the end of Communism and the wide spread availability of Swiss made oils, nobody uses it anymore.

I never had a bit of trouble keeping oil on pallet stones, because it just won't stay there no matter what I do. I'm in good company too. Breguet never could make oil stay on pallet stones either and even designed a special escape wheel with oil cups to keep the escape wheel lubricated.

 

I use it basically every day, and it's use is recommended by many major manufacturers (Rolex, Swatch group, etc). I typically treat the pallet stones as you noted (not the whole pallet, just the stones), the escape wheel, the reversing wheels, and sometimes some other selected parts but those three are the most common.

After treating the pallet stones and escape wheel, I let the watch run for 10 minutes before applying lubrication to the pallet stones. This wears away an area of the epliame on the stones and the teeth of the escape wheel, creating sort of a channel where the lubrication will stay put on the stones. If you take apart a watch that has been treated this way, properly lubricated, and run for some time, you will see a stripe of lubrication down the middle of each pallet stone.

Hope this helps.

Cheers, Al

 

I use it basically every day, and it's use is recommended by many major manufacturers (Rolex, Swatch group, etc)....

After treating the pallet stones and escape wheel, I let the watch run for 10 minutes before applying lubrication to the pallet stones. This wears away an area of the epliame on the stones and the teeth of the escape wheel, creating sort of a channel where the lubrication will stay put on the stones. l

Maybe I'm a bit slow today, but it seems to me that what you are saying is that watch oil will not stick to epilame and it has to be worn off the pallet wheel and the pallet stones before it is applied.

Is this correct?

So, I'm not sure I get the point. I thought epilame improved oil retention.

 

Thak you Al for an excellent explanation of the use and effect of epilame, I was unsure of the details but had the general idea.

Any idea why it is so expensive? I became curious after seeing one of the applicators, and epilame seems to just be stearic acid. Reagent grade stearic acid is $20 per 100g for 95% reagent grade. Is the current commercial epilame something else, or is it just processing or packaging, any ideas?

Mark

 

You are most welcome. To be honest I don't know why it's so expensive, but many items in the watchmaking world are the same - seemingly outrageous for what you get. Certainly at $100+ for a 100 ml bottle it's something you have to account for in your service pricing.

There was a system that was part of some older cleaning machines that was essentially a stearic acid reservoir that took the acid you are referring to, and heated it to create fumes that you would hold the parts in to create the coating. I've heard of people still using these but I am not sure how this method of application compares to using the solution that is now available in terms oif strength of the coating or how even the coating is. I do know the solution evaporates very quickly so you need to keep the bottles well sealed and be quick when you have them open. If too much of the solvent evaporates, the epilame becomes too strong and can cause some difficulties depending on where it is used. One reason some companies recommend using the bottle within 3 months of opening it, and changing the solution in the application bottle every couple of weeks.

If you would like more information on how I apply it please let me know and I can post some photos.

Cheers, Al

 

Hi Al, we would be appreciative for the photos :-!

 

Thanks Al

I assume they stopped with the vaporization machine due to the fire hazard, stearic acid responds like grease insofar as vaporization and flammable fumes. Bad for business!

Have you recognized the solvent odor (don't smell it just for this, intentionally breathing it is likely a bit danagerous)? It apparently dissolves only in 'real' organic solvents (opposite of water solubility) but does dissolve in ethanol (liquor alcohol) but not in acetone,. Many are very volatile. I think shelf life is a bit limited, so adding solvent to stretch the budget would probably unwise.

One note on the 'acid' part, it is not what we think of as a corrosive acid but is an organic acid refering to the presence of a certain chemical groupng on a long chain of carbon and hydrogen. Most digestible animal fats are triglycerides that can be split into glycerol (ordinary glycerin) and three long chain organic acids, one of which is stearic acid.

Split a triglyceride with strong base like draino (no, don't try this at home) and you get 3 soap molecules instead of 3 organic acid chains if that helps visualize it a bit better, nothing fancy.

Cocoa butter is 45% stearic acid, so in case you run out . . .

Mark

 

Here are the photos....

First you can see the escape wheel and reversing wheels (ETA 2824-2 out of a Kobold Soarway diver I just serviced) and I have placed them in a plastic basket after cleaning. You can see the glass epilame application bottle there as well with the blue lid:

Close up the plastic basket, place it in the top of the epilame bottle, and put the lid on. Invert the bottle and leave it for about a minute - it should be totally submerged in the solution. The minute of time is to give the epilame solution time to get into the reversing wheels and get to all the areas. If you are not treating reversing wheels then just a few seconds in the solution is enough:

After a minute flip the bottle back over, open the lid, remove the basket and dry with a hot air dryer (hair dryer works) for about 30 seconds. This helps ensure that the coating is even on the parts.

For treating the pallet stones, I first mount the pallet fork in a disk of pith wood, with the stones exposed. I use an amber glass dropper bottle with some epilame in it, and the tip of the dropper has been heated and bent as you can see in the photo. I get some solution in the dropper and hold the dropper so that the tip is up, which creates a little reservoir of solution at the end. I then pick up the pith wood, and dip the stone faces in the reservoir of solution. Again I use a hair dryer to dry this off.

Hope these help.

For Mark - I am aware that it's not an acid in the sense most people think of. I don't recognize any odour really from the solvent so not sure what they use. There are of course plenty of warning statements on the packaging warning of fumes, etc.

Cheers, Al

 

This certainly helps alot, picture represents a thousand words. And we appreciated your efforts May I ask do you put epilame on balance jewels too ?

 

May I ask do you put epilame on balance jewels too ?

On occasion, but normally it's not required.

Cheers, Al

 

Theoratical thinking:
Would this work on Cylinder watches?

Abraham Brequet is known for his words:
"Give me the perfect oil and I will give you the perfect watch!"

regards,
RJ van Melle.

 

This site gives a nice pictorial overview that touches on Epilame:
http://home.watchprosite.com/show-nblog.post/ti-432276/