[Keith W]

I've been trying to get a pocket watch regulated (using my own nifty Android app <cough, cough> self-promotion: WildSpectra Mobile, available on Google Play), and I'm having a very hard time with positional variation. It's a relatively economical little Arnex watch with an unadjusted (and unweighted, therefore unadjustable) balance. One possible regulator setting yields: lying flat either dial up or down, it gains up to four minutes a day, but standing in a vertical position (doesn't matter too much WHICH vertical position, although given that it is a ladies pendant watch, stem up is obviously the most natural) it loses the same amount, a total difference of around eight minutes a day. I have chosen to regulate it in favor of the stem-up position, so that as it is worn during the day it will be as accurate as possible (which requires pushing the regulator to an extreme position, I can't even really fully regulate the error out), but this requires the regulator to be set such that the watch gains time at a rate of nearly eight minutes a day while it isn't being worn, which is absurd.

What can cause a watch to exhibit such a profound variation in positional beat-rate? My best guess is that that there is a lot of friction in the balance jewels such that lying flat it doesn't rub them too hard, but vertically it is pulled down heavily against them. Would this watch be improved by simple lubrication? How can I determine what is causing this problem so as to then determine a corrective course of action?

Thanks.

 

[Ben_hutcherson]

I'd start by doing a full service on the watch, including cleaning and then oiling the balance jewels(but also all other pivots).

While I had it apart I'd check to make sure the hairspring was true and concentric, as a bent or otherwise disturbed hairspring can cause wild positional variation.

You may not find the problem in either of those, but that's where I'd start at least.

 

[Keith W]

I'd start by doing a full service on the watch, including cleaning and then oiling the balance jewels(but also all other pivots).

While I had it apart I'd check to make sure the hairspring was true and concentric, as a bent or otherwise disturbed hairspring can cause wild positional variation.

You may not find the problem in either of those, but that's where I'd start at least.

Thanks. I have no fear of diving into watch maintenance as a hobby, but I'm a neophyte.

I did manage to disassemble an old (nonfunctional) Waltham movement, and with the exception of removing the spring that pushes the stem back out, my experience was generally reversible (I could put it back together other than that spring, which I don't understand). The nonfunctional aspect was primarily some damage I didn't understand in the third wheel's dial-side jewel, which was confusingly very "loose" in the movement, it didn't seem to be fixed to the movement housing at all, so that wheel would easily slide laterally away and the teeth would disengage. The nature of the problem made no sense to me, but that's off topic since it's a completely different watch. The point is, I can take stuff apart and put it back together again.

So, maybe I can fix this watch up...but it would be helpful to find a learning resource for how such a procedure is generally done. Aside from literally taking the watch apart, which I can do, I don't know anything about "cleaning" or "oiling" a watch. Can you recommend a resource for this sort of thing?

 

[sesquipedalian]

HOW TO CLEAN AND OIL A VINTAGE MECHANICAL WRIST WATCH OR POCKET WATCH REPAIR
How to clean and oil a watch movement
https://www.watchuseek.com/f365/absolute-beginners-guide-movement-service-308925.html

Between the three of them the basics should be covered. I would recommend continuing to practice on things which don't matter to you before starting something which does. And I'm putting my money on a hairspring problem, too.

 

[Keith W]

HOW TO CLEAN AND OIL A VINTAGE MECHANICAL WRIST WATCH OR POCKET WATCH REPAIR
How to clean and oil a watch movement
https://www.watchuseek.com/f365/absolute-beginners-guide-movement-service-308925.html

Between the three of them the basics should be covered. I would recommend continuing to practice on things which don't matter to you before starting something which does. And I'm putting my money on a hairspring problem, too.

Thanks!

 

[vbomega]

And I'm putting my money on a hairspring problem, too.

Assuming balance wheel poise is ok, the issue is likely between hairspring and pins. When it is in a "losing" position I would check if the hairspring moves between the pins either without touching them at all, or only touching one.

 

[mars-red]

The watch isn't a cylinder escapement by any chance, is it?

 

[Keith W]

The watch isn't a cylinder escapement by any chance, is it?

Not to the best of my knowledge. It's a pretty typical pendant watch, although I suspect the movement doesn't match the case. It isn't circular, it's one of those oblong movements with flat ends, often used as decorate cufflinks and such.