OK, After a full COA and after I figured out the shipper spring goes under not over the cone headed shipper gear... I got this watch to wind and set...

Oh, yeah... that is after I found the shipper gear after the shipper spring launched it across the room while I was trying to figure out how to manage the whole wind set assembly while I got the pivot screw started and torqued down... and then to figure out how the far end of the arm reaches through the pillar plate to engage the clutch spring... yada, yada, yada... the joys of my first time in to a model new to me.

So, the long and short of it is that the hands would not advance during the bench test... so I figured it was because there was no stem to hold her in the wind position and the transmission was trying to reverse drive the entire wind set mechanism... so I put her in the case and, same thing... hands do not advance.

I can't figure out if it is a loose cannon pinion or if the stem is not pushing down far enough to cause the plate to swing far enough to push the cone headed gear down out of the path of the cannon to hour transfer gear...

I tried to tighten the original cannon with one of the suicide style tighteners and managed to cause the gear to come "un-pressed" from the bottom of the barrel. Pretty silly considering I have two complete staking sets and am getting quite comfortable with them.

Fortunately, I had a spare cannon pinion...

Now (inspired by enough pain)... I searched the club site and studied the threads on tightening cannon pinions... Wish I had been so inspired sooner...

I'm of a mind to think that my next step is to remove the dial, assemble the watch in the case minus the dial so I can get a better looksie at what's going on before I risk my last cannon.

Any suggestions?

Sounds like a canon pinion problem, but you can check easily by removing the dial and putting the minute hand on by itself. If the watch is running and the minute hand doesn't move there is no friction on the canon pinion. Be sure to place a pin in the canon pinion before trying to tighten it or you will damage it. The V shaped stump from the staking set can be used with a pin in the canon pinion and then you lay it in the V shaped stump. A light tap on the outer edge with the proper stake will dimple the canon pinion so friction will occur between it and the main wheel shaft. There are also special tools made just for tightening canon pinions.

Thanks Roger,

That makes sense to me too... their is zero friction when I set the hands... and it ran fine before I cleaned all the coal dust and gunk out of it.

Can I put some main spring grease on the center wheel post rather than risk the pinion?

I think the part of Dave's lesson I forgot, is the part where I was supposed to put a pin in the pinion before I tried to dimple it...

Regrettably, a terminal mistake... thankfully, it was on a model '83 and there are plenty of parts available.

Paul, call me anytime

I might swing by after work. Been real busy with annual inventories, inspections and audits. Haven't been able to cheat out early lately.