When cleaning a fusse movement is the chain oiled
Thanks Mike

Michael

John & the other Fusee experts might offer better advice but I follow what is in The Watch Repair Manual by Henry Fried.

Page 362
"The chain is lubricated by wrapping it a full turn around a steel punch, placed upright in the bench vise & held as shown in Figure 13. Before grasping in both hands hold both chain ends in one hand while the other applies some mainspring oil above the junction of the wrapped around chain & the steel punch. Then with both hands holding an end of the chain, thrum it back & forth . This allows the oil to reach into the various corners of the chain. Wipe off excess oil by running the chain through a folded clean tissue with out drawing any lint from the paper..


Tom

Thank you Tom.
Taking another look at the movement I am not going to take it apart.I have never worked on one of these and I think this is not the time . I need to learn more first.
Mike Keirsey

Your welcome Mike, they do take some time to do & at times I have worried I wouldn't get them back together. I have a couple right now I need to clean but I have lost my nerve so right now they just sit.

I do like these old watches.

Tom

Mike,

Tom pretty well summed things up for you with his reply, so not a lot I can add.

What I would say though, is take a carefull look at each and every link, because they all need to roll away freely from each other - you'll probably find many of them are seized, and the chain will mostly stand out like a stick if you pulled it straight and held it out in front of you!

All those seized links need to be freed off before using Fried's method of cleaning, otherwise you could end up with snapped pins, a rod like that shown is too extreme a radius to pull a seized chain around.

Generally I give them a few cycles in my ultrasonic to get them well buzzed and really warm, then oil and work the links free - then use the rod to finish working them loose.
After cleaning again, I lube with clock oil then wipe clean with a lint free cloth - an oil film stays put inside the links and pins.

John

John

Thanks for those tips, I will use those nest time I do one.

Tom

Anytime Tom, Fried's use of old mainspring ends is a cracking good idea too and one I use, it does away with the need to carefully pick the ends of the chain hooks out of your thumbs - those things are just like fishing hooks!!

John