Hello everyone,

Being very new to this hobby and having zero knowledge about how watches work I purchased a non- working South Bend 429 watch to take apart and put together.

It didn't take me long to disassemble the watch but putting it together is another story but I am making progress. I don't believe I will have any extra parts when I am done, but I did lose 1 screw about 1/2 the size of an ant dropping. Although I have had a lot of watch parts whizzing past my ears and have spent a good deal of time on my knees. Man they can fly a long way, and they bounce!!!!!

I have reassembled the watch to the escapement wheel and if I wind the watch slightly it seems to unwind properly. However when I put the lever in and try the same thing nothing happens. It was my expectation that the lever would move back and forth until the watch was unwound. I can manually move the lever back and forth and the escapement will turn but it does not move on its own. When I was disassembling the watch I felt this part of the watch was not operating properly but I wasn’t sure how to evaluate this.

Is my assumption that the lever would move on its own incorrect.? If the lever was not the original problem then I assume it must be a hairspring problem or a balance wheel problem. Is that a good guess?

Any tips for finishing this assembly would be appreciated. If I wanted to try and repair and I need new parts what is the best way to go about finding them?

I asked a lot of questions and I appreciate the time it takes to reply.


Michael

I am not understanding your question. What does this mean:

"I have reassembled the watch to the escapement wheel and if I wind the watch slightly it seems to unwind properly. However when I put the lever in and try the same thing nothing happens."

Sorry for the confusion. When I put in the lever and I give the watch a small wind, wouldn't the watch unwind moving the lever back and forth?

When you say the lever are you talking about the pallet fork? Or are you talking about the setting lever for the keyless works?

Yes it is the pallet fork!! That's it. Sorry for making it so difficult. I am at work so I couldn't look up the proper term so I was guessing a bit.

No,the lever doesn't move on it's own. That's what the balance wheel is for. Here is a video you can watch that explains how a watch works. When you get more into the repair phase of this hobby you'll nee to know this.

That was a great video, I was watching and my son came and watched with me and enjoyed it as well.I appreciate your help.

Just stick with it and be patient,and come back here when ever you need help.

I now believe I have found at least 1 problem, if I manually move the pallet fork back and forth between the 2 banking pins the escapement wheel will move without a problem until 1 of 2 consecutive teeth on the escapement wheel get stuck on the entrance pallet. If i manually move it past the first it gets stuck on the next tooth, if i release that one it will move without a problem until it reaches the same first pin again.

I am a beginner also, I loved the video it was a great help.I am about to start on dismantling a size 12 Elgin , it is in REALLY bad shape so I don't have any expectation of having it run after my tinkering with it.I plan on using it purely as a learning experience. Good luck getting yours running.

Michael,
You might have solved the problem with the watch. Try looking at the escape wheel tooth with the strongest loupe you have and see if you can notice any difference. Sometimes these can get bent when the wheel is removed when the pallet is still in place.

Michael - Have you oiled the escape teeth? Hopefully you're using Moebius 941 oil. Also, just because it seems to be catching on the escape teeth doesn't mean that there couldn't be a problem in the gearing between the escape and 4th wheel.

Many problems look like they're pallet fork/escape wheel problems but it's really just indicating a loss of power somewhere else in the train.

Thank you for the follow-up responses, I am using Moebius oil but I do not know if it is 941. I will check tonight when I get home from work. If it is Moebius but not 941 should I refrain from using it? I will check to see if the gears seems to be meshing between the escape wheel and the 4th wheel as well.

I really appreciate the help and I will let you know what I find.

The Moebius oil I have is 8000/4. Is this ok to use?

I think I found the root problem, It appears that the jewel in the cock that holds the Pallet fork in place is damaged or the jewel is loose within the setting so the pallet fork is not steady and it hangs up the escapement.

It's okay to use moebius 8000 at this point. The 941 is very expensive. You can usually use the same oil you're using for the balance to oil the pallet (it's just not optimal, but it works).

The problem that you appear to have found, a loose or damaged jewel in the escapement, sounds about right. It's an easy thing to not see, especially if the jewel is just a little loose.