Wondering what are the most common causes of a slow moving balance wheel?
I am working on a 8 day Waltham car clock which is similar to a large pocket watch movement.
There is good action oh the pallet lever.After i oiled it it stopped and this was also after i installed the canon pinion dial and hands.I know one cause could be too much oil on pivots, what are others?
Thanks.

Kevin: My teacher tells me not to oil the palet fork pivots. Not needed. mike

Kevin,
If it was running o.k. before you oiled it, installed the cannon pinion, dial and hands it could also be hands or second hand pipe binding on dial. Magnetism also comes to mind but shouldn`t be a factor if it was running alright before.

Check to see if the hairspring is hiting the balance arms.
Brian C.

Kevin,

What type of oil are you using to oil your pivots? Do you use a flat tip oiler? If so, the smaller the pivot, the smaller the flat tip oiler you should use. I recommend oiling all of the pivots because they all experience some friction. Too much combined friction will affect the time keeping ability of the watch. The trick is not to apply too much oil. You should apply only enough to coat the pivot and hole. Don't fill the tiny pivot hole or jewel cups full of oil!

You should apply oil to the bottom of each balance cap jewel before installation. Following that, you can try to see if the hole jewel will take any more oil via capillary action. When you are satisfied there is enough oil, sharpen the end of a piece of peg wood and "mop up" the jewel hole. This will help prevent reverse capillary action and drain the oil out. Some balance staffs have an oil groove cut just below the pivots that will help stop this from occurring.

After cleaning a watch, I always assemble the balance and balance cock on the pillar plate by themselves. I then give the balance a puff of air and ensure the balance swings freely in all positions. This would be a good time to look for proper hairspring positioning as Brian mentioned. I then add the pallet and cock to check for proper beat. I then remove these items and assemble the watch.

Prior to installing the balance and pallet following assembly, I give about a turn to the mainspring and check that all of the gear train is operating smoothly and none of the wheels are warped.

When possible, always check the operation of individual items as you install them. If you don't, it will be hard to determine which is at fault after the movement is completely assembled.

Oops, one last thing. Check and make sure you didn't get any oil on the hairspring. A tiny amount could be enough to cause two coils to stick together. Also make sure the hairspring is centered over the balance. Anytime you have a hairspring removed from the balance, install it on the balance cock and see if the collet hole aligns with the jewel hole.

Mike,
I have to disagree with your teacher. I do agree too much oil can cause a watch to run slow. My experience especially with the old car clocks is power, usually or the lack there of. One of the first things to check is the mainspring. One of the most important things is just a touch of oil on the pallet fork jewels. John has already given you a number of other areas to look at.

Thanks everyone for your help, i will go back and check some more of these things out.Of the two car clocks i have the one i cleaned is not running and the one that is dirty runs.Both are not high jewel clocks just 7 jewel.I used watch oil on the pivots.I have heard some people say not to oil pallet lever arbours, but i think they too need it.This watch was running but not a very good arc of the balance wheel, maybe about less than 90 degrees.It did stop after i oiled it.Also like Rich pointed out could be a weak mainspring.

I have this same problem with an 8 day Waltham Car Clock. I think that part of the problem is in the fact that the train bushings need closing. These wear considerably on these 8 day 7J car clocks for some reason. Once I cleaned it it was evident that the train from the pallet on up was quite loose, reducing the efficiency of power transfer from the mainspring. Could it be that before the cleaning, the holes were sufficiently gunked up to mask this fact? I haven't reduced the holes yet, but that's next on the list. Check the shake in your escape wheel and see if it is excessive.

John,thanks for the great tip about assembling the balance and cock before final assembly! If that is right,then you're 80% there! Really,really good advise.