April 09, 2015, 19:22
Paul D. TrombleyWhat is the beat rate for an Ingersol Midget?
I have a midget running slow... I cleaned and oiled it and am going back together.
It is running at a pretty consistent 14,350bph... I don't know if that puts me close enough to go back together...
18,000 doesn't appear to be the target.
April 09, 2015, 20:27
Chris AbellPaul,
If you want to have some fun and good practice,
count the teeth on the gears and pinions, you know the center wheel rotates once a hour, so you can work out from there.
April 09, 2015, 20:56
Paul D. TrombleyThank you Chris, I already had it back together and was looking for a short cut. And, I found it.
As luck would have it, I had bought another for parts but found it to be in such good condition I didn't have the heart to tear it down. It ended up in my personal collection.
I ran this mint watch on the timer and against a stop watch for an hour and it turns out to be a spot on time keeper at 14,350 bph...
The one I restored came in at 14,350 with the regulator center position after the COA... which I am immensely grateful for... because the only way to adjust these is to mess with the pinned hair spring.
Sometimes, better lucky than good!
April 09, 2015, 21:03
Paul D. TrombleyFor such a simple watch, they actually have some merit. This was a family heirloom restoration. This watch was carried and provided good service for a lot of years.
The original was beyond restoration, but I was able to find an exact replacement with low miles and a minor hair spring issue... The surrogate came back to life with a minimal effort after I figured out how to "unsister" the two outer coils.