i have a few english key wind fusee pocket watches that need cleaning,having never cleaned a fusee time piece i am a bit skitish about doing them.my worry is the reassembly setup,and how do you properly clean the fusee itself??, does it have to be disassembled??hope you can help!! and thanks you folks for being out there!!!! bob fedele # 570

Bob,

It is quite tempting to skip disassembling the
fusee. I have done many fusees which have
obviously not been disassembled for several
cleanings. I strongly recommend disassembly.
Avoiding it allows the build up of gunk which
can foul the ratcheting action and allow the
spring/fusee/chain to violently unwind and do
some real serious damage.
Disassembling a fusee can be tricky so you
might want to practice on a junker if available.

Maurice Richesson

hello! maurice, many thanks for your reply to my questions, i thought so also on the dissasembly of the fusee, its very logical.after cleaning,and reassembly has started, how much pre tension is necessary on the chain for proper operation??, very best regards,again bob fedele