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Bushings ? ya I do, Floks in Asia pacific loves them bushings bery bery much . Gold bushings last for ever as lubricants wont ruin em, glitter too.

Holy dumba$$ Batman... There IS a circlip. I had another closer look from the side, and lo and behold.... It's a tiny silver clip at the base of the brass collar. I couldn't see it from above. Boy do i feel silly. Thanks @mikepilk and @RichardHarris123 Still, i'm glad i posted and did NOT try to force the wheel. Another problem solved thanks to you guys and this forum!

My golden rule is, never buy from Aliexpress what you can't afford to lose. I've bought some really dodgy kit in the past. You have to put it down to experience. You lost pennies on those screwdrivers, so let it go. I've bought jewelling tools costing £150 that you can't fit the pusher into and got a $30 refund. It happens. But I've bought some fabulous watchmaking tools from them as well. Pick your battles, is my advice, as this one isn't worth it, in my opinion

Thanks Jon. I might put it to one side until I get more experience and have time to start an horology course.

The thing is, you never know if the last clockmaker bushed these properly, or if they are in the correct position. Let's assume they have been done properly and have worn oval, then it would be a good idea to press them out and new ones pressed back in place. If the position of the bush is questionable then you have a bit of a headache on your hands, as I assume you don't have a clock reaming and bushing tool. If you don't have the correct tool to sort this out, I wouldn't attempt it, as it is only going to go pear-shaped on you very quickly if you haven't done this before with the correct tools.

I presume the upper pivot is in the jewel hole, in your picture, if so, hairspring looks too long.

I thank you both - I just looked at the help now and will give it a go. I'll let you know. Nickelsilver gets the crisps and yes I'm feeling generous when you teach me to make a balance wheel from some unwanted screwdrivers I'll buy you a prawn cocktail! Just gave it a try and it doesn't budget so for fear of breaking it I gave it a squirt of WD40 which doesn't go anywhere near my watches normally. If it frees it up I'll clean it off with 99% alcohol... otherwise any ideas - should I heat the crown? (obviously after removing the WD and alcohol Per my other earlier burble, I'm negotiating two used watchmakers lathes (buying one or the other), one is a Lorch 8mm which I think is German and the other is a Star which is supposed to be Swiss. The Swiss one is more expensive and is fully equipped and the german one needs motor and some accessories, I can fix up a motor no problem, and would have to find accessories here in Brazil. The Swiss one is five times the cost of the german one but looks more like a metal working lathe I am used to, the German one appears to have what I would think was a stand for using wood working tools, maybe thats how watchmakers use a lathe I don't know as I'm just starting but I'm used to using one with the cutting tool secured like in the Swiss picture on the right. Any advise or comments welcome. Cheers...Jules Just figured out what you meant Richard - no is the answer, I'm hoping to either repurpose the one I am trying to get out it was for a Buren movement photos attached. Of course I could just make life easier and fix the Buren movement, don't know much about them, I suppose I just wanted to make life harder and put in the James Poole as I know some history of them and kinda liked the way it ticks! Yes I know more newbie stuff more prawn cocktails!

I don't know either but your in your photos the day wheel has holes in, @mikepilk diagram doesn't, not sure that it matters. Does the hour wheel have a recess to hold the circlip?

If you look in the Cousins documents they have one for the 955 series. For the 955.422 it shows a C clip holding the day wheel, which is expected. I don't know what could be holding it down.

No problem, I've been wanting an excuse to speak to him for a while now. Just spoke to the repairers wife, he doesn't repair pocket watches anymore as he is coming into retirement and winding down his business. He only services and repairs Rolex for his main clients now as thats something he has good stock of after 40 years in the business. She said its too much hassle trying to source parts now to repair anything else. It sounded as though he doesn't make staffs anyway they used someone down in cornwall that made them but thinks he has passed away. Suggested looking in the BHI magazines as sometimes there are balance staff makers adverts in there.

I know - I still have a lot to learn, I'll bring the screwdrivers with me next time I'm back in Leeds and hit you up for a lesson

Closing off this topic (thank goodness you all say!) I got my response from Aliexpress about the fact they shipped the wrong item. It says "Judgement from Ali Express - not valid - reason - not enough evidence supplied - no refund". It goes on to say; Notice: If the seller makes a counterclaim against your claim/evidence during the dispute, you may need to test the product according to the seller's instructions/advice and record the process! Needless to say I am looking forward to their instructions on how to install a set of screwdrivers into a pocket watch and make them function as a balance wheel! I'm quite new to all this but even I think that might be difficult... Thinking about it it was worth wasting $USD5.00 for the entertainment value. Cheers...Jules

Because he's new to watch repair is not asking for the right thing. What he requires is somebody to make a balance staff for his watch. Typically somebody making a balance staff for specific watch does not make it to dimensions they make it to fit that exact watch. The reason for the dimensions were wishful thinking that something out there existing might fit. But typically vintage like this it probably is not going to fit this was a semi-handmade watch.

Thanks Tom! Will do. OH thanks for the warning about potentially buying my lathe from China, now you'll get a laugh out of this, I decided to test out the speed of things arriving here in Brazil, a) because I need the pieces and b) so I can buy safely in the future in larger quantities, or values. I ordered a balance wheel full assembly from China USD$2.30, two balance wheel assemblies I needed from the USA USD$12.00 for the two and two balance staffs I needed from France USD$6.00 for the two, hence testing my ability to buy, import and receive the items here. They were all bought on the same day about a week ago. The balance wheel assemblies from the USA have shipped and will arrive on October 30th so about 7 weeks to deliver but I assume they will eventually arrive and be what they say they are, the French balance staffs will arrive next Wednesday so that will be about 12 days and I also assume they will be what they are supposed to be, now here's where my experience meets OH warning...wait for it - the balance wheel order from China arrived this afternoon, extremely fast from literally the other side of the globe - when I opened it it was packed and labelled balance wheel assembly but was actually an extremely cheap set of (supposedly) watch screwdrivers. I won't risk them on the screws in my watches they'll last about 30 seconds. I'm really glad I didn't shell out real money on a lathe who knows what I would have received, maybe 10 thousand packets of screwdrivers. The lesson I learned - patience 12 days vs 7, 6 weeks vs 1 - but get what you ordered. true story, love to here if anybody had better luck than me. All the best...Jules

First thing I'd check is if the hairspring is correctly placed between the "boot" and regulator pin. Also if the regulator pin is possibly missing.

I would guess Raketa as well. Here are some pictures from a Raketa 2609.HA assembly that could possibly be of help.