Fixing broken pivot from balance staff

[Dzwiedz]

Hello,

 

I have just disassembled vintage pocket watch (Tsilla) which is my first attempt to this hobby ever. I have succesfully done that and found issue with balance - balance staff pivot is broken. Also, during maneuvering with parts hairspring pin (small brass one) flew away...  I have ordered spare hairspring pins, but I wonder how to find replacement balance? Or can I fix it with simple beginner tools? I do not even know how to properly find a balance that will fit my watch.

Thank you all for help!

 

PS. I think I like this hobby.

[Nucejoe]

 Caliber No is traditionally stamped on the movement, usually under balance. You need a staking set and plenty of practice restaffing a balance. See vids by Mark lovic on youtube.

If available a balance complete is your best bet for now.

Regs

[KarlvonKoln]

If you still like this kind of work, even after losing a tiny part and seeing a broken balance pivot, then surely it was meant to be.

May I ask for pictures of the movement and especially the balance and its pivot?  We can help much when we see them.  The best and clearest pictures you can make.

You will see a lot of broken balance pivots in this line of work.  It is good you are learning about them now.

Let us see pictures and learn more and we will help how we can.

[Dzwiedz]

11 hours ago, Nucejoe said:

 Caliber No is traditionally stamped on the movement, usually under balance. You need a staking set and plenty of practice restaffing a balance. See vids by Mark lovic on youtube.

If available a balance complete is your best bet for now.

Regs

 

11 hours ago, KarlvonKoln said:

If you still like this kind of work, even after losing a tiny part and seeing a broken balance pivot, then surely it was meant to be.

May I ask for pictures of the movement and especially the balance and its pivot?  We can help much when we see them.  The best and clearest pictures you can make.

You will see a lot of broken balance pivots in this line of work.  It is good you are learning about them now.

Let us see pictures and learn more and we will help how we can.

 

Hello, thank you so much for taking time to help me! I do really appreciate that!

 

I have made couple of pictures, however I am not sure if it helps as there is nothing really stamped...

Balance wheel is smooth, there are absolutely no screws on it, I will be able to make more pictures later on. As staking sets are expensive, I guess I cannot really afford one now. I though of finding a watchmaker locally that would be able to restake this balance? Rest if movement seemed working while unwinding mainspring.

 

Also, if you know anything about such Tsilla pocket watch do let me know as I have googled and found nothing.

[Nucejoe]

No trade mark, will you put all bridges back on the mainplate, someone might tell by the bridge layout.

[Dzwiedz]

On 3/6/2022 at 3:36 PM, Nucejoe said:

No trade mark, will you put all bridges back on the mainplate, someone might tell by the bridge layout.

Hello, I have managed to reassembly whole mechanism, clean, oil and lubricate it and... it works (beside balance...).  I am really happy as this is my first watch ever taken apart and reassembled.

 

Posting pictures of mechanism how it looks like and front so maybe someone recognizes anything and helps out... Thank you!

 

Also, any other sub-thread I can try to ask for identification?

[Nucejoe]

 I still have no clue dispite the image of bridge layout, didn't think you'd have the whole movement back together before we see an image of the keyless. If you took pix as you disassembled, a picture of the keyless helps.

 In case it doesn't get identified, its down to removing the staff and measuring its dimensions.

You shouldn't attempt staff removal without the proper tool.

Regs

[Nucejoe]

Oh, you showed the keyless profile above, will check Dr ranfft and might come up with the caliber. 

[Dzwiedz]

7 minutes ago, Nucejoe said:

Oh, you showed the keyless profile above, will check Dr ranfft and might come up with the caliber. 

I can try to open everything again to show you complete keyless, I will try to find some time. Thank you so much!

[Nucejoe]

1 hour ago, Dzwiedz said:

I can try to open everything again to show you complete keyless, I will try to find some time. Thank you so much!

No need really , can clearly see the profile in pix you have shown, I must be doing wrong in my search or Dr ranfft just has not listed this one. 

Many ways to conduct such online searches.

[JohnR725]

5 hours ago, Nucejoe said:

I still have no clue dispite the image of bridge layout, didn't think you'd have the whole movement back together before we see an image of the keyless. If you took pix as you disassembled, a picture of the keyless helps.

One of the ways to identify watches that are unknown is the look in the material catalogs. They have a system sometimes called the fingerprint system. The visit we need the diameter the movement measured on the main plate on the dial side. Yes I know you have a pocket watch but it really helps to narrow down the exact size. Then we need a picture of the setting components found on the dial side. The unfortunate problem with the system is the earliest book I have is 1951 I don't know how far back they go but they don't go back to American pocket watches for instance. Then there's some other books in the 60s and early 70s so it has to be within a relatively narrow window of time. Yours looks modern-ish another was it doesn't look super vintage maybe we might find it

even if we don't find it another way to do some of this would be to take your staff out we measure that and we look at a list of staffs by sizing yes they ask he have something like that and see if you find something close. So in addition to your staking sat you also need a watchmaker's lathe. This is why typically beginners do not do staff work the outlay of expensive tools and knowledge of using them isn't usually what beginners do.

[StuartBaker104]

You haven’t included a picture of the balance, but that looks like it has a cylinder escapement. In which case you may be able to push out the old plug (tampon) which has the pivot on it and push in a new one.

Easier said than done and whilst you don’t need a full staking set you will need to obtain or make some special punches, and a suitable tampon.

John has posted about these before here