Vintage waltham--add modern jewel??

[LittleWatchShop]

I have this Waltham from mybpile-o-watches (without cases) that I am seeing what can be brought to life. No value, no emotional attachment--just having fun.

The escape wheel bushing is wallered out. Maybe that is a Texas term, but you can see what I mean.

Rather than replace the bushing with a vintage jeweled bushing requiring a couple of tapped holes, I was thinking a modern press fit jewel.

Pretty sure I don't have any taps at this watch shop...my Elgin taps are at home. So a press fit is probably all I can accomplish here.

Thoughts?

Alternatively, I could modify the escape wheel pivot.

[RichardHarris123]

I like the press fit jewel idea. 

[LittleWatchShop]

This might work. But I am waiting for @nickelsilver, or @JohnR725, or perhaps even @praezis to slap me.

[mbwatch]

Press in the modern jewel. This some random 7 jewel Waltham, not priceless, and if the choice is between it running or not running, it should run.

But did you try pressing out the entire bushing? Waltham made some of those friction fit and replaceable and they are possible to find NOS. I know this was the case with some 12 size grades, so it is worth looking into for 18 too. Then you would have a guilt-free repair.

[LittleWatchShop]

1 minute ago, mbwatch said:

Press in the modern jewel. This some random 7 jewel Waltham, not priceless, and if the choice is between it running or not running, it should run.

But did you try pressing out the entire bushing? Waltham made some of those friction fit and replaceable and they are possible to find NOS. I know this was the case with some 12 size grades, so it is worth looking into for 18 too. Then you would have a guilt-free repair.

I have looked closely. Appears to be machined in place. I will look again.

[mbwatch]

This was mine - I thought it was machined in the plate until I just pushed it out. 

 

[caseback]

3 hours ago, mbwatch said:

This was mine - I thought it was machined in the plate until I just pushed it out. 

 

Makes sense from a production perspective: make 1 type of mainplate, suitable for both high grade (put in jewels) and low grade (put in metal bearing) movements.

[nickelsilver]

If there's a bushing, I would push it out, and make a bushing to take a jewel (hole probably doesn't correspond to standard jewel diameters). This maintains originality, and the bushing for the jewel can be made in "one shot" on the lathe ensuring concentricity. This technique also allows a relatively small range of jewels to accommodate a large number of repairs.

 

I do this often for broken rubbed-in balance jewels, where suitable replacements can be hard to find. In some cases I make a bushing for a jewel that has the correct profile to "rub-in", but in some cases the only viable option is to open the hole in the place/cock larger than the original setting.

 

Anytime a hole needs opening more than 0.10-0.20mm I go straight to the faceplate in the lathe. On something like this escape wheel pivot hole, you would have to go through multiple reamers to get to the jewel size, and in spite of their self-centering nature, they do drift. The faceplate allows things to stay in their original location.

 

If there's a bushing that can be pushed out, and you have a jewel that's slightly larger than the hole, and you don't mind altering the piece, then you should be safe reaming to the jewel size.

[LittleWatchShop]

I appear to have succeeded. Testing now.

I only used the faceplate to get the starter hole at precise center. Then I used the Seitz 159 drill bit for a 160 jewel.

[Paul80]

Nice job, You do know you will now have to jewel all the rest as well. 

[RichardHarris123]

Rolex, Omega et al used ebouches at some stage, and then improved them. I really don't see the difference or why everything has the be authentic.  To me an improvement is an improvement.  Of course some movements are of historical importance but otherwise? 

One of the most famous clocks in the world, the Westminster clock isn't authentic, it was automated about 100 years ago.  

[LittleWatchShop]

4 hours ago, Paul80 said:

Nice job, You do know you will now have to jewel all the rest as well. 

Lol...it is looking that way!!

[nickelsilver]

11 hours ago, Paul80 said:

Nice job, You do know you will now have to jewel all the rest as well. 

When I was in school we had to put in a jewel on a 7j movment using the faceplate and slide rest to open the hole. For those who were ahead they could jewel more of the movement, all the way up to fully jeweled. It was interesting to see that those movements that got further jeweling pretty much all ran worse than unjeweled, which was 100% due to not getting the part correctly centered before boring the hole. Drifting the hole location just a few hundredths of a mm can have a dramatic effect, even causing the watch to simply not work (depends a lot on where in the train the defect is introduced- between 4th and escape wheel will be worse than center to 3rd wheel).

[LittleWatchShop]

2 hours ago, nickelsilver said:

When I was in school we had to put in a jewel on a 7j movment using the faceplate and slide rest to open the hole. For those who were ahead they could jewel more of the movement, all the way up to fully jeweled. It was interesting to see that those movements that got further jeweling pretty much all ran worse than unjeweled, which was 100% due to not getting the part correctly centered before boring the hole. Drifting the hole location just a few hundredths of a mm can have a dramatic effect, even causing the watch to simply not work (depends a lot on where in the train the defect is introduced- between 4th and escape wheel will be worse than center to 3rd wheel).

Indeed, this was my greatest concern.

This warch was so bad that it was nor running, so I could only make things the same or better.

Edited February 21 by LittleWatchShop