Replacing the Bow and Push Piece. English Cylinder

[Webwatchmaker]

Replacing the bow, push piece and retaining screw in an English Cylinder escapement pocket watch by Gillam London 1826.
Nice pair of original gold hands.
The hole in the push piece needs to be elongated so that it can be pressed against the case back spring to open the case for winding.
I can do this because I have the parts !
I never throw anything away and I still have two uncollected repairs from the 1970s !
Interesting to note that the balance endstone is a diamond chip.
Often found on early English watches.
The screw still needs cutting to exact size and the watch needs a good clean, the dial cracks washed out and a better seconds hand fitted. Original seconds had a gold centre but I have none left.
Notice it's a one piece enamel dial. Usual on high quality English watches.
You see a one piece dial and can be sure there's something interesting inside the case.




Thanks to paskinner for helping me post photos !

I cleaned the movement by hand and with a little carbon tetrachloride.
It was going: tick tock tick tock tick tock clunk !
One of the cylinder wheel teeth was bent.
Easy to bend straight because the wheel is brass not steel. An overlong screw had been placed in the regulator bridge which must have bent the tooth.
Found a seconds hand.
Now it's running.
A labour of love rather than profit.



Brendan

[willie_gunn]

What a cracking timepiece!

There’s something very elegant about a pocket watch that seems missing in a wristwatch.

When did they phase out the diamond chips? I’ve not seen one of those before.


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[Webwatchmaker]

What a cracking timepiece!

There’s something very elegant about a pocket watch that seems missing in a wristwatch.

When did they phase out the diamond chips? I’ve not seen one of those before.


Sent from my iPad using TZ-UK mobile app

You don't see many diamond endstones on English watches after about 1850.
They were usually on the highest quality watches such as verge, cylinder, duplex and chronometer escapements. Mostly from around 1780 to 1830s.
After that they were usually rubies or sapphire.

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[aldfort]

Another fascinating post, always a pleasure.

[Neil.C]

Really enjoyed that Brendan.

Thanks for posting.

[Umbongo]

I was given a not dissimilar pocket watch some time ago by a very old and good friend - he's in his 70s now, but was something of a mentor to me in my early working days. It's still a runner and l can't for the life of me think why lve not looked into getting it restored to some degree - other priorities l suppose.

The movement is marked "J Jones 338 Strand" and, my reading suggests that he was a respected watchmaker of his time.

The question is, Brendan, will the movement be of high enough quality to justify the required case repairs?

[oldoakknives]

Nice work and love the movement picture. Nice to hear about these jobs.

[Webwatchmaker]

I was given a not dissimilar pocket watch some time ago by a very old and good friend - he's in his 70s now, but was something of a mentor to me in my early working days. It's still a runner and l can't for the life of me think why lve not looked into getting it restored to some degree - other priorities l suppose.

The movement is marked "J Jones 338 Strand" and, my reading suggests that he was a respected watchmaker of his time.

The question is, Brendan, will the movement be of high enough quality to justify the required case repairs?

I have no idea what the movement or case problem is but English cases are pretty solid and if it's a broken hinge they don't cost a fortune to repair.

Brendan