This is one of the typical Swiss movements you’ll find online. The case sacrificed to the bullion buyer and the rest put up for sale. They can usually be found for around $50.00 and I picked this one up for a custom wrist conversion project. If you’re a purist I suggest you turn your head and skip to the next post because this will not meet your approval.

Listed as needing a balance staff turned out to be a shattered cap jewels as well.

As you can see little attention was paid to finishing on the unseen side of the regulator. The cap jewel chaton looks like it was used for drilling practice. One thing that may have saved a few balance staffs in the 1800′s was the inclusions found in natural rubies that would shatter on impact rather than break the pivot. It’s up to the restorer whether finding a matching jewel or cutting a new staff is preferable. Since I don’t have a large collection of jewels I was prepared to cut a new staff but it does involve disassembling the balance and refitting the collets and roller so it comes down to what you’re most comfortable with. I may wax a small piece of agate and take a diamond file to it to serve the function until I can find a close replacement to fit. The movement does have other issues.

 

 

I brought out the balance holders and gave them a thorough clean and gentle polish.

Next was removing and a clean and polish of the centre chaton and ruby. As usual the watchmaker made a registration mark clearly visible for re-positioning of the setting.

Next up is the ratchet and winding polish. The original frosted finish will be replaced with a black polish on the top plated or both I haven’t decided. As I said in the beginning this isn’t a strict restoration as the bottom plate will be further altered for fitting in either a large wrist wearable case or a turned lucite display case. as it’s an ongoing project I’ll update this article as it progresses.

More to come…