At the Shop – Cleaning it up
The first step in restoring the movement was obviously to remove it from both the dial and the metal box that encased it. To achieve this, the taper pins that held the dial to the box and the screws affixing the movement to the box were all removed. In addition, the
hands were removed to take the dial off. After the movement was taken out, several observations were made concerning the general state of the movement. It had indeed, been restored previously. It was obvious that it had been bushed (discussed later) in some places that were not entirely necessary and not bushed in places where it would have been more helpful. It was also painfully obvious why the piece kept bad time, or more likely no time. Several pivot holes were worn, the pendulum was badly adjusted with the beat adjuster set far to the left, the escapement had
far too much entrance drop and little to no exit drop, and it was probably set up incorrectly. All of the problems with performance are easily taken care of with no cost to the school, yet there is an aesthetic scar on the
escape pallet arm placed there purposely by an unknown repairman. Unfortunately, it serves no cause for good or ill but to mar the otherwise gorgeous workings of a Waterbury Regulator 61, and it is irreparable. Apparently, someone took a punch and a hammer and beat consistently 16 times on the edge of the steel pallet arms.
Again, it is senseless, useless, and obscene, so of
course I’d like to point it out as a previous injury and not a recent one. Everything else seems to be in order and original, making for a beautiful timepiece. Having made these observations and taken pictures, the movement was then off to the ultrasonics to be cleaned. An ultrasonic tank is used
because the ultrasonics agitate the liquid, causing small implosions, and knock off more dirt and grease than is possible any other way. First the
movement was placed in an ultrasonic tank filled with ammoniated clock cleaning solution to remove the grease and dirt, as well as to brighten the brass. Then, it was rinsed in water to take off the ammonia solution and placed in an ultrasonic rinse solution of 50% xylene, 50% mineral spirits to bond with and remove the water. Finally, it was put in the dryer for several minutes at about 125o F to evaporate the rinse solution. When it was finished, it was photographed again and ready to be disassembled.
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