Just to show what the right lubrication in the right place can do… I was looking at a client’s Omega Constellation this morning, as he wanted a quick assessment of the watch. He had a 14 day return option from the seller, and he wanted to make sure the watch was fundamentally fine.
So on to the timegrapher, and it looks terrible. All sorts of things could be wrong here, especially the hairspring…
So I put the watch under the microscope, and all looks well. The watch is just dried out. Just to give me some reassurance, I carefully oil the escape wheel with some Moebius 9415, and put it back on the timegrapher, without touching anything else.
Yes, this is the same movement, with dry balance jewels, and a fair amount of dirt in it.
What I want to show here is how important the right lubrication of the escape wheel is.
The watch must have changed its count because on the first picture we see 21.600 bph and 19.800 on the second. Are you sure, Christian, that this is from the same watch?
The performance was so erratic that the timegrapher didn’t pick up the correct beat rate – that’s all.
Fantastic Blog Christian, sorry about your wife meical condition, hope she is pain free.
If ever you need an apprentice, Im your man
Thanks
Ken
There is a long queue for an apprenticeship with Christian….. 😉
Very neat post!
Yay – new content! It has been a long Christmas 😉
Do you use this Epilame stuff when lubing up escape wheels and stones?
No, I don’t use Epilame unless specifically prescribed by the manufacturer. I just don’t like the idea of generally covering watch parts in some substance …. There normally isn’t too much of an issue of the oil spreading unless you use too much, anyway.
Wow, I would not have thought the difference would be this big…
Thanks for the experiment!
“Give me the perfect oil, and I will give you the perfect watch” – Abraham-Louis Breguet.
😉