The Verge Pocket Watch Its History, Development and Maintenance

by Barrow, Christopher

• ISBN13: 9780719804007
• ISBN10: 0719804000
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-09-01
• Publisher: Robert Hale

Summary

Following the success of The Pocket Watch, which has helped many people rescue old watches from the drawers in which they have languished, comes another clear and concise guide, aimed again at the enthusiastic amateur This book combines a fascinating history of the development of the verge pocket watch with a comprehensive step-by-step guide to cleaning and repairing a variety of English and Continental verge movements. Any reader who has a verge pocket watch hidden in a drawer and who would like to investigate its workings, perhaps with a view to getting it going again, will find that this books helps them reach that goal. It will also offer them a deeper appreciation of the beauty of both the design and technology of the verge pocket watch.

Author Biography

A member of the British Horological Society, Chris Barrow has been an electronic design engineer for almost 30 years and has been cleaning and repairing pocket watches for 20 years. He is also the author of The Pocket Watch: Restoration, Maintenance and Repair.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. 11
Figures	p. 11
Drawings	p. 14
Acknowledgements	p. 15
Introduction	p. 17
Early Horological Developments	p. 19
The sundial	p. 19
The water clock or clepsydra	p. 19
The sandglass or hourglass	p. 21
Development of the Verge Clock	p. 23
Early History	p. 23
Design and operation	p. 25
The mainspring	p. 26
The fusee	p. 28
The hog's bristle	p. 30
The screw	p. 30
The pendulum	p. 30
Development of the Verge Pocket Watch	p. 32
Origins	p. 32
The stackfreed	p. 33
The balance	p. 35
Calendar watches	p. 36
Striking watches	p. 36
Alarm watches	p. 37
Repeating watches	p. 37
The balance spring (hair spring)	p. 40
Introduction of the minute and second hands	p. 40
Materials used in watch construction	p. 40
Cases	p. 41
Watch glasses	p. 47
Jewelling	p. 48
Regulator	p. 48
Remontoire	p. 53
Maintaining power	p. 53
Temperature compensation	p. 54
Dials	p. 56
Unusual dials	p. 57
Animated dials	p. 59
The fusee chain	p. 60
Accuracy	p. 61
Verge conversions	p. 61
The doctor's watch	p. 63
Stop/start lever	p. 64
Mainspring set-up	p. 65
Maintenance of the Verge Pocket Watch	p. 67
Handling watches	p. 67
Dismantling the watch	p. 69
Removing the movement from the case	p. 69
Removing the hands	p. 69
Removing the dust cap	p. 72
Removing the dial	p. 73
Removing the cannon pinion	p. 75
Letting down the mainspring	p. 76
Ratchet and click set-up	p. 76
Worm and wheel set-up	p. 77
Removing the third and contrate wheels	p. 79
Removing the balance	p. 80
Dismantling the plates	p. 88
Removing the crown wheel	p. 89
Cleaning and checking the parts	p. 94
Cleaning the plates	p. 94
Cleaning the wheels and pinions	p. 95
Checking and cleaning the mainspring	p. 96
Cleaning screws	p. 98
Checking the fusee	p. 98
Reassembling the watch	p. 100
Fitting the crown wheel - English verge	p. 100
Fitting the crown wheel - continental verge	p. 100
Fitting the fusee stop work	p. 101
Assembly process if there is a spring barrel and third wheel bridge	p. 101
Assembly process if there are no bridges	p. 102
Pinning the plates	p. 102
Fitting the regulator	p. 102
Fitting the fusee chain	p. 103
Winding the chain onto the spring barrel (ratchet and click set-up)	p. 104
Winding the chain onto the spring barrel (worm and wheel set-up)	p. 104
Fitting the balance	p. 104
Dots on screws	p. 106
Winding up	p. 107
Fitting the cannon pinion	p. 107
Fitting the dial	p. 108
Fitting the hands	p. 108
Regulation	p. 108
Repeaters and other complications	p. 109
Fixing a Broken Verge Watch	p. 110
Things that might stop the watch from working	p. 110
The watch will not run after cleaning/repair	p. 113
Pivot problems	p. 115
Damaged pivot holes	p. 115
Damaged jewels	p. 116
Bent pivot	p. 117
Broken pivot	p. 117
Endshake	p. 120
Mainspring and barrel problems	p. 122
Broken mainspring	p. 122
Spring barrel lid	p. 123
Fusee problems	p. 124
Fusee chain attachment pin	p. 124
Fusee chain	p. 125
Broken fusee chain	p. 127
Other fusee problems	p. 128
Balance problems	p. 129
Damaged balance spring	p. 130
Bent pivots	p. 131
Broken pivots	p. 131
Pitted or scratched pivots	p. 132
Bent or misaligned balance	p. 133
The dial and hands	p. 133
Dial cleaning	p. 133
Dial repair	p. 134
Replacement hands	p. 134
Loose pillars	p. 136
Listening to the watch	p. 137
The Case	p. 138
Cleaning	p. 138
Tortoiseshell	p. 139
Shark or ray skin (shagreen)	p. 139
Repairing	p. 139
Watch glasses	p. 140
Watch Dating	p. 142
Forgeries and Fakes	p. 146
Watch signatures	p. 147
Sources of information and suppliers on the internet	p. 148
Further reading	p. 150
Some useful terms	p. 153
John Harrison and the measurement of longitude	p. 157
Longitude	p. 157
Harrison's marine timekeeper No. 4(H4)	p. 164
Index	p. 169
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