Here a "clockmaker", who had not the right tooling to make
new wheels, tried to insert a certain amount of teeth (we could say not
a few) to repair a wheel damaged by mainspring breaking.
Guess if the repair could be successful..
As you can see, also the inserted teeth are bent. This
is because once the wheel has been remounted the mainspring (once again)
detached from the barrel hook, which was too low to give safe locking. In
that moment, the barrel wheel was damaged too. Usually on common wheels
it's better not to insert new teeth. On the other side, on barrel wheels
two or three teeth can be safely inserted, avoiding the cost for a new part
making. This time somebody overcame to this limit, using an entire sector
of a "similar" wheel, with no regard to module, roundness or stiffness:
may be all too technical questions! To end, also these teeth have been hand
finished with a file to make them (badly) mesh with their pinion.
A particular case: the man who cut these spokes felt an
artist but couldn't express himself with the necessary skill! Teeth are
cut well, anyway, and this matters most.
The largest O-ring gasket ever seen in our workshop. It
is commonly used on wristwatches screw backs but comparing its diameter
to a common Swatch it's easy to understand that it has been differently
employed. It may sound incredible, but it was placed between the bezel and
the case of a French pendulum clock made in the first half of nineteenth
century. Did they want to make it water resistant?
Usually a mainspring is replaced when its permanent coils
(visible with spring out of barrel) are in number of three or four. Can
you count these coils without getting an headache? The clock owner said:
"The mainspring is all right".
On movement plates there are some holes used as seats for
arbor pivots. Many years of running and lack of lubrication cause wear:
holes enlarge and become oval. The remedy consists of a bushing applied
to the hole in order to obtain the circular shape again.
Here a different remedy has been adopted: using a punch and a heavy hammer,
strong blows have been given to the plate. This was intended to deform the
metal and let the hole return to the natural round shape. Not a neat job!
Furthermore, the plate finish is definitively damaged near the pivot hole.
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