Reference number: Worksheet/Receipt. Owners name: - Telephone: Description of item(s) received, including accessories:

Transcription

1 Worksheet/Receipt Owners name: - Address: n/a Telephone: n/a Description of item(s) received, including accessories: Jaguar E-Type Smiths car clock marked CE 1114/00 (negative earth). Work required based on initial inspection: Doesn t run so needs a full service and painting of hands. Clean case. I acknowledge receipt of the item(s) described above. Date: 18 August 2017 Chris Nicholas 21 August 2017 Page 1 of 24

2 As received: Chris Nicholas 21 August 2017 Page 2 of 24

3 Disassembly and cleaning Hands removed and dial lightly cleaned: Hands are not too bad but will be painted: Chris Nicholas 21 August 2017 Page 3 of 24

4 Dial and front cover removed only slightly dirty and complete: Rear of clock case: Chris Nicholas 21 August 2017 Page 4 of 24

5 Movement removed from clock case: Balance and electrical components removed: Chris Nicholas 21 August 2017 Page 5 of 24

6 I make a review of the critical items under a microscope. This is the bearing at the top of the previous picture. It s gummed up with old hardened oil and dirt: Here s the pivot that goes in there this is fine and has little wear: Chris Nicholas 21 August 2017 Page 6 of 24

7 Here s the balance and the red segment is due to arcing from the contacts that gets cleaned off: It s directly aligned with the pin on the underside of the balance that makes the circuit. It has a lot of carbon and dirt but only a little wear: Chris Nicholas 21 August 2017 Page 7 of 24

8 Here is a balance pivot and it s fine: Chris Nicholas 21 August 2017 Page 8 of 24

9 That pin on the balance contacts this arm on the electrical side again, carbon and dirt here: Chris Nicholas 21 August 2017 Page 9 of 24

10 As it s part of the electrical side, it can only be cleaned by hand so, gets done now: Chris Nicholas 21 August 2017 Page 10 of 24

11 The balance runs in jewels top and bottom each one has a bearing jewel with a cap jewel to control end shake (end float). This is the upper assembly when it s stripped. There are similar ones at the lower: Once everything is stripped, the jewels and bearings get cleaned with peg wood (a soft wood shaped like a toothpick) to remove any hardened deposits. The wheels (gear) teeth get cleaned as well and all the parts that fit in the automatic cleaner go into baskets like this. Delicate parts go into smaller baskets: Chris Nicholas 21 August 2017 Page 11 of 24

12 These baskets then go into this cleaner, an Elmasolvex RM automatic cleaning machine which uses 4 jars: Jar 1: Cleaning Elma WF Pro 5 minutes clean + 2 minutes spin off Jar 2: Rinse 1 Elma Suprol Pro 3 minutes rinse + 2 minutes spin off Jar 3: Rinse 2 Elma Suprol Pro 3 minutes rinse + 2 minutes spin off Jar 4: Rinse 3 Elma Suprol Pro 3 minutes rinse + 2 minutes spin off Drying chamber 7 minutes drying The other parts, being the large plates and the very delicate balance and hairspring get cleaned by hand and a brush using watchmakers cleaning and rinsing fluid. Chris Nicholas 21 August 2017 Page 12 of 24

13 The electrical parts get cleaned off with this blue rub off substance which looks like (very expensive) blutack. This is really to remove any dirt and carbon deposits so that all the parts are clean. The exception is this post where the contact on the curled wire spring pivots. If this post isn t clean, then the contact can t swing as the balance contact passes it and the clock won t run. Here, shown next to the spring: Chris Nicholas 21 August 2017 Page 13 of 24

14 And it clearly has corrosion so the spring part is not free to swing: That gets cleaned off and lightly polished: And the pivot gets oiled with a very light watchmaker s oil before the spring is refitted: Chris Nicholas 21 August 2017 Page 14 of 24

15 Parts after cleaning Chris Nicholas 21 August 2017 Page 15 of 24

16 Cleanliness, condition review and assembly I review all the parts after cleaning as it doesn t take much to stop a clock such as this here are some examples and all are fine: Chris Nicholas 21 August 2017 Page 16 of 24

17 A little wear on the pivots but, these are fine as well: Chris Nicholas 21 August 2017 Page 17 of 24

18 Here s the balance with the contact pin: I refit the balance after oiling the cap jewels and adjust the hairspring so it s in the middle of the regulator and is concentric. Then, there s a check and adjustment of the end shake (float) of the balance. This is all essential for reliable and accurate running of the clock: Chris Nicholas 21 August 2017 Page 18 of 24

19 The balance comes off again and the train is fitted and oiled: Electrical components refitted and I check that they are all fine and being a later clock, the contact wear is already addressed. Chris Nicholas 21 August 2017 Page 19 of 24

20 The balance is refitted and the basic clock movement will now run when the voltage is applied. I run it like this for a day or two to check amplitude of the balance and make any adjustments. The balance amplitude is the swing of the balance in either direction due to the impulses and watchmakers are always looking for high amplitude to ensure good and consistent running. These clocks only run at about 180 degrees (a half turn in each direction) which is a lot less than the 270 degrees that s desirable in a watch. The back plate is added: Chris Nicholas 21 August 2017 Page 20 of 24

21 And the basic movement refitted to the cleaned case. I don t remove all the original stickers and marks from the case as they are part of its history. The various front side wheels (gears) are fitted and then the dial: Chris Nicholas 21 August 2017 Page 21 of 24

22 The hands are stripped and primed: Then painted: And then re-fitted to the clock now finished. I ve not touched up the black area below the dial as you don t see it when the clock is fitted. Chris Nicholas 21 August 2017 Page 22 of 24

23 Timing and testing I run this for about an hour before fitting the hands and this one is running a little slow at an average of seconds per day so, I speed it up using the regulator screw on the back of the clock. There s a fair variation over that hour from to seconds per day but we re interested in daily rate here. It then gets run for a few hours to get the final rate after the hands have been fitted and I ve adjusted it. Here, it s showing dead on after an hour or so of running at -0.1 seconds per day variation. Obviously, this is in a static position but most cars are static for a large part of each day so, getting this right means the overall rate should be good so, it s run for a week or so off the tester to see how the overall timekeeping is. The result of that is it is still within 1 minute of the set time over that period. Chris Nicholas 21 August 2017 Page 23 of 24

24 Overall It s been a pleasure to do this for you, and it will look nice back in the car. I ve locked the rate adjuster with a dab of paint but, it is very sensitive so, unless it s minutes out per day on the car, don t try and tweak it as you ll go round in circles. It should be fine where it is. You know that these clocks start when you set the time, there is a contact that bridges the circuit to give an impulse. I don t disconnect the battery on my car so, it runs all the time. If you feel the need (as I did), put an in-line fuse on the positive lead as these are not fused on the car. There is a link at the rear that should provide a fuse but I m more trusting in a simple in-line fuse for this sort of thing. To be fair to Smiths and Jaguar, it s a unit within its own metal case so, even if it developed a fault, it should be self-contained. This clock is only suitable for -ve earth vehicles so, don t put it on a +ve earth car but, if you want it changing, I can do that easily. I know your car is -ve earth so, no issues there. You have a one-year warranty on the clock so, just let me know if you have any issues. Return to Chris Nicholas 21 August 2017 Page 24 of 24