Assembly of Movements
Assembly of Movements
The assembly of watch movements is a crucial step in watch manufacturing. It involves assembling various components to create a functional mechanism. Here are the main stages of assembling watch movements:
Preparation of Components
Plate, barrel, mobile gears, wheels, springs, pallet fork, balance wheel, bridges, screws…
Movement Assembly
The assembly begins with the first mechanism (click, sliding pinion, winding pinion, winding stem, lever, lever spring), followed by the assembly of the barrel and the gear train. Pivoting and endshaking are performed, and mobility freedom is checked.
Finishing and Regulation
This includes pallet fork endshake, banking, unlocking banking pins, and adjusting lifts (banking at loss of motion, total loss of motion), balance wheel endshake, and flat spiral centering.
Disassembly
The movement is then disassembled to clean the components. Once clean, reassembly is conducted with appropriate lubrication (according to the grade).
Regulation
Using a timing machine (Witschi), precise regulation is performed, indicating 0h and 24h with accuracy. If necessary, dynamic balancing of the balance wheel is done using a milling cutter to adjust advance and retard on the balance spring.
Casing
Under a laminar flow, the previously regulated and checked movement, case, dial, and hands are placed.
The dial and hands (depending on the configuration, for example, if there is a date display) are placed on the movement.
The movement is positioned in the case, and the winding stem is adjusted to set the crown clearance.
At each step, cleanliness is checked to ensure there are no dust or hairs, etc.
Next, the movement is fixed in the case with clamps. The case back is installed, and the water resistance is checked, verifying the timing accuracy for 0h and 24h.
Assembly of Movements
