Vanessa's Parts Insp. #1... Cal. 3135 Pallet

[Tools]

Vanessa has kindly provided some Rolex parts that she has inspected and found need replacing.......

This is the first in a dozen or more installments of movement parts that have worn or broken, and were replaced...... Let us know if you like this sort of review !!

Now, let's see if we can find the issue with this part by the end of the post..

Most parts inside a watch movement are very small... Here the pallet in question sits, along side Lincoln's nose on a US Penny:


The Pallet is the key piece that allows the balance and mainspring to work together and unwind the mainspring at a measureable rate...... 60 seconds per minute. Here is where it fits in the movement:

553px-Anker_01.jpg

The Pallet with it's jewels at each end is a beautiful piece of work:



You can see that the Jewels that lock and unlock the escapement wheel are angled differently to properly catch each tooth at a corresponding angle:


So, looking at a part that is small enough to fly away on the back of a fly, how do we decide if it is broken or out of tolerance..


Maybe we need to get it in the right light........


Here is another try....... Do you see it ??


This very tiny part has wear and a groove in the flat of the jewel. Here it is again, flipped over and marked......This tiny blemish can cause the escapement to hang-up and not keep time as perfectly as you want:



Stay tuned for some more of these great insights and inspections from Vanessa

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