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All:
OK. I found the problem and it’s pretty depressing. First, let me rationalize for a moment and state that I do have eye problems with 600 vision in my right eye due to a retinal detachment, and a big cataract in my left eye. However, that’s no excuse for the lack of rigor when it comes to performing a systematic examination of a timepiece.
To digress for a moment, while initially examining the watch I noticed that the third wheel top jewel was cracked. Since I had a few 18s part watches I just found a replacement, cleaned it, and installed it using the original screws. Once I put the watch back together and noticed the seizing hairspring problem, I did check the clearances between the plate and the balance wheel but simply did not – even under magnification – see that the replacement jewel wasn’t seating flush and one of the screws was just high enough (looks like a hairs width) to rub against the bottom of the balance wheel. I finally saw it this morning when the expansion gap in the balance wheel caught on the jewel screw causing the whole thing to seize. Honestly, I just couldn’t see it. Whether it was my vision issues or I just looked past it assuming some other problem I don’t really know – probably a little of both.
Anyway, on the positive side – I have learned a big lesson from this one and picked up some seriously good methods such as how to check end shake by removing the cap jewels and looking at pivot embed length in the hole jewel, and being provided with an actual check list by which to be guided. On the down side, I’m now wondering if my vision issues might be a real problem that will prevent me from pursuing this – I should have been able to see this jewel/screw problem in the beginning before I wasted everyone’s time here and basically made a fool out of myself. 😳
Ultimately, I put it on my staking set and seated it under mild pressure, making sure to firmly tighten the screws. It’s swinging strong and free now.
Oh well… thank you everyone for contributing. Thanks Bob for taking the time to deleve into this too.
Later,
Tom