loose cannon pinion or hands?

[chaplin37]

So im working on an omega watch and before i serviced it that hands would move for a bit and then stop, i would say maybe move 15 minutes before it stopped(im guessing at this as i didn’t pay too much attention to this before the service). After i serviced it, i hooked it up to my watch machine and it is running accurately. However, after the service the minute hand would not move, so I tightened the cannon pinion and it moved for about 5 min before stopping. I bought a new cannon pinion and the hands dont move at all, the cannon pinion seems like it might be a little bit loose on the new one. However it is new so it shouldn’t have that problem of having to tighten it correct? Also could it be that the minute hand could be a little bit loose? I bought a new pair just to test it, but if its not the hands im stumped at this point. Any suggestions would be great, maybe i need to tighten the cannon pinion more but i dont want to over tighten it.

[Bob Tascione]

Hi Chaplin,
There are a few ways to determine whether the minute hand is secure enough or if it’s slipping. You can place the watch in the vertical position and allow it to run for an hour and check to see if the hand indicates slower time when moving from the half hour to the hour and/or moves ahead when moving from 12 to 6. The hand will often fall either forward or backward due to gravity. You can also hold the watch vertically and move the hand to either 1/4 after or 1/4 before the hour and then tap (gently) on the side of the case to see if the hand drop a bit. This will usually let you know what’s going on.
Good luck and please let us know what you find ou,
Bob

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