Repeater part replacement question

[edwardny]

Hey guys. Here is a good one for your spare time, of course
I have an 18k Gold Volta quarter repeater chronograph that is literally missing a part. When you press a button to start the chronograph moving, there is a round toothless gear that literally sits on top of the main plate (not sure what holds it there – looks it could just slide out). So when you activate the chronograph, it connects to another round toothless gear that in turn turns the chronograph hand. I’m sure I did not call all the parts with their correct names but I AM SURE you get the ida. So that part is missing. I attached 3 pics – 2 with the missing gear circled and one complete one I dug up online of nearly identical movement.
I started wristwatch repair a while ago – I’m starting to get a hang of it.
Now this pocket watch repeater chronograph is crafted in solid 18k gold case and REALLY wanna do the right thing by it. I looked on ebay for old repeater movements and parts – nothing too promising and could be wasted money. It looks like the missing gear just falls on top of it – not sure how it’s being held there.
The question to all of you real pocket watch gurus – what’s the best approach to complete this watch? – All functions are running – just missing this one gear. Just steer me in the right direction please. Any input would be much appreciated.
Thanks a lot.

[Bob Tascione]

He Edwardny,
If you look really close that gear as well as the other two should have very fine teeth. That’s the ‘driving wheel’ that is friction fit to a pivot on the fourth wheel arbor. It could have as many as 300 teeth and could possibly be the same count as the center chrono wheel/runner (the one with the cam/heart). Probably the best bet is to do what you’re already doing and first try to locate another wheel by taking a measurement and count of the center chrono gear. I’ll hunt around to see if I have something that looks similar in the grave yard here. It’s a long shot but never know. Can always cut or get someone to cut a new one as a last resort.

Bob

[edwardny]

Hey Bob. If you wound one like it, it would be an honor to pay you for one. Cutting one would be the last resort and unfortunately I’m not nearly close to cutting my own parts yet. Locating another wheel is a challenge and a half. One of my main questions is how is it held in place in there? Let’s say I do find a new one. How am I securing it in place. What’s the usual on these pocket watches. I haven’t played much with pocket watches yet – it’s a grey zone for me…

[Bob Tascione]

Hi Edwardny,
No luck with the search. I was hoping I had an old chrono movt. that resembled yours but nothing that large. That driver could also have half the number of teeth as the chrono runner. The complete movement with all gears in place that you posted up here is a bit too blurry so I’m not able to tell by zooming in on it. They use the technique of using half the number of teeth on the driver to help eliminate bouncing of the sweep second hand when resetting. I’m sending the link to this post to a friend that has a bunch of chrono movements to see if he can give me some info on it. I’ll hunt around a bit online to see if I can locate the same movement somewhere. Again if you need to have a new one made I have a couple of names of people that do this type of work if you need them. Just let me know and I’ll email their contact info to you.

Fingers crossed!
Bob

[edwardny]

Thanks Bob.
I can’t seem to enable these forums to notify me when someone posts a reply. My POSTS or other ones that I would participate in. I used to get an email notification when someone posts a reply and now I’m not getting them (thinking no one posted anything) and skip my replies for days sometimes without knowing that a message is waiting for me…
What am I missing?

[Bob Tascione]

Hi Edwardny,
You can activate this by logging in and going to: UCP >> Board preferences >>Edit posting defaults > Notify me upon replies by default:
You can then subscribe and unsubscribe to a forum or topic by going to the bottom of either the forum page or the topic page and clicking the box.
You can also manage subscriptions after activating the option by going to UCP>>Overview>>Manage Subscriptions:
Enjoy,
Bob

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