Job Number 220016, of Setting and Cannon Pinions


The owner noted that the lever does not lock in out position when setting, you have to hold it. Many lever mechanisms have a second spring that pushes the lever out for this purpose. This watch does not. I thought I'd try to improve it anyway. It is the tension of the setting action itself that pulls the clutch (and thus the lever) back.

What a can of worms that turned into... 

Nothing is worn or broken on this movement. The only way to alter setting tension is the friction of the cannon pinion. But it turns out there is a *very* narrow range of tightness wherein the clutch will not slip in setting, and the the hands will still turn when running. There's nothing I can do to make it better, and it took too many attempts just to get it working - back to where I started. 

You can only adjust a cannon pinion so many times.


I really should have left well enough alone. I just hope it will be alright now.
If the cannon pinion is loose enough that the setting action does not disengage the lever from setting mode then the cannon pinion slips when the watch is running and the hour and minute hands do not move.

The clutch and the intermediary gear it turns in setting do not fully line up in the vertical. That's just how the movement is designed. It slips there easily, when setting, if the cannon pinion is too tight. 

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