Waterbury Regulator Instruction Manual

12
I used the finer adjustment knob nearer to
the bottom of the leader to finish the
adjustment. After setting the beat, I set
the rate, or the quickness of the tick-tocks.
This was done using the nut at the bottom
of the pendulum. I used the same timing
machine to measure how many beats the
clock made per hour, which I found above
to be 3600. I tweaked the nut until the
measurement was just that or very close to 3600. Now, the clock was
adjusted to keep time and our job was to watch it and record how well it performed!
Refitting the Second Hand – Found in the Case
To put the second hand back on, it was first necessary to “poise” it, or balance it so that it
would not hinder the clock in any way. When we
received it, it was too heavy on one side. To poise
it, I pounded a piece of lead flat and super-glued it
to the back and bottom of the second hand to offset
the heavier “long” side. I then put it on a smooth
broach and checked its balance. Obviously, it was
imbalanced at this point, so I carefully shaved off
bits of lead first around the edges so it wouldn’t be seen,
then carefully evened it on either side until it was perfectly
balanced and static on the broach. After it was poised, I
colored the lead with a magic marker to disguise its
presence. Such methods as super-glue and markers can be
used on the second hand because they work well, will not
interfere with the inner workings of the movement, won’t
be seen, and are removable. Having poised the second
hand, we now had to re-affix it to the movement. To do
that, it was necessary to close the hole in the second
hand slightly with a round-head punch so that it would
stay on. Then, it was reamed open slightly with a
cutting broach until it just fit. After the hole was sized
to the escape pivot, the second hand was attached solidly
to it and works fine now. Remember that the clock
has a beat rate of 3600 beats per hour, or 60 beats
per minute. For this reason, the second hand is
directly affixed to the escape wheel since each tooth
represents one second exactly. One of the unusual
features of this clock is the fact that the escape
wheel front pivot, which has the second hand attached, comes out in
the middle of the dial, through the center of the hands. This
characteristic makes the Waterbury Regulator No 61 a “center
seconds” clock.
Fine Beat Adjuster
Out of poise
Second Hand
Rate Adjuster
Perfectly Poised and Static