I have a bulova that runs normal for a minute or two then slows down to almost stop and starts back up at regular speed with out any outside influence. This pulsing of the speed is very strange to me and I am wondering if any of you seasoned watch repair/builders might have some input for me as to what is really going on with the movement. I am not a trained repair person and would like to understand more about the working of the watch. Any help would be greatlhy appreciated.
jp
There are over 200 reasons why a watch will stop. This could be a lot of things, from worn pivots to worn jewels to damaged teeth, to dirt and excess oil or insufficient oil. It could be any combination of things, but a cyclic rate fluctuation seems to indicate a damaged wheel. Even watches with shock protection can be damaged, and an overlooked area is wheel teeth, as they can be damaged and would require strong magnification to see. The barrel is also an area of concern, as many are unjewelelled, and a tilting barrel will cause problems as will a simple thing like the barrel cover not being on properly. The first thing would be to get the watch serviced, and once it is clean and properly lubricated, the fault can be tracked down as dirt and lube have been eliminated as the problems.
For some reason, this reminds me of something I saw on 'House' last week. A patient had wandered off, and was found hypothermic with no pulse. Someone said, "He's not dead till he's WARM and dead!"
Here, barring obvious problems, a running watch isn't broken until it's CLEAN and broken!