The lever escapement, invented by British clockmaker Thomas Mudge in 1755, is a type of escapement that is used in the majority of mechanical watches. An escapement is a mechanical linkage that gives pushes to the timepiece's balance wheel, keeping it rotating back and forth, and with each swing of the balance wheel allows the timepiece's gear train to advance a fixed amount, thus moving the hands forward at a steady rate. The escapement is what makes the "ticking" sound in mechanical watches and clocks. -Wikipedia-
Assembly of the lever with its pallet jewels.
The pallet jewels are placed manually in position and then with the aid of the equipment below pushed into place whilst being viewedon the monitor by the operator.
The lever and the piece which will become the guard pin are placed into the machine below and riveted in place and cut to the correct form in parallel.
Riveting in place the guard pin and shaping it.
After riveting of the guard pin and prior to decoration.
All of the levers are treated with a special coating which prevents the lubrication placed on the pallet jewels from moving. Below a technicians test the pieces to assure the treatment has been successful, following which the levers will be cleaned and prepared for assembly with the movements.
