Potence Clip for full plate P/W's

[Randy]

One of the little items left over from my dad's watchmaking career, included a small piece of about 18s blue mainspring material, in a small box marked "Potence clip".
It's about two inches long, bent in half, and on one end it has a small notch filed into it.
It took me awhile to figure out what it was used for, and it's a device for holding the pallet assembly in place while you are reassembling a full plate pocket watch.
If you don't know,..the potency is the small "cup" on the upper movement plate that holds the lower balance jewels, and the end of the pallet fork has to sit inside it, during assembly
Most watch repair types put these together "upside down" so that the fork stays in place.
With this clip, you can hold it in place and then simply flip the upper plate into the other, and wiggle the pivots into their respective holes.
Once everything's in place,..you just slide it out.
NOTE : Put the outside end of the clip to your left. If you put it to the right, it will sit onto one of the other wheels when you flip it over.

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I've included ( hopefully ) 3 shots that show the clip, the clip holding the pallet fork, and then both plates side by side for reference.
Yes,..I do know that this movement is missing a banking pin.....

Sorry if the file sizes are large..I couldn't get them adjusted correctly !

Hope this helps some of you in the future.

[jim1228]

Hey Randy,
Now that is clever. Never would of thunk. thanks for sharing.
Jim

[Randy]

You're welcome Jim...hope it comes in handy some day !

Best,

Randy

[Arutha]

What a great device, thanks for sharing that Randy
Paul.

[Randy]

You're welcome Paul !

Best,
Randy

[willofiam]

Hey Randy, I wanted to wait to post about this as I knew I had a full plate movement to work on. I made a clip similar to what you have shown, It worked great, made life a whole lot easier, Funny how simple a tool or technique can work so well. Thank you for the great idea. William

[Randy]

Glad to hear that William..sometimes it's just the simplest of tools or techniques !!..

Best,

Randy

[Bamadadof3]

Great little tool! I use a small bit of rodico pushed down in the balance hole them I stick the pallet fork into the rodico and it holds it perfectly in place. After assembly simply pull the rodico out of the hole making sure you don't leave any behind! This tool solves the problem without having to worry about leftover rodico. Thanks for sharing!

Glenn

[Randy]

I did that myself Glenn,..before I stumbled onto this in my dad's stuff.
I finally realized what it was ....it is handy

Best

Randy

[Hank7421]

Thanks for sharing that valuable information with us Randy. I can't wait to make one for myself. This has been a sore spot with me in the past and hopefully this will change that. Great tip.
Hank

[Randy]

You're welcome Hank..it's a handy tool and simple to make

All the best

Randy

[Dave Booth]

I KNEW I was saving all those old broken mainsprings for a reason! That is a great idea. Thanks for the tip.