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Removing the Hour Wheel and Cannon Pinion
Under the dial, in the center, you will notice a brass gear. This gear is called the "hour wheel". Sometimes this gear will have a small gold-leaf ring sitting loosely on it. Take your tweezers and remove the gear (and the ring if present). It should slide right off. Put it in your parts tray. After removing the hour wheel, you will notice another smaller gear attached to a small shaft. This is called the "Cannon Pinion". The "cannon pinion" is hollow in the center and fits tightly over a post. Removing it can be a bit tricky because it is usually held firmly in place. Use a small hand vice and tighten it over the shaft of the cannon pinion, being careful not to bend the underlying post, and gently but firmly pull it off. If you don't have a hand vice, try needle nose pliers, but be gentle... the cannon pinion is easy to break (or lose). Place it in the parts tray. If you pry under the gears of the cannon pinion with a screwdriver, you will have problems... it will zing off to never be found, or it will break, or will break the hour pinion post.
NOTE: NOW IS THE TIME TO WORK ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WATCH. DO NOT TURN IT OVER AND SET IT ON A FLAT SURFACE. YOU WILL NOTICE THAT THE SECOND HAND POST AND THE HOUR HAND POST ARE PROTRUDING FROM THE TOP "PILLAR" PLATE. IF YOU TURN IT OVER AND START WORKING, YOU WILL SNAP THE POSTS OFF. YOU NEED TO DRILL A HOLE IN A PIECE OF WOOD THAT IS SMALL ENOUGH TO SUPPORT THE MOVEMENT BUT LARGE ENOUGH WHERE THESE POSTS DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING.
Place the movement "Pillar Plate" down on a movement holder. You will notice that the back of the watch is segmented into 2 or 3 (sometimes up to 6) pieces of flat metal with holes in them holding gears and what-not in place. These are called "Bridges". Locate the bridge that houses the "mainspring barrel" as described earlier. Usually it has two shiny winding gears attached to it (a large gear and a smaller gear). Older movements may not have these two gears. If after inspecting the back of the watch you can only see ONE large plate (i.e. no bridges) it may be necessary to remove the "Balance" FIRST. The balance is the round gyro-like gear with a tiny spring in the center that swings back and forth. (read section on balance). Anyway, back to the barrel-bridge; remove the screws that hold this bridge in place. There are usually places along the bottom edge of the bridge that are notched specifically for prying with a screwdriver. **READ THE LAST SENTENCE OF THIS PARAGRAPH FRIST... THEN PROCEED*** Gently pry the bridge loose. You may have to remove the case screws to be successful (Case Screws are screws that held the movement into the case.. as described earlier). Do not force it. When taking a movement apart, all I can say is that common sense needs to be used. With so many watch designs out there, you may notice that you need to remove the next bridge in order to get a gear out of the way to get at the part you are after. Go Slow and make note of the order that things are removed. A GOOD IDEA IS TO DRAW LITTLE DIAGRAMS OF THE POSITIONING OF THE GEARS ETC. When you get the barrel-bridge out, place it with the corresponding screws in the next section of the parts tray. Underneath this bridge, you will notice two small gears that fit together. One is the "winding pinion" and the other is the "clutch wheel". These gears are what sets the watch. On old pocket watches, it is common that they don't come out Leave them installed. In wrist watches, they will fall out unless the stem/crown is installed. You may want to insert the stem and tighten the little screw that holds the stem in before removing the barrel bridge. Reinstalling these little gears takes patience.!
Moving on to the next bridge, which is called the "Train Bridge". Remove the screws holding it in place and gently pry it loose. Remove it. This will expose a number of gears. Take a minute to examine the gears to see where they go, and how they are situated. You may want to get a pencil and pad and sketch their arrangement. The gears overlap and you will notice that there is an orderly way to remove them. Remove them carefully and place them in separate compartments of the parts tray. There may be more bridges holding other gears. Remove them, and place the parts in the parts tray. Remember the above rule... observe first, then remove the parts in an orderly fashion. Make mental notes of how the parts are situated.
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