WatchTech

And yes, I'm aware that factories sometimes Epilame all parts in a movement, but they have a couple things going for them that the practicing watchmaker doesn't have. 1.) They don't use the same type of Epilame that you and I have.  2.) The know precisely how much "Epilame" is on the parts before they apply it: Zero.

The best practice for Epilame in service is to change it often, in part because the solution it is suspended in evaporates very quickly, so the concentration is quickly changing every time you open the jar.  When they Epilame becomes overly concentrated, it will leave a build up on the parts which can "bunch up" and rub off.  Not a huge problem for pallet stones so much, but for reversers this can be a problem.  For pivots that are not lubricated (like pallet fork pivots), even more so.  

This is doubly troublesome in part because of the tendency of Epilame to resist the normal cleaning procedures employed by watchmakers to clean movement parts.  The manufacturer claim on the subject is, "One application will last between one and ten cleaning cycles."  (From memory, I don't have it in front of me.)  Read that again, "between one and ten".  That means they have no idea how long it will stay on.  If it really does stay on for ten cleaning cycles and that watch is Epilamed each time it's serviced, it may have a very large build up of Epilame on certain components after a few service cycles.  This is bad because of the reasons listed above.  

The only ways that I'm aware of to reliable remove Epilame is with an aggressive solvent like trichloroethylene (One Dip) or acetone (not as effective, but it works).  I'd recommend using something like this to "strip" the old Epilame off every time you plan to Epilame reversing wheels.  

_john

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