Pallet fork

The pallet fork is a component of the lever escapement of a mechanical watch.{{cite web | author-link = | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080622201835/http://www.timezone.com/library/horologium/horologium631673198118416858 | archive-date = 2008-06-22 | url-status = dead

In early watches the pallet fork and the lever were made as separate components and joined together. In later watches they were made as a single component as shown in the picture. The combined component is often referred to simply as the "lever". In a straight line Swiss lever type escapement, the lever is shaped like a 'T' or an anchor, which gives this escapement its alternative name of anchor escapement. The lever is pivoted in the center; in operation it rocks back and forth.{{cite web | author-link = | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080630082138/http://www.timezone.com/library/wglossary/wglossary631692132071014935 | archive-date = 2008-06-30 | url-status = dead

Under the fork there is a projecting guard pin which passes through a notch in a separate safety roller disk on the balance shaft. In normal operation it doesn't have a function. Its purpose is to make sure the fork is in the right position to receive the impulse pin if a jar to the watch prematurely 'unlocks' the lever from the escape wheel.

Mechanical alarm clocks and kitchen timers use a less accurate form of the lever in which vertical metal pins are substituted for the pallet jewels. This is called a Roskopf or pin-pallet escapement, and was previously used in cheap pin-lever watches.