Stops At 12:00?

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I received the following question from a customer...

You recently repaired my Grandfather's pocket watch. It is running great. I do have a technical question for you though. I have noticed that when ever I let it run down and stop that the second hand always stops at the 12:00 position! Is this a design feature? I would imagine the odds of it being a chance are astronomical. In the couple of months I have had it back I have let it run down 8 or 10 times and the second hand is always at the 12:00 (to the second) when it stops. I have never noticed this before.

Excellent question!

When you wind the watch, the mainspring is coiled from the outer part of the barrel to tightly around the arbor in the center. This will always be same number of turns; a function of the diameter of the barrel and the length of the spring. When the watch runs, the spring unwinds and barrel turns (very slowly) the same number of revolutions that it took to wind it. Therefore, the total run-time should be consistent each full wind also.

So, it isn't surprising, all other factors being equal, that a full run-down would leave the second hand at about the same position.

I don't set the second hand in a specific position, and don't generally set the seconds to correct time unless I will be handing the watch, running, directly back to the customer. And the final stages of checking out the watch involve putting only a small amount of power on (just a turn or two, which would throw off the pattern) and making adjusts before a full wind. So the fact that it stops on the 12 position is chance.

The power provided by the mainspring is weakest when it is nearly wound down, so any tiny friction anyplace will have a more pronounced effect when the watch is nearly ready to stop anyway. In a watch that is not so freshly cleaned, or that has a weaker mainspring, or a watch
that has some tiny imperfection, or speck of dust someplace, I'd expect increased variation.

One not-so-obvious thing about watches that is more obvious once you think about it, is that the positions of the watch's internal parts have a direct relationship to, well, the time. For example, if a watch stops at a particular time in a cycle, or a certain interval, it can indicate a problem with a particular wheel - since the wheel will come around to the problem spot at consistent intervals.

My Grandfather, even in his later years, had such experience with this that he could sometimes listen to a watch and then tell me that a particular pivot, or something, had a problem based on the interval in which he could hear an aberration. Once while looking over watches I had cleaned, he listened, then told me a particular jewel has a crack. He was correct!

A Happy Customer

A customer from a couple of months ago has posted a very kind blog entry on his unusual Elgin pocketwatch.

http://www.slugsite.com/archives/1116

It's great to get such positive feedback!

Takes the Cake

From The American Horologist magazine, November 1938, in Do You Know by W. H. Samelius...

"Here is a watchmaker that is entitled to a large cake. Among some junk watches I found what I think is the worst case of botch work ever peretrated. It was an American watch, key winder and in place of the balance hole and cap jewels, a lead slug had been inserted and a hole drilled into the lead to support the balance pivots. The roller jewel was made of a piece of copper wire and soft soldered to the roller table. The workman evidently thought the balance was broken so he soldered both ends of the balance wheel. For balance bridge screw he used a machine screw about 5 times larger than necessary. The banking pins were cut off entirely and the center pinion was soft soldered fast to the center arbor. A small piece of brass served as a pallet stone. Instead of closing the train holes in the proper manner, he used a center punch, punching 5 0r 6 marks around each hole. Naturally, the watch did not run."

The Beginning of the End?

From The American Horologist magazine, December 1938...

No Watch Necessary

"The electric clock, once its accuracy is proved, will make all of this anxious watchfulness unnecessary. The special generator by which the clock is actuated produces an alternating current of 100,000 cycles a second, which is "de-multiplied" electrically to provide a 500-cycle supply for the dial.

"The generator is controlled by an oscillating quartz crystal contained in a chamber with a temperature kept constant to one-hundredth of a degree. The probable resultant margin of error is one in 100,000,000."

Lord Elgin and Lady Elgin Watches

From The American Horologist magazine, November 1937...

Elgin Presents Timepieces to Earl and Countess

"A gala program, broadcast on two continents, Thursday, Oct. 21st, introduced the new Lord and Lady Elgin Models.

"These watch represent the newest achievement in seven decades of American leadership in the industry. The Lord Elgin is a 21-jewel model and the Lady Elgin is a 19-jewel semi-baugette, the only watch of this type in the United States. The Lord Elgins sell from $50.00 and the Lady Elgins from $47.50.

"The Right Honerable the Earl of Elgin and Kincardine, K.T., C.M.G., and his lady, the countess of Elgin and Kincardine, were the recipients of the first watches named in their honor. They were a gift from the city of Elgin, Illinois, named for the illustrious family of the present title-bearer. The watches were presented in silver boxes enscribed with the Elgin crest, in London England, by Mr. Francis Powell, president of london's American Chamber of Commerce.

"Through the facilities of the British Broadcasting Company, Trans-Atlantic Radio and the Columbia Broadcasting System, the dedication speech of T. Albert Potter, president of the Elgin Nation Watch Company, and the expression of gratitude by Lord Elgin was heard on 50 American stations. The program was climaxed by Lord and Lady Elgin setting their watches to the "time from the stars" tonebeat - exact to hundredths of a second - radio-transmitted from the Elgin National Watch Company Observatory at Elgin, one of the thee greatest observatories in the world.

"The American broadcast emenated from the Red Lacquer Room of the Palmer House, where several hundred civic leaders, wholesale distributors and company officials banqueted. Toastmaster Harry C. Daniels, president of Elgin's Association of Commerce, traced briefly the history of Elgin through the days of Chief Blackhawk, Joliet and Marquette, to the settlement along the river in 1935, the start by a handful of skilled workmen - of the Elgin National Watch Company and the founding, in 1865, of an industry that was to attain world renown."

The Thousand Watch Project

We tend not to throw old watches away. There's something personal about them I suppose. Even cheap wristwatches are saved in a drawer someplace, for decaeds. The Thousand Watch project aims to collect 1,000 old watches, and their stories. When complete, the collection will be donated to the Smithsonian.

http://www.moskowarchitects.com/TKWP/index.html

Young Men!

From The American Horologist magazine, February 1936... Note that William Samelius's name is misspelled in this ad.

Young Men!

Learn Watchmaking

Famous Watch College Will Give You Start in This Well-Paid Field

If you are an ambitious young man over 17 and anxious to enter a fine profession, enroll in the Elgin Watch College. Limited number of openings now available. Hundreds of graduates own profitable businesses. Others make fine salaries as watchmakers for leading jewelers. College is sponsored by the Elgin National Watch Company. It offers intensive shop training under expert Elgin watchmakers. Moderate tuition. Write for full details on this unusual opportunity - Address Dept. E-1.

ELGIN WATCH COLLEGE

Founded 1921

W. H. Samelrus, Registrar Elgin, Illinois