Making the Elgin Grade 367 - Father Time

Take a look here for a tour of an 18 size rail road grade Elgin Father Time paocketwatch.

http://www.rdrop.com/~jsexton/watches/museum/elgin15154313.html

Install Fool-Proof Clock at Illinois

From The American Horologist magazine, October 1938

Install Fool-Proof Clock at Illinois

Champaign, Ill. - The field judge's stop-watch will be a thing of the past at Illinois football games from now on, following the installation of an electric clock in Memorial Stadium.


The time, by quarters, will be official to the fifth of a second, and spectators, as well as players and officials will be able to tell at a glance the time remaining.

The clock, with a dial 12 feet in diameter, will be operated from the sidelines. A horn will sound automatically when a quarter ends. 

From The "What is It?" Department

Here's a tool you don't see everyday. This is a watchmakers' lathe accessory known as a crown chuck. A pocketwatch crown is held in this chuck with the top facing inward (toward the stock). Caps are provided in a variety of sizes. These caps screw on holding the crown secure for lathe work on the stem end.

Why Your Watch Stops, Part 3 of 3

These images are from a vintage booklet titled "Why Your Watch Stops". See part one, here, and part 2 here.

Why Your Watch Stops, Part 2 of 3

These images are from a vintage booklet titled "Why Your Watch Stops". See part one, here and part 3 here.

Why Your Watch Stops, Part 1 of 3

These images are from a booklet titled "Why Your Watch Stops", publisher and date unknown. It's intended to assist the watchmaker in explaining problems to customers. It is probably from the late 1930s or early 1940s, judging from where I found it. The following text is from the first page. All the other pages contain only the picture, twelve pages in all.

INTRODUCTION

There are no more delicate or complicated mechanisms than the watch you carry in your pocket or on your wrist. The miniature machine shop, manufacturing and recording the fleeting minutes and hours is an amazing and facinating thing. Your watchmaker must spend many arduous years of apprenticeship before he is a qualified watchmaker. His work is a profession in the true sense of the word. Naturally such a marvelous and intricate mechanism occationally breaks down - due to rough handling, defective parts, inferior materials - or a combination of all these. You are interested in knowing what has caused your watch to stop. With this book your watchmaker can tell you - and at the same time show you what he must do to put it in good working order again. Give him your confidence - he is deserving of it.

Have Your Watch Cleaned and Oiled Once a Year . . . You Will Save Expensive and Annoying Breakdowns.

See also part 2 and part 3 for the rest of the images.

RGM 801

The latest Horological Times features a piece about an impressive new watch movement, notable not just for its workmanship, but for the fact that it is made in the United States. The new Caliber 801movement from RGM is the first watch movement made here in the US since the 1960s. There's some nice photography on their website. How much to buy one? Well, you could buy a pretty good used car instead. As they say, if you have to ask...

And while we're talking about RGM, be sure to take a look at the page on engine turning at the RGM website; here.