Waltham 1908 Model

This is a 16 size, 7 jewel Waltham movement.

Overwound

Here's a thread on Google+ relating to mainsprings and winding a watch.

https://plus.google.com/u/0/104405056094644812060/posts/U93dva8Sp3w

More here:

http://elgintime.blogspot.com/2013/06/when-is-watch-over-wound.html

And here:

http://elgintime.blogspot.com/2013/01/pocketwatch-over-wound.html

This is an idea as old as watches, and it will probably never go away.

The House of Wonders

The mighty Elgin watch factory...

Elgin Grade 345

Here are a couple of close-ups of an Elgin grade 345 movement, not completely assembled.

This is a 12 size watch movement, 17 jewels, this one made about 1927.

An Animated Elgin Grade 303

Here's another Google+ Auto Awesome animation of a balance wheel in motion.

Elgin Grade 303 and Why a Watch Needs Cleaning

This center wheel from a 12 size Elgin  grade 303 pocketwatch  shows the reason it's not a good a idea to run a watch without proper service to clean and change the lubrication.   The upper pivot on the center wheel is very badly grooved - all cut away on the side.  This happens because of grit in the pivot slowly wearing away at this part as it rotates once every hour for who knows how long.  Eventually this would stop the watch.

I think about this every time I read about a watch "runs just fine."  I'm sure this one ran just fine too.  But now this part has to be replaced.

Elgin Grade 303 Animation

This is the balance wheel of an Elgin grade 303 movement.

It a 12 size movement, fairly common, having 7 jewels.  This one was made about 1919.

Elgin sold an awful lot of these.