This one started out on an auspicious note, with a broken off case screws. The watch had a broken balance staff, so I suspect the impact that broke the staff also popped the screw head off.
Fortunately the body of the screw came out easily.
Many older Elgin watches have nice details that in later years were dropped from entry and midrange products, for example finish work. This watch has polish and grain added to even a simple part like the click.
This grade is one of those with a male winding arbor. The post goes into a square hole in the stem of the case. Cases like this are extremely rare.
This movement is Elgin's grade 4, 16 size, 15 jewels, made about 1884.
It's hard to see but there are watchmaker's marks on the base plate. These are usually found on the case, especially inside the back. But I have seen them a few times on parts of the watch.
These marks were made by people that serviced the watch. They have no standardized meanings, although these are pretty obviously a date and initials.
The watch needed a balance staff. It's not unusual to have to alter a replacement staff slightly to work, even with absolutely "correct" factory parts. It's usually the pivots though. On this one the lower body of the staff was way too large for the roller table - way too large. I had to cut it down quite a bit. I'm not sure what the deal was with that, but it worked fine in the end.
The old staff, cut off, and the replacement...
Installing the roller table...
Ticking...
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