New Arrival

This Elgin will have to be send off for a bezel and crystal, before mechanical service...

New Arrival

Here's a nice 12 size Illinois in for service.

New Arrival

Notice the dial on this watch is small relative to the diameter of the case.

This movement is 6 size, in a "stretch case" that makes it more like 12 size watch, but of course thinner.

New Arrival

Album here…

Job Number 180109

This is a "before" image. There quite a bit of rust on the hands, and the paint on the dial is marked.

It's possible that this watch was without a crystal for a while, although it has one now. I also see corrosion like this on hands as a result of degassing of some early plastic crystals. These crystals typically turn very yellow, blue or green as they give off a corrosive gas that damages the watch. The crystal on this watch is fine, but it may not be the original one.

This watch is a Lord Elgin model, 21 jewels, one of Elgin's popular 10 size, thin, designs from the the 1940s and early '50s. I like these. They run well and have a nice look.

Job Number 180108

This is a grade 169, 18 size, 15 jewels, made about 1897.

It's a nice watch but the really interesting thing is the case.

The case is marked "Invisible Joint Case Company". These are scarce.

The case is designed so that the hinged parts fit very snug, making the joint "invisible". The hinge is cleverly internal so it does not show at all.

It is not known exactly who made these cases. There is evidence of them coming from more than one existing case factory.

Job Number 180110

This is a grade 298, 0 size, 7 jewels, made about 1914.

Probably my least favorite task in vintage watchrepair is getting pocketwatch cases to work correctly. The issues fall under a category I like to call “they don’t them like they used to, for good reason”.

Most stem-setting vintage American watches are “negative setting” meaning that the snap action of the crown is actually a function of the case. The neck of the case includes a sleeve spring and a stem. The crown threads onto the stem. pulling the crown out snaps over a shoulder in the stem over the fingers of the sleeve, and the watch pushes the stem out, going into setting mode.

For this to work, the inward position has to leave the stem far enough into the movement to engage winding, but not too far, while the outward position has to engage setting. The crown has to fit over the neck of the case and under to bow. And the threads on the stem have to match the crown, as the square end has to match the movement. The sleeve is threaded into the neck so its depth can be adjusted but that’s it. None of this is standardized. American watch companies in general did not made cases. People bought cases separately and retail watchmakers fit the movement in. It’s not unusual for stems to be hand made.

Finding these parts is getting really difficult.

This watch came to me without a crown, and the threads on the stem are stripped. I could not find a perfect match to replace the stem but I found one close. Using the lathe and other tools I modified the replacement to work. The part prior to modification is shown here.

Find out more about pocketwatch cases, and positive and negative setting systems here.

The crown I want to use on this watch needed a larger hole with new threads. This tool, with a set of different size cutters and taps, makes a nice straight and depth controlled hole in the crown.

With the movement cased up, new stem and crown in place, I’ll test the watch for several days in different positions for rate.

Of course I leave out all the gory details in these posts. This took quite awhile. I broke the first candidate stem while just finishing it up, and had to hunt for another close match. Very frustrating…

See the complete album for this project here.

New Arrival

A nice 16 size B.W. Raymond model in for service...

New Site!

Given the fate of Google+, future daily watch project images and updates will be posted here:
https://pluspora.com/people/982fc890ad7301364692005056268def

There isn't much there yet, but it will grow in the days to come.

This blog will continue however to host summery posts on each project. These summary posts come less frequently.

Thanks!

Job Number 180107

Here's a Trenton pocketwatch that has a special story.

This watch was given to my Grandfather by his instructor, William Samelius, at the Elgin Watch College.

William Samelius was well known at the time as a watchmaker and educator. He was referred to as "The Dean of American Watchmaking". Students at the college referred to him as "Ol' Bill".

William Samelius made quite an impression on my Grandfather. He spoke of his teacher often.

The back of the watch has the initials WHS and "No 12" engraved.

See the entire album for this project here.

ES034

Job Number 180106

This 16 size, 17 jewel Hamilton is a pretty nice watch for being rather basic as far as Hamiltons go. It was made about 1918.

See the entire album for this project here.

It took me a couple days to get the winding/setting mechanism to work well. One of the flat spring wanted to hop up over the pin it pushes on. Also, there was quite a bit of play over all just due to wear.

I finally got things to work by putting very slight bends in a couple of the springs with the staking set. Tricky to get right...