How To Set An Elgin Pocket Watch
Phillipp Schneeberger
i found this watch in second hand shop and would like to repair it. The hands are moving but not able to open the case. Also the watch is not working. If anyone knows how to open it please let me know.
There is usually a cavity somewhere on the seam, where you can insert a utility knife into to cack the back open. If not insert a safety razor into the seam work it around the case to widen the gap, then use a knife blade to crack open.
Before you try cracking the back open with the knife method try unscrewing first. Because if you insert the knife method on a screw back and get the thing cross threaded you're in big trouble. Usually if it's a pop off back there will be some sort of indication of where the knife goes. Occasionally overenthusiastic people will attempt to pry a screw back off and you will have Markings which look like the back should pop off but it doesn't.
That's because the front screws off and the back screws off leaving the middle which is holding the watch. Just hold onto the middle and attempt the screw the back or the front off a lot of times they are on really tight.
Then the sticky ball works really well and there's a few other things that can be used August have to find pictures the other ones if you're still having problems. But sticky ball does work really well for grabbing the back. Sometimes it works on the front you have to be careful that the crystal doesn't decide to come out.
A really nice website for American pocket watches once you have a serial number is found at the link below. Also nice with Elgin watches the parts list is available there. I don't suppose you can get another picture of the movement preferably the angle? It may just be a lighting issue but I'm not seeing the hairspring for the balance wheel? I can see the stud it still there somebody rotated the regulator all the way to one extreme is interesting?. They hairspring may be hiding under the balance bridge but it's I'm not seeing it?
Yes that is a problem but unlike when I try to point out that swapping hairsprings is a bad idea and it typically falls on deaf ears on this group this is an American pocket watch. Providing nothing else is wrong and if the hairspring truly is missing it's not like it fell out all by itself which then makes other things suspicious that they could be bad. But providing it's the only thing that's gone missing in this watch it can be replaced. American pocket watches were some of a few watches that hairsprings are available as a separate component. Although finding one and the associated timing screws to bring it in to time will be an interesting challenge but not impossible.
Then it's a shame it wasn't a 16 size? 16 size is a much better watch to start playing with 18 size has some interesting challenges but still a watch somebody can still taken apart with caution and before the original poster does so I will explain some cautions before taking it apart to avoid unpleasant surprises and damage.
If you look at the link of the pocketwatch database for the serial number and you go to the parts list you can go to Springs and I snipped out an image. So we have an Elgin part number and a strength as an added bonus you click on the part number and you get this link
Fortunately it looks like that particular hairspring goes in a lot of different watches. That's the good news the bad news is we still have to find one and you're going to have to play with the screws to bring it in to time. When I get a chance I'll go look at my Elgin parts catalog and see what it says about the hairspring if there's any other additional information.
Then that is assuming that it just needs a hairspring and that it doesn't have a broken balance staff more than likely it's going to need a main spraying and if you're lucky that's all that's going to be wrong with. I don't like when parts are missing like any parts it suggests other things could be missing were not even right. As one of the cautions of buying off of eBay it might look nice and pretty in the picture but in real life that doesn't always agree with the pictures. On the other hand the watch that I bought that wasn't quite what should be scrapped for parts because I really needed one of the parts off the watch so it worked out at the end.
Cool! So it looks like this could be nowhere near impossible. I was thinking that, being an Elgin from that time period, there could still be quite a number left, meaning several with a similar balance and hairspring. There was a time when America was cranking out a boatload of these makes. Good news.
Cool! So it looks like this could be nowhere near impossible. I was thinking that, being an Elgin from that time period, there could still be quite a number left, meaning several with a similar balance and hairspring.
With Elgin being one of the biggest watch companies on the planet at least for a while they did make a lot of components and watches so their spare parts out there you just have to give it some time. Although changing the balance wheel complete from another watch is sometimes problematic. There was variations the balance staff pivots had variations then the escapement was set up for the balance wheel currently in the watch. Although we will hope that's the original balance wheel and somebody just didn't swap that. Fortunately most of the time on American balance wheels the serial number has been inscribed. So even though it's on a parts list it's interchangeable like the balance wheel I would try not to change that but the hairspring is another matter.
Then why were waiting for the original posting person to come back tell us what's going on in the world I'm attached some more Images of the hairspring and the timing screws that would need possibly. Then looking at all the usual sources I didn't see any hairsprings but that just means you have to have patience and wait on eBay one will show up sooner or later or a scrap watch it could Get a hairspring from.
The National Watch Company, as it was first known, introduced its first pocket watch in 1867, but the name of the maker was later changed to Elgin National Watch Company to reflect the name of the city where the watches were produced. Over the next 50 years, the company used machine-made, interchangeable parts to make high-quality pocket watches. If you're a new or experienced collector, you can find an Elgin pocket watch on eBay.
An Elgin pocket watch usually has two serial numbers. One is on the inner movement of the watch, and the other is on the case. The number on the inner movement tells you when the watch was made. After you learn to interpret the serial numbers, you can determine the age, type, grade, and quality of the watch. The company used a code, but there is a chart to help you figure it out.
Because the company made so many Elgin pocket watches, they are still relatively easy to find, and the machine-made parts, unlike handmade watches in earlier years, make them simple to repair. The Elgin company is no longer in business, so the watches will never be made again. The now-defunct business means you can buy antique Elgin pocket watches and know you are getting the real McCoy. Besides being a valued part of a collection, individual watches make interesting timepieces for everyday use. Collectors usually look at the age, the material, and the model to determine desirability. You can find a wide selection of vintage Elgin pocket watches for sale on eBay.
Railroad, or standard, watches were made to meet the standards of the railways. A railroad pocket watch was recognized as a high-end watch of its day, because engineers depended on it to make sure the growing railroad system ran on schedule. Collectors can choose between an open-faced or a hunter pocket watch. Although most hunter watches have a covering over the entire face, a few have a half-cover that makes the clock visible even when closed. Pocket watches that have engravings on the bezel or the hunter case are prized not only for their aesthetic value but also because they are easier to trace to a particular era. Various Elgin pocket watch models open slightly differently. On some, you can turn the gold outer frame and screw some watches apart. Most open, however, by pressing a small indentation on the top left of the watch and clicking it open.
Built with incredible precision, the Elgin pocket watch is perennially popular among watch enthusiasts and collectors, valued for its exquisite craftsmanship, finishes, excellent materials, jeweled movements, and a fine selection of intricate designs. As an iconic American watch brand of all time, the vintage and antique Elgin pocket watches are among the most cherished timepieces in the world, offering amazing value on the Bidsquare online auctions.
To create less expensive but elegant and innovative timepieces, Elgin endeavored to mass-produce high-quality pocket watches by assembling machine-made interchangeable parts for repair when needed. That brilliant idea, along with stem-winding mechanisms, a novelty of that time when compared to the conventional key-wind mechanisms, made it possible for the Elgin watches to be more accessible to a wider number of buyers in the vast middle-ground of the American watch market. The possibility of repairing the timepieces easily without requiring specialized skills has made the watches the most sought-after for collectors even today.
In this section, you will find a nice selection of vintage Elgin (or the earlier National Watch Co.) pocket watches that are typically considered gent's size, although in many cases would also be appropriate for a woman to carry. The Elgin watch company, out of Elgin, Illinois, was in business from 1864-1964, and while active, was the largest-producing American watch company, manufacturing an estimated half of all pocket watches ("dollar" watches not included).
The company was first incorporated in August 1864 as the National Watch Company in Chicago, Illinois, by Philo Carpenter, Howard Z. Culver, Benjamin W. Raymond, George M. Wheeler, Thomas S. Dickerson and W. Robbins. In September of the same year, the founders visited the Waltham Watch Company in Waltham, Massachusetts, and successfully convinced seven of Waltham's watchmakers to come to work for their new company.[2]
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