A not so nice Elgin 7-jewel movement

This movement is one of 16,000 caliber 430 movements made in 1927. While American movements of the era were often beautifully made, this 7-jewel product is a little less than perfect! All the more surprising considering that it came inside a nice 14K solid gold tonneau-style case.



This image was Photoshopped to bring out the machining marks. The body seems to have been cut too thin. As a result, the arc-shaped marks near the center were not removed by the tool that cut the circumferential decoration lines seen clearly at right. Whoever stamped the serial number must have been to Hollywood and liked it.




In this topside view, we see some really rough machining in the train wheel area and the barrel recess is not so pretty either. I'm willing to bet that the scratch in the barrel area came with the watch! At top right, the hole chamfers are uneven and obviously done by hand with, presumably, a drill bit. The "decoration" around the edge does nothing for me. Pearlage it ain't.




Under the power bridge we find more poor machining and another Hollywood-style serial number. Observe the de-burring which exhibits that classic waviness resulting from the hurried application of a sharp blade of some sort.




Here, a cutter has skipped it's way around the edge of the power bridge and even the chamfer is somewhat uneven. Too much pressure on the tool? Too low a speed causing vibration?




At top left, there is a blued set lever screw looking very out of place. Blued screws are usually found on high-quality movements and then, normally, all of them are blued. Makes ya wonder. At right, more amateurish de-burring can be seen.

My guess is that, for a run of 16,000 cal.430 movements alone, the factory was hard-pressed to keep up production. Or maybe it was a new hire.

Best regards,
xpatUSA

temporary test II

This post has auto line feeds turned on.
it should add one br for one return

and two br's for two

The preview's selection source shows br's added correctly w/no extras

The post's selection source shows the same. Therefore, with auto line
feeding turned off, WYS is not WYG !!

temporary test

This post has auto line breaks turned off
therefore, there should be no br's in this post

UNFORTUNATELY, THE PREVIEW FUNCTION PUTS THEM IN

EVEN THOUGH THEY DO NOT APPEAR IN THE ACTUAL POST

Lume wabi-sabi, is it good or bad?

When a reference is made to wabi in these fora, it is usually made with respect to the external aspects of a watch - a dinged-up body, scratched crystal, a repair and so forth. The word itself derives from the Japanese phrase wabi-sabi, see Wikipedia here.

"Wikepedia" wrote:

Wabi . . . . . can also refer to quirks and anomalies arising from the process of construction, which add uniqueness and elegance to the object. Sabi is beauty or serenity that comes with age, when the life of the object and its impermanence are evidenced in it's patina and wear, or in any visible repairs.

Which brings me to lume on old watches. Here, utility conflicts directly with sabi, because most old lume doesn't glow much, if at all. Radium itself lasts a long, long time, but it's radiation does kill the phosphor in most paints of the era. Promethium barely lasts a couple of years. Tritium lasts longer but is still getting quite faint after 20+ years. Now some people want their lume to glow, whatever the age of the watch, and often have their watches re-lumed with modern stuff like SuperLuminova - while others consider that to be heretical. Here's a couple of 80 year-old watches that illustrate the difference:

At left is a re-lume using what looks like Luminova, color code C3 green. At right is the same model with it's original lume, a sort of faded mustard color.

Both have wabi, the lume having been applied by hand. At left, there is also a little sabi because a re-lume is, after all, a repair. At right, sabi positively abounds, IMHO: the fading of the lume color, the pieces of lume missing from the hands, the different hue of the lume on the hands.
So, if you owned both watches and they were equal in all other respects, which one would you prefer?

Best regards,

xpatUSA

Hamilton 987 movement revealed

Modern movements are mostly mass-produced - in fact, it has been said that some are untouched by human hand.  While the technology and the use of exotic materials has progressed indeed, there is something enduring about a movement made the "old-fashioned" way.  In the first half of the 20th century, Hamilton was in the forefront of American watch manufacture.  This 987 movement was made at the very beginning of the Great Depression.  Although it is a production-line movement, it does show considerable attention to detail.  The size is 6/0 which makes it just about 1" diameter (see a good explanation here).

The dial side of the body is decorated with pearlage, done by hand.  The serial number 4092105 dates the movement to 1929 or 1930.  There are three holes for the dial posts as opposed to only two on later movements.  The cross-headed brass heads are for adjusting the lever banking pins.  The balance pivot cap jewel can be seen just below, held by two tiny countersunk screws - later movements use just one.  On the minus side, there is an off-center staking on the pallet pivot jewel and the balance pivot cap seems to have taken a hit :-(

The top side is also decorated with pearlage.  The banking pins are eccentric which allows the banking to be adjusted merely by turning the screws - instead of the tedious shaving or staking used on modern watches where the banking is formed as an integral part of the pallet bridge.  Other watches have bendable posts which can snap and, when bent, become out-of-square with the pallet lever unless you do it correctly which is really, really difficult.

Here we see the côtes de geneve decoration on the bridges.  The machining on the two wheels is beautifully done with beveling and undercutting plus that nice helical effect.  Not sure of the correct term but it's done by scribing from the center radially outward while the wheel is turned at constant speed.  The jewels are held in chatons, including the center-wheel jewel which is quite unusual.  The engraving was filled with black enamel originally, most of it gone now.

The keyless work is simplicity itself and shows it's pocket watch origins - no pesky wire springs or pressed tin here!!  The minute wheel shows little sign of wear for a 80-year old watch.

The pallet lever bridge is shaped symmetrically and the stamped numbers match the serial number marked on the movement body.  These movements are from an era when parts were tweaked to fit together during manufacture, as opposed to being assembled from fully interchangeable parts.  Hence the need to match numbers in a similar way to other machinery such as handguns or rifles where "matched numbers" are de rigeur.

Sorry about the poor shot of the pallet lever.  The lever is pretty plain compared to the rest of the movement - no beveling, for example.  The shaft appears to be bent but it will be left as-is.  It is so easy to "repair" a perceived problem only to find that the movement stops working!  So, unless escapement mis-locking occurs, it will be left alone.

The balance cock is held firmly in place with three posts as opposed to the more modern two.  The hairspring is of blued spring steel and, as such, is affected by temperature.  This is offset to an extent by the temperature-compensated bi-metallic balance rim.  The rim also has four timing adjustment screws; there is a small scratch on one of the arms where someone slipped while making an adjustment.  Matching numbers, of course ;-)

Best regards,

xpatUSA

Art Deco on an eBay Hamilton

Saw this nice-looking Hamilton on eBay and was lucky enough to win it. When it arrived the Art Deco influence was quite obvious. The phrase "Art Deco" was derived from a 1925 Paris exhibition - the "Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes" - see here for more about that. Art Deco succeeded the Art Nouveau movement which was full of natural motifs e.g. vines, flowers and leaves and such. This watch dates from 1929 or 1930, according to the 987 movement serial number.

Above we see a square watch body, softened by rounded corners. This follows the Deco style of using basic geometric figures. This body style is repeated both in the minutes and the seconds chapter rings. However, the hands and the blocky hour markers owe more to the first world war than to the Art Deco movement, I think. Also, the Hamilton logo font itself is more reminiscent of the late industrial 1800's.

However, Art Deco returns when we move to the seconds sub-dial. The long markers and the angled fonts combine to form an implied 'sunburst' effect. The effect fails to an extent, because the font does not expand outwards which is why I say "implied". In this close-up view of the dial screen-printing it is clear that the technology of the time has room for improvement.

In this angled view, we see the parallel linear motifs on the side of the body, the motifs being very common in Art Deco - mimicking radiator grilles, speaker grilles, stiffening ribs on aeroplane skins and other 'modern' looking stuff.

Here we see another view of the side showing the 3 lines which are actual formed by a groove in the body and the two lines where the body joins with the bezel and the caseback.

Another popular Art Deco motif is the "ziggurat" which means a form whose cross-section is that of a staircase. Here a ziggurat is plainly visible on a lug. Ziggurats are found on other watches of the period, more usually in the form of step-sided bodies - a device to accomodate round movements into rectangular bodies, viz. Bulovas.

This watch was not running when received. However, while taking these pictures, it got dropped on the bench and has been running well ever since!

Best regards,

xpatUSA

Altus Military Revival

Having moved the bench out to the property, watch work has recommenced! Altus is a brand name of the Swiss Glycine Watch Company. Glycine is also the maker of the well-known "Airman" series of watches. This Altus watch was made for the US military in the late 1980's. It has been revived, rather than restored, from bits and pieces from the period.


The original body and dial were in excellent shape. A new generic crystal was fitted and the hands, not original to the watch, were repainted in enamel to match the existing hour markers. The crown logo is indeed that of the Glycine Watch Co.


The crown is from a Hamilton military watch and is quite similar to the original except for it's somewhat finer milling. The excellent condition of the body is visible in this view, as are the scratches put near 6 on the crystal during an epic battle with my Indian-made claw-type installation tool.


The original movement had a broken KIF anti-shock spring on the body and the center wheel jewel was missing from the bridge. A generic ETA 2801-2 bridge was fitted and a complete body taken from a Stocker and Yale 490. A new mainspring was installed. When cleaned, oiled and assembled, the watch ran very reluctantly, requiring a lot of jiggling. In the end, a balance from the Stocker and Yale fixed that little problem.


The back shows the marks required by the 1986 Contract specification, which was likely based on the extant GG-W-113 specification. Like many watches of the period, the satin finish has been marred slightly by the supplied nylon strap.


For these watches and many of the period, 16mm woven nylon straps were supplied which were quite a loose fit in the 3/4" lug spacing. This watch has been fitted with a reproduction 18mm olive drab strap which is a much better fit IMHO.

Best regards,

xpatUSA