This Elgin 18s pocket watch from 1911 is a family heirloom. Passed-down from multiple generations, it has great meaning to its owner. It came to me after sitting with another watchmaker for almost a year as I understand it, with many intermediate come-backs where it was stated as fixed, then it failed. The mainspring was changed in the watch “to a heavier one” and another part replaced. The watch failed again about two months ago. The owner brought it back to the watchmaker who, I was told, gave-up on the watch and refunded all of the customer’s money. After doing some research, the owner found me and asked if I could work on the watch. First, we see the roller jewel, a crucial component, is completely missing. Either it broke and disintegrated or fell-out. Note that if you put a mainspring that is too strong into a watch, the roller jewel swings more than 360 degrees and slams back into the pallet/banking pins and if this happens regularly the roller jewel can fall-out or break. Other things can cause this to happen— simple failure of the shellac holding it. Next, we see that the hairspring is making full-contact with the balance cock— always bad. The hairspring is also bent, a common theme. Next, we see the hands were not lined-up and installed properly. We see there is debris in the movement, this could be from the owner but note I saw it inside the balance wheel jewel area. Finally, we see that the dial washer, the shiny brass part, was not replaced— it should be curved-upwards and flexible, not smashed down— a lack of attention to detail. I restore these watches once and do them with advanced full visibility into their running condition, to the best of my abilities and with quantifiable results driven by deep inspection. This isn’t a quick fix. And seen here, when you look at service duration and outcome, shortcuts and quick fixes can take forever or more.
