Adjusting a 1926 Two-Tone Illinois 89 18s Pocket Watch to 6 Positions
I didn’t intend for this blog to be an homage to all things Illinois, but it has happened. Here’s another Illinois pocket watch—the last for a few posts, I swear…. Read more »
Category: Example Watches
Adjusting a Greasy 1918 Waltham 645 16s Pocket Watch to 6 Positions: On Motor Barrels and Motor Oil
Although eBay is the wellspring from which grimy pocket watches flow, I fish in a few smaller rivers. A local, family-run coin shop gets a surprising number of broken and… Read more »
Adjusting a 1913 Illinois 69 18s Pocket Watch to 6 Positions: Big is Beautiful
After working on a couple Elgin watches, as nice as they are, it’s time to get back to basics. My unseemly stash of Illinois watches has been glaring at me,… Read more »
Adjusting a 1924 Elgin 315 12s Pocket Watch to 5 Positions
Nothing brings people together like being stuck in a boring committee at work. And when people are brought together, in my experience, they inevitably end up talking about old watches…. Read more »
Adjusting an 1890 Elgin Grade 75 18s Pocket Watch to 3 Positions
I haven’t done a post on an Elgin watch yet, but there’s no dark animus behind it. Elgin watches don’t get the love they should. Although I prefer Illinois watches,… Read more »
Repairing a Chinese Seagull Automatic “Stuhrling Original” Watch: Buyer Beware
Just as doctors always get asked to check out your hideous rash, watchmakers always get asked to check out your broken watch. That’s why this blog is deviating from its… Read more »
Adjusting an Illinois “Santa Fe Special” 12s Pocket Watch, Part 2: Positional Adjustments
In Part 1, we repaired and serviced an Illinois 12s “Santa Fe Special.” This nice little pocket watch had fallen on hard times, with cracked jewels, a mangled hairspring, and… Read more »
Adjusting a 1937 Hamilton 980 “Clark” Wristwatch to Six Positions
Watch collectors aren’t as obsessive as home chefs or Paleo dieters when it comes to blogging, but we’re close. Of the many watch blogs, one of my favorites is Dan’s… Read more »
Adjusting an Illinois “Santa Fe Special” 12s Pocket Watch, Part 1: Repairs & Service
I rarely buy working watches—repairing and adjusting them is the fun part—but sometimes they are broken in quirky and comical ways. When you bottom-feed on eBay, you never know what… Read more »
Adjusting a 1925 Hamilton 912 12s Pocket Watch to 6 Positions: On Patience and Perfection
When this watch was made, thin was in. Pocket watches were toward the end of a long swing in consumers’ size preferences. In the beginning there were huge 18-size full-plate… Read more »