[canmandu]

Hi. I am a newbie here and to collecting watches as well. I have wanted a pocket watch and have recently gone mad buying some of interest on the online auction site. I have found some very useful information about my watches thanks to links I read here. So far I have bought an

18s Elgin ser#3226443 in a CWCCco. case,
an 18s Elgin sidewinder ser#2694783 in a nickel-silver case by Illinois Watch Case Co.,
6s Waltham ser#5760791 in a Keystone Case Co. hunter case (with original factory paper label) 10k gold-filled,
0s Waltham ser#15651650 in a B&B Royal hunter case,
8s Ingersoll Waterbury Radiolite ser3867753 in a Supreme IWCCo. case
8s Ingersoll Waterbury ser#608170 in a case marked made for Waterbury by Illinois WCCo. Elgin

all of which are running. I have paid less than $75 for each of these and am pleased with them all. My questions are: does anyone have a source for a shop near western North Carolina (Cullowhee) to take them to be cleaned and serviced? 2) Does anyone know why the little 0s would gain more than 2 hours in time each day? and 3) what is indicated by the action skipping and making awful noises when I tried to wind it? It ran a short time and stopped. Any help is greatly appreciated I am eager to learn as much as I can (including your thoughts on these watches as novice level buys). Oh and if you have any info as to where I can approximate their values that would be great!

 

[GeneJockey]

Can't help you on finding a watchmaker in NC, but a watch gaining that much time generally has a hairspring problem. It could be tangled, it could be gummed with old oil so that two coils stick together, it could be magnetized. This is not a user-serviceable issue for a beginning collector, but generally any competent watchmaker should be able to easily diagnose the problem. if it's simple, he may be able to fix it.

Skipping and grinding during winding? Broken teeth on the bevel pinion, crown wheel or ratchet wheel, broken mainspring (especially if it seems to wind okay then you hear a click and it feels unwound again and/or it won't store enough power to run more than a short time. Again a watchmaker can generally diagnose and fix the problem.

Pocket watches are OLD, and likely haven't been lubricated in a long time. You'd be well advised not to run them until they've been serviced.

 

[RJ007]

Hi. I am a newbie here and to collecting watches as well. I have wanted a pocket watch and have recently gone mad buying some of interest on the online auction site. I have found some very useful information about my watches thanks to links I read here. So far I have bought an

18s Elgin ser#3226443 in a CWCCco. case,
an 18s Elgin sidewinder ser#2694783 in a nickel-silver case by Illinois Watch Case Co.,
6s Waltham ser#5760791 in a Keystone Case Co. hunter case (with original factory paper label) 10k gold-filled,
0s Waltham ser#15651650 in a B&B Royal hunter case,
8s Ingersoll Waterbury Radiolite ser3867753 in a Supreme IWCCo. case
8s Ingersoll Waterbury ser#608170 in a case marked made for Waterbury by Illinois WCCo. Elgin

all of which are running. I have paid less than $75 for each of these and am pleased with them all. My questions are: does anyone have a source for a shop near western North Carolina (Cullowhee) to take them to be cleaned and serviced? 2) Does anyone know why the little 0s would gain more than 2 hours in time each day? and 3) what is indicated by the action skipping and making awful noises when I tried to wind it? It ran a short time and stopped. Any help is greatly appreciated I am eager to learn as much as I can (including your thoughts on these watches as novice level buys). Oh and if you have any info as to where I can approximate their values that would be great!

Hello canman,

Welcome to the American...

Can you please post some photos of your finds?
As GeneJockey says, they probably have not been running for quite some time and need some TLC.

Do a quick Google search for watchmakers in the NC area.
It is always best to have a trusted person close by if possible
to bring them into.

Here is a quick tutorial on posting photos:

http://www.watchtalkforums.info/forums/faqs-guidelines-rules/47067.htm#post424866

 

[AbslomRob]

Hi. I am a newbie here and to collecting watches as well. I have wanted a pocket watch and have recently gone mad buying some of interest on the online auction site. I have found some very useful information about my watches thanks to links I read here. So far I have bought an

18s Elgin ser#3226443 in a CWCCco. case,
an 18s Elgin sidewinder ser#2694783 in a nickel-silver case by Illinois Watch Case Co.,
6s Waltham ser#5760791 in a Keystone Case Co. hunter case (with original factory paper label) 10k gold-filled,
0s Waltham ser#15651650 in a B&B Royal hunter case,
8s Ingersoll Waterbury Radiolite ser3867753 in a Supreme IWCCo. case
8s Ingersoll Waterbury ser#608170 in a case marked made for Waterbury by Illinois WCCo. Elgin

all of which are running. I have paid less than $75 for each of these and am pleased with them all. My questions are: does anyone have a source for a shop near western North Carolina (Cullowhee) to take them to be cleaned and serviced? 2) Does anyone know why the little 0s would gain more than 2 hours in time each day? and 3) what is indicated by the action skipping and making awful noises when I tried to wind it? It ran a short time and stopped. Any help is greatly appreciated I am eager to learn as much as I can (including your thoughts on these watches as novice level buys). Oh and if you have any info as to where I can approximate their values that would be great!

You may have trouble finding someone to work on the Ingersolls; dollar watches can be tricky to service, as they tended to be designed as "disposable". The Radiolite in particular may give some watchmakers pause, as I believe those models used a substantial amount of radium, which has a tendency to flake off the dial. That's a significant hazard for a watchmaker because of the risk of inhaling or ingesting particles.

The other four watches sound decent; the two Walthams are 7 jewel watches, which isn't very high grade but they should still run fine. 7 jewel watches are a bit more at risk of wear if they aren't kept clean and serviced properly though, and well-used examples often have their pivots worn "oval". That tends to degrade their time keeping ability. It's repairable, but usually not worth the cost if you aren't doing it yourself (and the cost of getting the equipment and learning to use it is substantial, although quite rewarding in its own right!)

Most "Sidewinders" are former hunter-case watches that have, for various reasons, "lost" their original hunter case and been placed into openface cases. The most common reason is because the original case was solid gold and the owner needed the money. I'm sure there are cases of watches being originally sold this way, but it's rare, in my (admittedly limited) experience. You can usually tell by looking carefully at the back of the watch around where the case screws on the movement hold it against the case. The screws leave scratches on the case edge. If you look around the edge, you'll often see another set of screw marks, which tells you that the case used to have a different movement in it.