Tmuir

Remember a compass is also a small magnet. If you place a Ferris or item that can be magnetized near the compass the magnet will try to move towards it. So the compass pointing at is isn't saying it is necessarily magnetized, just that it can be magnetized. This is why to use a compass you need to walk away from any large Ferris objects, and definitely don't try to use it under or near any high voltage transmission lines. I agree a compass is of no value to work out if an item is magnetized. For your screwdrivers and tweezers if the small watch screws or click springs

That is pretty common. I bought mine without the let down winders and bought them separately off ebay as it saved me about $50 doing it that way.

How long is a piece of string? By that I mean yes if you are talking about regular fusee clocks, no if you are talking about giant fusee clocks that used to be in big train stations. A few months back I was shown a fusee clock under repair that used to be at Fremantle train station in Western Australia. That one had a barrel that was over 10cm high. To remove that mainspring they essentially had to make up tools so they could turn their lathe into a large hand operated mainspring winder.

I have that book, it does not give a parts diagram or specification for A17, only the photo of 1 watch that it says is non-waterproof. It's hard to say for sure but looking at the pictures it does not appear to have a crown tube, unlike the A-11 that definitely does. If you are interested in military timepieces made in the USA this is definitely the best book in the subject though.

Dear God!!!

I actually still haven't finished fixing mine, other projects and life has got in the way. I started to make a new barrel, but haven't finished it. You can read what I did here. https://www.watchrepairtalk.com/topic/10659-tame-side-fusee-clock-in-need-of-tlc/?tab=comments#comment-96373 I also made myself a tool so I could measure the inside distance of the old barrel to work out the size I needed to make the new barrel. I could of gotten away without making it, but it was another easy project for a weekend. https://www.watchrepairtalk.com/topic/11262-barrel-id-mea

Pull it apart, this is what will be on the inside. Here was the crack on the barrel on my Tameside.

Also check the barrel for cracks, it is just pressed out of sheet brass and they have a tendency to split and if it has you will need to see to this before putting the spring back in.

Archie Perkin's Book 'The Modern watchmakers Lathe and How to Use it' Page 87 to 92 goes through the process to replace this. He mentions to center punch it whilst holding it in a V blot with cardboard between the V block and the spindle and then to drill it out. So unlike the spindle it's not hardened. He then also goes into the process to make a new one. If you don't have this book and want to fix the lather I recommend getting a copy

The soft solder on the mainspring barrel cover worries me a bit, it's the calling card of a 'bodger' having worked on the clock in the past, that and all the chewed up screwheads

I've not seen it done on an escape wheel before but have seen it done on otherer wheels in clocks. You cut out a wedge shape, like a dovetail in woodwork and soft solder in a new bit of brass and file it to shape, but for an escape wheel there is very little tolerance for error. Another option might be to try with a square file file down the tooth across the side of the wheel until you have removed all the broken part but still left the small amount of good tooth and soft solder in some brass sheet that fits the profile exactly left by the square file and using what is of the origina

Wait to you have your first go at making a balance staff from scratch and you have spent 6 hours on it and as you take the final pass for the roller jewel to give a good friction fit your son comes into the room to ask you a question and distracts you and you accidentally take off 0.02mm too much and the friction fit for the roller jewel changes to a sliding fit. Then you part off, put it in your collection of failed staffs and start again..............

Congratulations in getting the stopwatch running again, fitting a balance staff is not easy. It looks like you got away with it this time, but generally closing the hole on a balance wheel to fit the staff is not good practice as you can't control how the hole closes in and this can end up with the balance staff being off center and put your wheel out of balance. I guessing we won't be timing the Olympics with this stop watch so it probably won't matter but I wouldn't recommend doing this on a watch you plan to use to keep good time.

That is a Breguet Hairspring, basically it is superior to one that just spirals out. Have a read of these sites. https://www.buzzufy.com/blog/2018/09/24/the-breguet-or-overcoil-hairspring/ https://www.breguet.com/en/history/inventions/breguet-balance-spring

I think you pretty much got them all, although I think the hands are correct and I don't think the dial is refinished, just not the correct dial for a military issue 580. All my references do not show the hint of the 6 that is present on the dial on the watch, so I don't think its the correct dial. I have a whole box of NOS spare parts for Elgin Military watches but have yet to manage to get myself a watch to work on, mainly because 90% of all the watches I see are like this one. I just want an honest original one that needs some TLC.