Fixing Old Coin Silver S18 Case

[jdrichard]

Working on an 1885 Illinois Pocket Watch and it’s case back does not close properly. I think it was pulled back beyond spec at some time in its 150 years. Does anyone have any advice on how to get the lid back into place. Here are the pictures. Thanks

JD

[watchweasol]

Hi JD   I guess the only way is to remove the hinge pin and seperate the the case into its individual parts and the realign the hinge . probably have to anneal the hinge assy as the silver will be old and hard to avoid breakage.

[clockboy]

I would guess the hinge is the culprit as watchweasol suggests remove the pin from the hinge (or do I see some soldering) but anyway remove and test. 

[oldhippy]

Some of these pocket watch cases have springs fitted inside the case, you press down on the button and they open, the spring might be also at fault, but normally it's a strain on the silver hinge or even a split. A job for a silversmith.  

[jdrichard]

On 7/9/2021 at 8:20 AM, oldhippy said:

Some of these pocket watch cases have springs fitted inside the case, you press down on the button and they open, the spring might be also at fault, but normally it's a strain on the silver hinge or even a split. A job for a silversmith.  

Likely better to source a new case as repairing This case is beyond my abilities to repair at the moment. What I don’t want to do is get too curious and become a silver smith:). I’ll look at it a bit closer.

[oldhippy]

You'll have a hard job finding another case to fit. 

[MechanicMike]

I'm with clockboy. Try a little soldering! Tinker...think. fix it! You're a retired engineer. Hey if you can cut out a paper balance wheel template to test a balance staff, you can hammer and solder a watch case hinge

I used a an old spring pin once to fix a hinge. It worked. I'm no silversmith either..

[jdrichard]

2 minutes ago, MechanicMike said:

I'm with clockboy. Try a little soldering! Tinker...think. fix it! You're a retired engineer. Hey if you can cut out a paper balance wheel template to test a balance staff, you can hammer and solder a watch case hinge

I used a an old spring pin once to fix a hinge. It worked. I'm no silversmith either..

If this was my watch, no issue. The problem is that it is not and I would want to practice a lot before attempting this repair.

[MechanicMike]

1 minute ago, jdrichard said:

If this was my watch, no issue. The problem is that it is not and I would want to practice a lot before attempting this repair.

Agreed..of course.