Mystery Watch.

[badger]

Or nearly. I got 2 not working ladies pocket watches from my dad.

These belonged to one of my great great granddads wife's (he was married twice),so 50% chance it belonged to my great great grandmother.

I thought I had a photo of this one before I took it apart, but I must have deleted it I'm afraid.

On the inside of the case, it's stamped "fine silver" with a crown above it. so from what I've read, it's either silver plate or 99.8 pure silver?

It's also stamped with "A.T". Looking this up, it's a makers stamp, of a silver Smith who made watch cases. A Alfred Thickbroom of Galway street, London. He worked between 1833 and 1866, died in 1877. So that's interesting.

The movement has no makers markings on it, apart from the number 8216. I read that at that time there were little workshops making the movements and not signing them?

I stripped the movement down apart from the mainspring housing,,looks a bit complicated, so will leave that for the future. The mainspring is working ok anyway.

Apart from being dirty, the balance spring had looped around the outside of the regulator arm. I eased that back into the right place and gave all the parts a clean in lighter fuel, then reassembled it and oiled it. All good, it now works, ticking away like a good one.

My main question is, the dial is very dirty, in the photos it looks out of shape and cleaner, put that's just the camera angle doing that.

I've tried soapy water and a cotton bud, but it hasn't touched it. Is there something stronger I can use?? Hopefully without damaging the gold around the edges. Would be nice to clean it up a bit.

A little bit of a family heirloom I guess, so would be brilliant to get it restored to its former glory again.

Mark.

A

[WillFly]

I use a special silver cleaning cloth for watches of this style and era - they're soft and impregnated with special fluid for precious metal cleaning. Try rubbing the dial very gently with a cloth like this to see what the effect is. The cloth will also clean the case nicely and give it a real sheen.

 

The case reminds me of a J.G. Graves English Lever watch I once had - but the movement is different.

[bobm12]

Maybe baby oil? and then the soap and water? I don't know what else to recommend considering dials are so delicate and prone to damage. I'll probably wouldn't touch it at all, though.

[ken]

Looks like E. Howard

[badger]

Thanks guys. Willfly, the silver polishing cloth, is it the Town Talk polishing One? Or a similar type.

Haven't had the pleasure of seeing a lever watch yet.

Never thought of using baby oil, does that act as a mild clearer bob? Interesting to know.

I don't know Ken, the actual movement had no makers name on it, just a number, so that's a mystery.

[WillFly]

I can't remember the exact make - just standard jeweller's silver cloth.

 

Will.

[Geo]

I use silver and gold polishing cloths from Priory Polishes.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Impregnated-Silver-Polishing-Cloth-Large-/251299074359?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item3a82979137

[badger]

Thanks Will and Geo. Just ordered a cloth.

[bobm12]

Hi badger,

 

I believe baby oil will remove/lift oil based dirt which is difficult to "dilute" in soap and water. Then it will also "hydrate" the old material used on the dial (probably not enamel). In any case, it will refresh the old colors and make the whole thing shine, overall. Then the soap and water will remove any excess. It is not 100% but it works on many dials. I've even let it as a final stage in cleaning and won't harm anything (use sparingly though).

 

Hope it helps,

 

Bob

[badger]

Thanks Bob. Think I got some baby oil around here somewhere,so I'll give that a try first as it seems a bit more gentler, see how it goes. If not Will give the silver cloth a careful try afterwards.

Mark.

[canthus]

Hi Bob,  Baby oil is just a highly refined hydrotreated mineral oil with a samall amoount of perfume and maybe glycerin added.  The oil is also known as liquid paraffin which you may be able to source at a chemist.  Being highly refined it will not have much 'solvency' so may need time to work.  You could also consider BBQ lighter fuel which is basically de-odorised kerosine but has better solvency (a similar product is used for rolling aluminium into foil for cooking foil). 

However, I'd be reluctant to use either on a dial unless it is a ceramic/porcelein dial in which the characters are also likely to be permanent in the glaze.

[bobm12]

I see your point canthus. I think kerosene is a bit too much for dials though. The idea of baby oil, if I'm not mistaken, is to lift dust and other "impurities" (or float them if you will, being of higher density than water).then the soap and water does away with the residues and oil itself. It is done gently and sparingly. As usual, it doesn't have a 100% success due to the differences in dial construction. In any case, I've used it with a certain degree of success as well as soap and water by itself and dial brushes/rodico. No system I've used/seen/read/heard about dials is a complete solution so experimentation is always the first approach. Whatever the situation is, I'm in quite a receptive state on this topic!

 

Cheers,

 

Bob

[canthus]

Hi Bob

See your point re floating off the muck.  Assume this 'sticks' to the oil.  Just a point though the oil will be lighter (less density, about 0.85 v water 1.0) and so will float on the water. This is why kerosine and lighetr fuel are good dewatering agents.