Elgin Balance Staff Identification

[Keitharoo]

I'm a total newbie when it comes to repairs.  I've been collecting and carrying pocket watches for decades, but am now getting to the point that I have to do my own servicing in order to afford the hobby.  I have an 18s Elgin grade 73, model 5 that needs a balance staff.  I tried to look up what I needed, but there are so many variations on the balance staff that I have no idea what I actually need.  How do I figure out which balance staff I need?

[JohnR725]

The most important thing when restaffing is to measure the old balance staff. This way you can verify the new staff matches the old staff.

 

So the abbreviations are for new style and old style.. Then you have short or long hub. So if you measure your staff compared to the information I have you should be able to figure out what you need. Then the reason why all the different pivots sizes usually have to do with the number of jewels of the watch. In other words a seven jewel watch will usually have a large pivoted staff 21 jewel will usually be the finest. So ideally be nice to measure the pivots.

[Keitharoo]

Wow, JohnR725, you're awesome!  Thank you so much!  You just took all of the confusion right out of it.  I'll pull it out of there and take some measurements as you instructed.