Waltham Traveller 16S

[transporter]

Well after stripping and cleaning and looking through my little ebay 60x mono microscope at all things on the movement including, replacing a roller jewel and table, using a staking set for the first time, swapping out jewels, pinning and un pinning hairsprings buying 3 extra movements on ebay for extra parts, realising after lots of checking that the balance staffs are .1 of a mm to short so fitted another, all this plus pegging the jewel holes and rubbing the jewel faces etc etc.

only to have the movement work intermittently, very annoying and frustrating, I was going through multiple train checks wheel by wheel the multiple wheels all were moving freely etc. In the end tonight I had that eureka moment after a small washer from the ratchet wheel stuck to my tweezers the light bulb ill e minted above my head, yep get the demagnetiser out and put the whole movement over it, both sides (twice) and yeeess it's now running approx 1min fast on my ticko print app on my tablet, not bad for a movement from 1908 that was presented by a Lt Flathers and men of the 283rd Royal Field Artillery ( to who I don't know as that's all the inscription says) so it's dated from the first world war.

I will let it run in different positions over the weekend and see how it runs, its a keeper purely for its history.

The only question is, is that it's in an elgin case? I have read somewhere that some waltham made under licence in the UK were fitted to elgin cases but I can't remember where and im sure they weren't but maybe someone here will know different.

moral of the story do the simple stuff aswell as the hard stuff in the beginning of a project to save yourself 3 weeks of frustration.

Edited February 26, 2016 by transporter

[frenchie]

Good job !!!!!

pictures ?

[Geo]

Well done Transporter, and thank you for the detailed wright up. Like Frenchie, I would like to see some photos.

[transporter]

Ok I, ll upload photos tomorrow for you all

[syfre]

Before the 1920's factories sold mainly movements and let the case job to retailers; so it's not unusual to find a Waltham mvt in a not Waltham case.

 

More about watch case here :

 

http://mb.nawcc.org/showwiki.php?title=Watch_case

[oldhippy]

If you have a demagnetiser its good practice to use it with every repair. That's what my master told me and I stuck to it.  

[antonyh]

Pictures please too.

I just love the Waltham watches, everything from the simple brass movements to the heavily demaskeened movements.

I've got one somewhere, the nickel movements where just a work of art in my opionion.

[MWNAWR]

Would like to see some pictures too

[transporter]

Been a tad busy this weekend so apologies for the delay in posting, but here are a few pictures of the strip etc.

First one is a general picture of the start

And abit further in to the strip down, starting to find lots of crud in the movement now

And a strange blue in colour dried up substance that I can only assume is old oil

You can see it pretty clearly where the pallet fork sits

And now after a good clean I just test fit everything for the first of many many times in this project

Here's the original hairspring, I soaked it in hairspring cleaner but the rust stayed, also after purchasing a couple more spare movements I also realised the balance staff was 0.1mm too short so I had to change that aswell as replacing the hairspring

Here's the replacement hairspring re pinned and also the roller table and roller jewel fitted, I have to say roller jewels seem to disappear very well from these movements, out of 4 movements only one had a whole roller jewel present.

After lightly pressing the roller table onto the staff and fitting the hairspring to the cock I manipulated the table so that when the hairspring came to rest the roller jewel was as near as dammit smack in the middle of the banking pins, I then staked it in place.

So after much wheel swapping and a plate swap and also swapping the jewels on the balance cock for a decent set I finally got it together and running after I demagnetised the whole movement fully cased up (twice both sides)

This picture is a genuine shot of the time after 24 hrs of running after being set to the time on my tablet when I fully wound and set it going, as you can see it's just on a minute slow on its first full run in god knows how many years, not bad for a non jewelled (apart from the balance) movement.

I have to say I'm more than happy with the result, it's still going strong after 2 days in my jeans pocket being bounced around.

Edited February 28, 2016 by transporter

[jdm]

Good job, it's a beautiful watch. Worth the effort.

[digginstony]

That's the Beauty of these old watches. The history that goes with them. Very unusual to find a British inscription like that on an Elgin case and not to be confused with Elgin watchmaker as they were different companies. Never heard of Waltham being made here under licence. The movements were imported into UK and normally cased by Dennison.

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[transporter]

I'll post a picture of the inscription in the morning, forgot to add it to my photo bucket earlier, next project is an elgin 18s with he balance that sits on the top plate and the pallet fork sits in that little turret feature in the top plate, thats gonna be a test for my patience getting everything lined up between them plates

[digginstony]

I've done a few Waltham full plate movement's. There not that bad depending on what's been done to them in the past. The tricky bit is the pallet (English lever) When you remove the bottom plate you have to angle it and rotate it several degree's to clear the Lever. Before you lift the plate away you must ensure you've fully cleared the Lever. If not and your lucky the Lever will come away with the plate (No harm done.) But your more likely to snap the pivot in the top plate hole. Have a look on Ebay and see whether you can get an old movement for parts and practice on that first.

Tony

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[transporter]

Cheers tony I'll see what I can find, well as promised here's the pictures of the case

[Geo]

I love inscriptions on watches, it really makes me think about the history. You should try doing a but if research to see what you can dig up. Here's a couple if screenshots that sh hell you start.

[WillFly]

Nice post and thread. It was quite common for watch movements by one maker to be housed or re-housed in cases by another maker at that time. American pocket watch movements and cases were of regular and similar sizes, so a 16s movement (say) would fit snugly into a 16s Elgin case, a Waltham case, a Dueber case, Dennison case, etc. The choice of case material varied - such as gold, gold-filled, gold-plated, silver, silveroid, etc. Silveroid was particularly interesting, being as bright as silver but much more hard-wearing - a particular favourite with railroad men - and was an alloy of copper and nickel.

[oldhippy]

The quality in movements varied as well. From no jewelled train right up to fully jewelled. I have even seen one where the barrel had been jewelled.  

[antonyh]

Heres one, its not mine but it will give you an idea.

[Peixian]

grateful sharing ! you done an amazing job! this post can be a reference to me 

[Mark]

Nice post. I love working on Walthams.

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[syfre]

Nice post. I love working on Walthams.

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You need a new balance jewel.

 

A tutorial on "How to replace a jewel in a balance setting" will be great

 

Thank for your posts

[Peixian]

nice job. appreciate your sharing of the process ! the watch is so nice!

your post can be a reference to me

[jdrichard]

What do these numbers mean on the inside case of my newly acquired Waltham Watch. It has an 1883 Movement manufactured in 1902. I'm not sure if they are servicing numbers and if so how to decode them.

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[oldhippy]

Looks like repair markings and dates. To be fair only the watch maker would be able to tell you what they all mean.

[jdrichard]

Looks like repair markings and dates. To be fair only the watch maker would be able to tell you what they all mean.

Strange because they all start with A and 5 numbers not 6??