Old Elgin Losing Time

[rauld]

Hi,
I have an old Elgin that I re-cased and have been wearing on and off over the years and it's losing time, about 30 minutes over 12 hours. The sound it's making is pretty clear so I was hoping someone could point me in the right direction of the problem.

Thanks, Rauld
 

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[jdm]

You need to post pictures from a timegrapher or equivalent application,  If it could be possible that some application could read your files or even interpret from playback, but that would never be good as a first person observation.

Otherwise all you could read here are generic statements like "clean and service the movement" - which in fact should certainly be done, or "something is touching and ringing", again you will not know what until the mov.r is taken apart, cleaned, inspected and lubricated by a competent person.

[oldhippy]

If you have been looking after your watch, I would say a good service. It is quite old and the mainspring could be tired, therefore the movement will not work on poor power this its self would cause the watch to keep poor time.

[anilv]

Did you make the movement spacer yourself with a 3-d printer? How has it held up with regards to the material.

I've been thinking about getting into this but I've heard the cheaper DIY material is not stable.. ie degrades.

Anilv

[rauld]

Thanks guys,

JDM- I don't have a timegrapher, I do this for fun. It is interesting though that your answer is similar to one I received on Timezone also in the watchmaking and repair forum. If I was working on an antique car and posted a question on a forum I would get a ton of answers and opinions of how to fix something, but in watches the answer is almost always the same, go to a watchmaker or seek a "competent person". I am involved with watches because I enjoy it, of course I could just pay someone to do it for me but then it's not much of a hobby is it?

oldhippy- Thanks, I have ordered a new mainspring but because the sound almost sounded like a pinging I was hoping that might be familiar to someone in regards of where the problem might lie. I do own an L&R cleaning machine but have not cleaned or oiled the watch for a year. It was just that the sound sounded unique. I'll see what happens when I put in the new main spring. Thanks

 

Anilv- Yes, I 3d printed the movement holder. The hard part was making a new stem that would lock in as the original watch was spring loaded to wind or change the time.

[jdm]

11 minutes ago, rauld said:

JDM- I don't have a timegrapher, I do this for fun. It is interesting though that your answer is similar to one I received on Timezone also in the watchmaking and repair forum. If I was working on an antique car and posted a question on a forum I would get a ton of answers and opinions of how to fix something, but in watches the answer is almost always the same, go to a watchmaker or seek a "competent person". I am involved with watches because I enjoy it, of course I could just pay someone to do it for me but then it's not much of a hobby is it?

Most of us here do this for fun. A timegrapher is an essential tool, fortunately it's not expensive neither in physical or application form, much cheaper than a vintage cleaning machine, but much more useful.
Not knowing your experience and skills I suggested that you bring it to a competent person to avoid the possibility of ruining something that seems you care for. Of course if you know how to work on a movement yourself that's even better. I also love working on cars and motorbikes (was a professional when younger) but found that watch work is much more difficult than anything else, at least under the manual dexterity aspect.

[rauld]

JDM- Sorry, I wasn't trying to be difficult but there is something about watchmakers, ask for golf advice- a million answers, home repair- too many opinions. Go on a forum for watch repair and the answer usually is "take it to a watchmaker". A friend of mine actually is a watchmaker for Audemars Piguet and he doesn't work on anything old, he thinks they are "too finicky", in my opinion he is more of a technician, he just replaces components or parts, he doesn't really repair anything. If I didn't have a family to support I would consider going to Horology school just because I like it.

I certainly agree that working on a watch movement is a unique skill, maybe I'll think about buying a timegrapher.

Thanks, Rauld

[rauld]

Just to follow up. I did replace the mainspring and gave it a service. I'm about a minute ahead per day and I'm fine with that, after all the movement was made in 1912!

Thanks, Guys

[ecodec]

On 7/6/2018 at 11:23 PM, rauld said:

JDM- Sorry, I wasn't trying to be difficult but there is something about watchmakers, ask for golf advice- a million answers, home repair- too many opinions. Go on a forum for watch repair and the answer usually is "take it to a watchmaker". A friend of mine actually is a watchmaker for Audemars Piguet and he doesn't work on anything old, he thinks they are "too finicky", in my opinion he is more of a technician, he just replaces components or parts, he doesn't really repair anything. If I didn't have a family to support I would consider going to Horology school just because I like it.

I certainly agree that working on a watch movement is a unique skill, maybe I'll think about buying a timegrapher.

Thanks, Rauld

Hi Rauld, This is an excellent forum and I agree that there is little help outside of it these days. The "trade" tries hard to keep repairs and knowledge for themselves and can be even rude to amateur hobbyists and Jobbers like myself at times. I received a lot of part time training as a young lad many years ago from a Vacheron trained watchmaker friend and it has stood me in good stead for the small amount of repairs that I carry out. This, WRT, and de Carles and Fried`s books for reference is the way I go. Best regards, Mike. (ecodec)