mingus2112 Posted October 16, 2009 Report Share Posted October 16, 2009 Pictures at the end. . .I promise!!! When my grandfather died back in January of 2004, I inherited a good deal of his "stuff." My uncle already had his guns (I came home from work one day and my grandfather had them all out on a towel on the table. "Come with me down to your uncle's." He said.), his fishing poles and the family bible. The rest, however, was left to me to rummage through. Looking back, I wish I had saved his wristwatch. It was a Timex (I think) manual wind from who knows when. Not worth much, but still his. My uncle probably tossed it with his clothes that came home from the hospital. I did however get all of his surviving WWII Army medals, a lot of my grandparents antique furniture, trinkets, and this cool looking pocket watch. The watch sat in my dresser for a few years until recently when I started asking my Mother and Uncle about it. Neither one had ever seen it before. I dated the watch by the serial number to 1895. This puts it significantly older than my grandfather (born in 1919). I had a feeling that it belonged to my great-grandfather, a Police Officer in Burlington, VT. My uncle confirmed that this was probably the case. My great-grandfather was older (40s, maybe 50s, not sure) when he had my grandfather, so he could have very well bought this watch new in 1895. Anyway, I started to look for someone to restore the watch. It seemed to run, but I didn't really want to turn a 112 year old watch too much filled with dried out oil! Perhaps my great-grandfather had kept it serviced, but i'm QUITE sure my grandfather did not. We're talking about over 50 years of sitting in a drawer! Found pocketwatchrepair.com. I wanted to find a place that specialized in these antique watches, could get parts and had experience with these types of delicate antiques. Unfortunately, not only did they have a 12 month waiting list, but they weren't accepting new work! So I found some people on the internet and sent out some feeler emails. One email that stood out was from Scott Cerullo. He responded: Hello James, The dial situation is tough since undamaged antique porcelain dials are hard to find. Also, repairs on dials can be very noticeable. Refinishing, unless it is a metal dial is not really an option. We can make hairline cracks almost invisible, and we can evaluate it if it is sent in for service. At one time I was a pretty enthusiastic collector of Hampden watches and I am very familiar with them. A normal cleaning is $99. If you need parts replaced like jewels or a staff, I will contact you with a quote and you can decide if you want the work done. If you decide against it, all you are responsible for is the shipping. All work is guaranteed for 6 months. Usually I can get these done in 3 to 4 weeks, and the watch is completely disassembled. You are provided digital pictures of the work. The line that I underlined had me hooked! So I sent Scott the watch. My next response from Scott: Hello James, I thought that I would take a quick look at your watch and give you a preliminary evaluation. It appears that all the jewels that I can see on the bridge side are in good shape. The balance and hairspring appear to be Ok so far. The barrel bridge has a scrape in it near the Hampden logo. I wound her up and she took 50 winds. So, that has got to be the wrong spring and it is providing almost no power. I think that we are going to need a mainspring no matter what. I'll also check the mainsrping barrel for endshake and make sure there are no problems there.Othewise, this watch looks pretty good. As far as the dial goes, there is a product that is used to fill in chips like the one at the 5, but it won't match perfectly. It is always possible to find another dial. As far as the hairlines, I can make them almost invisible when I clean the dial. Just in case you didn't know, I would date the production around 1897. That is a really old 16 size. It was probably railroad grade back then. Excellent! Liking this guy already. Hello James, I started work on the Hampden. She does need a mainspring. I think she will be OK with just that. I'll know if she needs any balance work when she is cleaned, oiled, a new spring is installed and she is put on the timing machine. Overall, it is a nice watch. Definitely railroad grade. Cost for the spring is going to be $40. So for the full job the total should be $139. I'll email you some pictures of the watch all apart. Thanks, Scott Now onto the pics!. . . James, Here are some pictures of where we are at until the mainspring arrives. I believe that at one time this watch movment was gold flashed or gilt. Scott Hi, Your watch is done. Check out the pictures. I'm just letting it run a bit. I think you will be pleased. I cleaned up the dial the best I could, and I don't think it looks too bad, considering. The watch could probably tell a few stories. It is possible that the movement was gold flashed in a two tone nickel, gilt, design. I think that cleanings with ammoniated solvents over the years probably took its toll and made the movement look dull, but she runs strong. This watch is a real railroad watch, which means it would have passed the stringent standards to be used by a conductor, fireman or engineer at the time it was made. Some of the standards were: lever set, 17 jewel, and adjusted to three positions. As time when on, the standards went up, but this was and is a fine watch. It was probably one of the most expensive purchases your ancestor made besides his home. The new mainspring is in and the jewels all look good. I polished and cleaned the case. You can see that it is worn down the the brass in places, but it is functional. The only casualty was the second hand, which was frozen onto the arbor it was attached to. It came apart when I took it off, so I replaced it. The total for the cleaning was $99 and the the mainspring was $45 installed. And here's the watch all done! What does everyone think? I'm super excited about the whole thing. Probably going to put it in a desk stand to keep on display in the house. It's in the mail now! -James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toadtorrent Posted October 16, 2009 Report Share Posted October 16, 2009 What a wonderful write-up. That was a treat to read...and how exciting for you to get the pics while the progress was underway. I think you found yourself a great person to service such a fantastic piece with amazing history to be attached to your family. I'll send a note to The Zigmeister...he'll need to read this!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mingus2112 Posted October 16, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 16, 2009 Thanks. There are a lot of perfectly qualified people out there (The Zigmeister included!) that probably could have done right by me with this (most cheaper actually), but I really felt like it needed to go to a "specialist." He's also given me some great advice on looking for some other vintage pieces (i'm into budget-grade vintage!). With all the time and expertise that went into this, I figured it deserved a write-up. I just wish I knew more about the history of the watch! There's a bit of family debate that's gone into it in the past week or so! Mom and Uncle swear it must have been their grandfather's. Then my mother's cousin said he thinks it may have been HIS father's (my grandfather's brother) because he had 4 or 5 old pocket watches. My mother is sure it's not his because he wouldn't have given it to his brother when he had sons of his own. She also says that if it's not my great-grandfather's then it must be her aunt's father's watch. So much debate! -James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hackR Posted October 16, 2009 Report Share Posted October 16, 2009 James -- Toad sent me this link...and i'm damn glad he did...this is a fantastic story and a really nice looking watch...as with reps, the value of the watch is in the story and its past...an excellent piece with great heritage and obvious meaning...thanks for sharing the story and the pix... great stuff!.... R- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utheman Posted October 16, 2009 Report Share Posted October 16, 2009 James, Great post and an awesome looking watch. Did you see my post last week ago about my railroad watch? http://www.rwgforum....railroad-watch/ I learned alot about the watch at this site: http://ihc185.infopop.cc/eve/forums Save that watch for your kids. Take care, ww Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dluddy Posted October 16, 2009 Report Share Posted October 16, 2009 awesome story James and a great family heirloom nicely restored Well done and thanks for sharing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RWG Technical Posted October 16, 2009 Report Share Posted October 16, 2009 Great story and great post. Thanks so much for sharing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shundi Posted October 18, 2009 Report Share Posted October 18, 2009 Beautiful! It always warms my heart to see the "next generation" restoring beauties like this! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mingus2112 Posted October 19, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 19, 2009 or in this case, the next next next generation! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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