Elgin early 7-jewel 18-size from 1881 SOLD
Scroll down for more pictures.
This is a quite early 18 size Elgin Model 1 seven jewel movement with a six digit serial number 770364, which dates it to 1881. Coarse train movement runs at 4.5 beats per second, and keeps excellent time.
Cased in a really sharp Dueber Silverine (nickel alloy) case, which has a brilliantly clear crystal. Tight bow. Bezel, cuvette and case back open to 90 degrees as they should, hinges are nice and stiff with none of the floppiness of worn out cases, and they snap shut very tightly. You will need a case knife to get them open, they are so tight when shut. This is how they came from the factory and is very uncommon to encounter a case this crisp today after 140+ years of wear and tear. Case shows the usual signs of use, with a few scratches and dings here and there, but no major damage. The bow was loose at one point and this left a “shadow” in the case; I have tightened the bow so it won’t impact the case anymore.
Dial is far from perfect with some significant edge chips and hairlines with some repairs evident but seems to be stable and is very serviceable.
$205
PA residents add 6% sales tax
Pick it up at the shop in Gettysburg, or add $15 for insured shipping to US addresses.
While cleaning and servicing this movement
Taken down to parts and ready for cleaning. Every watch I service or restore gets the same treatment and is taken down to the smallest component.
When reassembling the watch, I discovered somebody had nefariously switched the regulator with one from an entirely different model of watch. In fact I have no idea where the regulator came from but the pins were on the other side and never actually touched the hairspring. I switched it out with a regulator from another Elgin parts movement I had on hand.
The new regulator installed (and still fuzzy, it needed a cleaning) and it was a great fit. The hairspring should rest between the pins, and when the watch is running the hairspring should “dance” back and forth, touching both pins briefly as the balance oscillates.
The purpose of the regulator is to effectively change the length of the hairspring, which in turn makes the watch run slightly slowe