Hamilton Grade 940 -- I am back

[LittleWatchShop]

Been awhile since I have posted anything--been crazy busy.

So, I bought this for $70 from a lady in the hood.  Missing a crystal with a broken mainspring.  My friend in Dallas had a MS so today, I serviced the watch.

I have never done one of these single plate pocket watches.  It was QUITE the challenge.  If there is a trick to getting all the wheels aligned, somebody let me know!  I did it, but it took me the better part of an hour!!!!

Anyway, it is together with a little over 1ms in BE and looks very accurate DU and DD (and over 300 deg in amplitude).

Here is a picture of the finished watch, and a picture of the movement.

Notice that the minute hand is wrong.  Lucky me, today on ebay, somebody was selling a set of 940 hands.  I won the bid at $43 total.  A little steep, but the value of the watch is greatly increased with the correct hands.

As an aside, I have been consumed with a big real estate transaction and pending move.  I bought 47 acres in Bryan TX, adjacent to 20 I bought for my son.  We will be making Bryan the center of gravity.  A cool wrinkle is that I am going to expand my watch/clock hobby there by putting a large shop on the site.  I am too cramped here.  It is a work in progress, but next year I will post pictures!!

 

[Randy55]

Very nice !

I have a 940 that is my "personal" favorite..in a display case. Yes..these full plate movements can be a challenge. To hold the pivot fork / potence in place...take a piece of the old M/S..and cut it down to about 2 inches. Then file a small notch on one end, and bend the piece in half. Slip the spring over the mainplate and adjust it as needed to get the notch to fit around the the upper pivot as it sits in the jewel. It will hold it in place as you do the assembly. Oldtimers called these Potence clips .

Randy

[LittleWatchShop]

1 hour ago, Randy55 said:

Very nice !

I have a 940 that is my "personal" favorite..in a display case. Yes..these full plate movements can be a challenge. To hold the pivot fork / potence in place...take a piece of the old M/S..and cut it down to about 2 inches. Then file a small notch on one end, and bend the piece in half. Slip the spring over the mainplate and adjust it as needed to get the notch to fit around the the upper pivot as it sits in the jewel. It will hold it in place as you do the assembly. Oldtimers called these Potence clips .

Randy

Very clever!!!