Slightly fast Waltham

[Mike Miller]

I have a 21 jewel Crescent Street that gains about 2 minutes per day. The micrometric regulator is backed off as slow as it will go. I will be taking it in for a good COA, but my watch curriosity is getting the best of me. What would a watch expert do to correct this timing issue? Do they adjust the mean timing screws on the ballance? Please note, this is purely for curiosity sake. I don't intend to get my handfull of thumbs inside the works of this fine timepiece.

Thanks

[Mike Miller]

I have a 21 jewel Crescent Street that gains about 2 minutes per day. The micrometric regulator is backed off as slow as it will go. I will be taking it in for a good COA, but my watch curriosity is getting the best of me. What would a watch expert do to correct this timing issue? Do they adjust the mean timing screws on the ballance? Please note, this is purely for curiosity sake. I don't intend to get my handfull of thumbs inside the works of this fine timepiece.

Thanks

[Steve Maddox]

It's a safe bet that at one time, your Waltham Crescent Street kept excellent time. It is a "railroad watch," and all railroad watches were capable of excellent timekeeping when they left the factory. The question then, in essence, is "What could have happened to my Waltham Crescent Street that is it now running two minutes per day fast?"

Of course, that's difficult to answer without seeing the watch, but it could be a variety of things. If it's running in a vertical position, it could be a bent balance staff, which effectively ruins the poise of the balance wheel. This, however, wouldn't make any difference in the horizontal positions. It could also be that the hairspring has become slightly magnetized, which is a minor problem that can cause wildly erratic rates, or that a tiny amount of oil has found its way onto the hairspring, and is causing two or more of its coils to stick together. This is a common problem, particularly with watches that have been recently serviced by less than expert repairmen.

Other problems can be associated with the hairspring regulator pins. When the regulator was moved, rather than sliding over the hairspring, the regulator pins may have grabbed it, and pulled it to the side. It's also possible that the spring merely "jumped" out of the regulator pins, but in most cases, this would cause a slow rate rather than a fast one.

It's also possible that your balance staff has become worn enough, or that a balance jewel has become chipped, so that the balance wheel rim or the spoke arm is slightly "clipping" something, such as the hairspring stud, or the tops of the banking screws (if it's a full plate). In most cases, this will cause a gaining rate, unless and until the problem becomes so severe that the watch stops running at all.

Finally, it may be that your watch is just so dirty and dry of oil that this alone has ruined its timekeeping. Needless to say, a watch that is entirely dry of oil won't run the same as one that's been freshly serviced, and it's more common for such watches to run fast, rather than slow.

When you've had your watch repaired, why don't you post again here, and let us know what the real problem turned out to be. At this point, I'm sure there are several of us here who are curious to know!


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Steve Maddox
President, NAWCC Chapter #62
North Little Rock, Arkansas

[Mike Miller]

Will do. The watch is in now for a COA. Will post back with results. When looking at the watch, we couldn't find any jewelers marks that would indicate that the watch was ever in for any repairs or maintenance. Hopefully some belated care will get it back on track.



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Mike Miller

[Mike Miller]

Heres an update...

Good news! The Crescent Street came back this week. It has been running several days and is only off time by about 5 seconds. I am totally amazed. It appears that one of the regulator pins was a little off the mark and they weren't doing their job properly. For Waltham enthusiasts, it is a 16S, 21 jewel, model 1908, hunting case, lever set movement. It's nice to see it back in tune again. It looks like Steve's idea of there being a connection to a regulator pin was the winning idea.

[Steve Maddox]

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the update! I'm glad to know that things turned out well!

By the way, 16s hunting case Crescent Streets aren't nearly as common as open face ones. It sounds like you have a "cool" watch!

SM