How do I adjust the regulator on Elgin Veritas Model No. 214

[lak611]

I have an Elgin Veritas Model No. 214 that is losing about 1 minute per day. How do I adjust the regulator on this watch to make it run a bit faster?

[Don Dahlberg]

A minute is a great deal of time to make up. The whole regulator is probably about 3 minutes. I suspect that something is wrong with the watch and it needs a cleaning-overhaul. A watch just not "drift" off a minute a day. The original factory recommendations were for a cleaning once a year. If you are not wearing it often, it is not in a high dust/dirt environment and the last time it had been cleaned, synthetic oils was used, this can go to about five year. Beyond that part of the oil evaporates and polymerizes (turns to gum) and dirt and abrasives combine with the oil.

When looking for a watchmaker to clean the watch, make sure they know about vintage watches. Make sure they do not just take it out of the case and clean it in a combination cleaner-oiler solution. They should take the watch down to all moving parts, clean the watch in a cleaning solution followed by one or more rinse solutions. The watch should them be inspected and any problems corrected. It is assembled, oiled, adjusted for rate appropriate to the watch and finally run in several postions over several days. They should stand behind the watch for several months.

So turning up the regulator is sort of like upping the idle speed on your car to stop it from stalling. You are just covering up what is really wrong with the car. It is time for tuneup!

Don

[Kent]

Laura:

Don has given you some very good advice.

Having said that, to answer your question:

The regulator Elgin used on higher grade watches during the early years of the twentieth century is a Traveling Nut Arrangement (http://static.flickr.com/1/127717936_1d3eb78194_o.jpg). The spring in the right-hand picture of the example is under the balance cock, pushiing the regulator arm to the right rim of the nut. The regulator arm is nested in a groove in a cylendrical nut which travels along a curved, threaded rod. As the nut is turned (by using a toothpick in the grooved rims of the nut), it moves the regulator arm, thus moving the regulator pins.

[lak611]

Laura:

Don has given you some very good advice.

Having said that, to answer your question:

The regulator Elgin used on higher grade watches during the early years of the twentieth century is a Traveling Nut Arrangement (http://static.flickr.com/1/127717936_1d3eb78194_o.jpg). The spring in the right-hand picture of the example is under the balance cock, pushiing the regulator arm to the right rim of the nut. The regulator arm is nested in a groove in a cylendrical nut which travels along a curved, threaded rod. As the nut is turned (by using a toothpick in the grooved rims of the nut), it moves the regulator arm, thus moving the regulator pins.Mine looks like the one on the left. Mine is circa 1904.

[lak611]

A minute is a great deal of time to make up. The whole regulator is probably about 3 minutes. I suspect that something is wrong with the watch and it needs a cleaning-overhaul. A watch just not "drift" off a minute a day. The original factory recommendations were for a cleaning once a year. If you are not wearing it often, it is not in a high dust/dirt environment and the last time it had been cleaned, synthetic oils was used, this can go to about five year. Beyond that part of the oil evaporates and polymerizes (turns to gum) and dirt and abrasives combine with the oil.

When looking for a watchmaker to clean the watch, make sure they know about vintage watches. Make sure they do not just take it out of the case and clean it in a combination cleaner-oiler solution. They should take the watch down to all moving parts, clean the watch in a cleaning solution followed by one or more rinse solutions. The watch should them be inspected and any problems corrected. It is assembled, oiled, adjusted for rate appropriate to the watch and finally run in several postions over several days. They should stand behind the watch for several months.

So turning up the regulator is sort of like upping the idle speed on your car to stop it from stalling. You are just covering up what is really wrong with the car. It is time for tuneup!

DonThanks, Don. I will take it in for cleaning, oiling and adjusting. I do know a good watchmaker who has worked on other watches of mine. He has replaced balance staff and mainspring on two watches, in addition to the cleaning and oiling.