watching time fly.

[toifil]

A cabinet containing a beloved 1890s Waltham pocket watch (s/w), came off the wall and went crashing to the floor. The piece now gains about two hours per day. Any suggestions?

[toifil]

A cabinet containing a beloved 1890s Waltham pocket watch (s/w), came off the wall and went crashing to the floor. The piece now gains about two hours per day. Any suggestions?

[Timm]

Well... if there are no other breakages or problems, it would seem to me that the hairspring may have tangled a bit upon impact, effectively shortening the hairspring and speeding the time telling up vastly.

Without a thorough inspection, by complete dissassembly, there is no real way to tell for sure. Check the hairspring and the balance staff (to see if it is broken).

[Kent]

Check out What You Need To Know About Watch Repair at Wayne Schlitt's Elgin Website:
<span class="ev_code_brown">www.midwestcs.com/elgin/help/watch_repair.html</span>
<span class="ev_code_blue">To view, go to the </span><span class="ev_code_brown">Elgin Watch Collectors Site Home Page</span> <span class="ev_code_blue">at</span> <span class="ev_code_brown">elginwatches.org</span>, <span class="ev_code_blue">then copy and paste the address in your browser's address bar and click on </span>'Go'.

Goodk luck,

[Smudgy]

Other likely possibilities are a bent pivot or cracked jewel, especially as it lacks shock protection (Incabloc, etc.). The problem should be in the escapement though, as Tim T suggested.

[terry hall]

This is really watching time fly.........

http://www.yugop.com/ver3/stuff/03/fla.html

[toifil]

Thanks everyone. I really appreciate the help!

[Wes]

There anre many things that can cause this. This thread is beginning to remind me of the radio talk show (NPR?) "Car Talk (http://www.cartalk.com/index.html)".

I think if the hair spring wasn't knocked out of the curb pins, another thing to look at is the roller jewel. If it is loose and no longer straight, it could be acting larger than it is. If it is misalgined, it could be somewhat stuck in the pallet fork, with not enough clearance to disengage from it. You can tell if the balance just a small but rapid swing to it.

[GD1]

"Time flies like an arrow." Anon.

"Fruit flies like a banana." Groucho Marx

[FreWJensen]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">www.midwestcs.com/elgin/help/watch_repair.html </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Do not run your watch after you drop it, even if it seems to be working. You could have cracked several jewels and these will grind your pivots so that the repair can become very expensive and other distortions can exist too and will worsen with it's running in a distorted state. Have a dropped watch inspected to see if any damage exists before you continue to run it. There may be none except you are seeing signs of problems according to your message.

[toifil]

Thanks everyone: Turns out that the problem was indeed a tangled hairspring. The problem has been remedied and is now running fine.