help, i broke my lowly waltham

[fffffg]

i bougt a pair of shorts without a watch pocket and was packing some boxes into the back room and must have hit a door jamb or somthing. stoped at 10am sharp.. was 55 seconds fast in a little over 30 days at that time.. it has safty pinion, 1905 18s 15 jewel waltham.. im worried if this is life threatening to my baby... that is if i have to change a mainspring i could be changeing the time keeping properties of this piece?.. could it generally be an inexpensive part that makes this not catch and tighten the main spring when i wind it?..balance turns frreely when i twist thewatch.... thanks dave...

[fffffg]

i bougt a pair of shorts without a watch pocket and was packing some boxes into the back room and must have hit a door jamb or somthing. stoped at 10am sharp.. was 55 seconds fast in a little over 30 days at that time.. it has safty pinion, 1905 18s 15 jewel waltham.. im worried if this is life threatening to my baby... that is if i have to change a mainspring i could be changeing the time keeping properties of this piece?.. could it generally be an inexpensive part that makes this not catch and tighten the main spring when i wind it?..balance turns frreely when i twist thewatch.... thanks dave...

[Don Dahlberg]

You will not know what is wrong until you go inside. You may have broken the mainspring, you may have bent pivots and/or broken jewels.

Most of the time keeping quality is in the balance, and hairspring. If they are fine (and they may or maynot be), then when good power is restored through the train, good timekeeping will return. If not then you adjust it right again.

If you wear your watch daily, it should be cleaned and adjusted every two to three years anyway.

Don

[fffffg]

thanks for your reply Don, ill take it to bozeman when i get a chance,, i just had it cleaned a bout 3 months ago.. oh well some days just dont go well ... dve.

[Dr. Jon]

From what you say it is hard to understand what happened. IF mainspring is busted you should be able to wind it indefinitely without teh windeing stopping. This does not occur due to shock. Mainsprings go by merely thinking impure thoughts. I often found that cleaning them could let a spot of rust form from which a crack grows and kills it.

IFyou did drop it you probably broke the staff. It still could turn freely. Whn you look at it it usually dial down and if that pivot is ok itcan swing freely. It won't run dial up or in vertical positions.

Neither is life threatening so long as you don't mind paying more that the book value to get it repaired. Most of us do this all the time.

Dr. Jon