This is my great grandfather’s Elgin pocketwatch circa 1917. My dad gave it to me when I took an interest in watch repair and I repaired this from a slightly rusted and non-working state to at the very least able to run, but the time keeping is not great. It is losing ~50s a day, amplitude is 310*, and beat error is 5.5. I’m not at the point where I feel comfortable messing with the balance and regulating the pocket watch. I am just happy that it runs. I don’t have a before picture, but I cleaned up a lot of green rust from part of the dial and case where there was a crack in the crystal and water must have gotten in. I replaced the mainspring because it was domed like an ice cream cone and gave all the parts a nice cleaning and lubricating.
He did serve in WWI in the 307th, but I lean towards thinking that this was waiting for him at home because the condition it was in was pretty good given the age. I also have his WWI map which he did have with him while he was in France, and I display together with the pocketwatch.
Beautiful! I’m working up to fully disassemble and clean my first watch. I’ve done small repairs and tinkering for years, but never a full break down. With watch cleaning as expensive as it is, I figure I need to figure it out myself (I have more than a couple I like to use daily)!
I would not go into the hobby of watchmaking with the expectation of making money or saving money, at the volumes you will likely repair compared to the cost of tools and parts it can become a very expensive hobby with thin or no margins. But if it’s a hobby you are willing to invest in, it’s a lot of fun. And not expensive if you just want to poke around and don’t care about every detail.