I found this old Waltham pocket watch last week, at a thrift shop of course, and for the price they wanted I had to buy it. It’s a model 1883, Grade 1, 7 jewels, made in 1892. My grandfather left me his old Waltham pocket watch, which still works well almost 45 years after I got it, and it was an antique then. That one is not as old as this one, however.
Knowing how well made these are, I gave it a few winds and it started to tick, so I figured that there was an even chance it would keep running. It ran for a few days on one winding, but there was one problem – I couldn’t pull out the stem to set the hands like I could with my Grandfather’s Waltham. I tried and tried to no avail. I even undid the tiny screw that held the stem in the movement and extracted the stem. No luck. I watched videos about overhauling these things, but nobody showed me how to set the time. Despite having overhauled a few wrist watches, I didn’t feel like ruining this one, so I just kept it around and carried in my pocket. I went into an antique coin dealer’s shop yesterday and a grumpy old coot looked at me like I was some sort of robber.
Hi, I said, I guess you must have seen a lot of pocket watches.
Yes, he said, do you have one?
I had it in my pocket but I was loath to show it to him, sensing that he wasn’t going to give me a fair deal, or even help me out. He was hoping I was one of those suckers who would sell him a valuable item cheap! At least, that was my gut feeling.
Who fixes these things? I asked.
Nobody, he replied. They’re not usually worth fixing.
I left and part of me agreed with him, but I still thought he was a liar, because I know of several watch repair people in town, and he didn’t mention any of them, which confirmed my suspicion that he didn’t want me to repair a watch, but wanted to get his hands on one so he could fix it and sell it.
I returned to the internet and once again asked the AI to identify the watch, which it did. This time however, I noticed that in the information it mentioned the fact that many of these were lever set.
Ok, I thought, lever set can’t be the same as pulling out the stem now can it?
Next, I asked how to set the time with the lever and very quickly got a response that led me to the solution. Further examination of the front rim of the bezel revealed a tiny bit of steel. Well, maybe that’s the lever? I put my fingernail into the crack behind it and pulled it out! Egad, I found the secret! I set the time and the watch is now running, and right on time too.
nathanguitars 