Well here is the project I just completed for now. It is a 21 jewel Illinois Central. S/N 4955892 adjusted to 3 positions. Not a very valuable watch but this is my first 21 jewel Illinois that I have completed.

I purchased this watch off Ebay and was just the movement. The seller through in a metal dial. This is where the great members here on IHC185 pitched in to help me complete the watch. Ray Hallenbeck out of the blue said he had an Illinois Central dial on the wrong movement and offered me his. I did not have any hands so Ray provided the beautiful plum hands also. I had already purchased the case and decided to put this movement in it.

You ever feel like a elephant in a china factory? Well I did on the day I started this project. I was taking a break from my Hamilton 934 project that was going nowhere since I broke a jewel and I was working on this until I broke the 4th pivot. So this is where Eugene Buffard entered the project. Gene was providing me with the jewel I needed for the 934 project and Gene also had an extra 4th wheel for me.

So I finished it tonight and it is keeping great time. THANK YOU RAY HALLENBECK AND GENE BUFFARD for without your help this would just be a pile of parts.

Harry

Bezel removed

Back

Movement

Different camera setting

Last photo

Another one saved from being a parts watch. Con graduations. You did an excellent job. And we did not even have to destroy another watch to do it.

Another save! Nice work, gentlemen.

Great dial and hands, Ray.

Very Nice and congratulations!

Thank you Gene, Eric and Deacon for your positive comments.

You did well Harry.

nice do you have pictures from before of the watch?

Here are what I started with. It came with a metal dial but no hands.

Back.

Dial

Wow, turned out great Harry, seems natural that the dial and hands made it it onto your movement where they belong. Glad I could help in getting this back the way it may have looked originally

Thank you again Ray. I'm glad you like it. It is nice to see you moving about. I hope you are recovering well.

Harry thats a beautiful job also your pictures are top notch any one that can work on a watch and it runs when their through is very impressive to me. Jeff

Thank you Jeff for the very kind words. As for the pictures I have made a lot of progress thanks to the members of IHC185 who have helped me at every turn. And as for the watch I have been more lucky than good. Thanks again to the members of IHC185 who are teaching me as I go along. They have given me some very good advise. I still have a long long way to go but everyday I am learning something.

quote:

Thank you again Ray. I'm glad you like it. It is nice to see you moving about. I hope you are recovering well.

Doing well Harry, better everyday, Thank you.

Harry, you said; "Not a very valuable watch but this is my first 21 jewel Illinois that I have completed."

Just a thought . . .

Beginning in 1963 with my Microwave business, (and many later adventures) I advised each new hand I hired that I considered their time priceless as all the money ever minted by mankind would never buy back 1 second of that. I therefore offered to pay them for the privilege of giving up some of that time to do their best to help us do what the rest of us were also investing our time in. (I always Paid Vacation, Health and over union wage too!)

In short, anything you can bring back with your time spent becomes therefore . . . Priceless, and deserving of the best respect for that fact.

Great Job!

Dave,
Wow, many companies would do well to adopt your employment practices. I bet the people who worked for you did a better job because of it.

Thank you Dave and Ray. Dave I once worked for a man that paid minimum wages. He did not give vacation, holidays, overtime, or medical benefits but he was the first to tell you that when he hired you he hired you to do the best job possible and that is what he expected.
It was a small company and I had no experience in that type of work. He gave me a start and within 6 months time I was superintendent of that small company.
I may not always succeed but I always try to do my best. I think I would have liked working for you.