I have an Elgin 16s guilded 7 jewel that has a problem i can't put my finger on. Something is causing binding.
1. center wheel in place alone turns freely
2. center wheel and 3rd wheel turn freely
3. center wheel and mainspring barrel (no 3rd
wheel) turn freely.
4. all 3 in place and it binds up.
All gears mesh good. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks..Paul

As the movement train is un-jewelled,it's possible the center wheel Pivot hole is enlarged resulting in a torque binding action between it, the Barrel and 3rd wheel. That can be fixed by a re-busing or tightening of the center arbor pivot holes. Otherwise it would take further inspection to determine the cause.

Dave: Exactly as i suspected. The bushing has enlarged just enough to allow the center wheel to tilt ever so slightly. I have a bushing machine for clock plates but not for pocket watches. How about a donor plate from another class 110 Elgin? Also the center wheel pivot appears to have a shoulder on it. Is that worn or manufactured that way? Thanks..Paul

Paul,
The center plate will have the serial number of the watch. I would not swap out anything with serial numbers.

Paul, You can tighten it up with a staking set, or re-bush it. Not knowing how loose it is makes that decision hard. Being that it is a 7 Jewel, I would try to tighten it first. If you want I will do that, but I need the Motor Barrel assembly, center wheel, third wheel Dial Plate and both top plates. In fact just send the whole thing.

Dave, how do you go about tightening it with a staking set? Is it done like the tightening of watch hands?

The Staking tools include Inverted cone, Flat and Ball end stakes which with the right stump can be used to safely reduce and re-size brass and nickel movement plate holes by 5-8% of the diameter. For example the dial plate side exit bearing diameter of a 16 size Elgin Center Wheel is about 0.35" (0.9 mm) diameter. By creating a little "continental drift" with the inverse cone stake, then compressing the hole with the flat end stake and recompressing with the ball end (about 250% the diameter of the hole) you can fairly easily re-size a 0.038" worn hole back to 0.35". Then I use centerless ground tapered swaging rods to polish the hole to an even better fit and finish.

If the hole is worn out too much more than that, it needs to be drilled out and re-bushed.

Thanks Dave

Dave: The movement is in the mail. The cannon pinion and hour wheel are in a seperate tiny box. Paul

It is on its way back to you . . . running about 2-4 min a day fast. The third wheel was bent so much that it was hitting the motor barrel. I straightened it.

Dave: I think i need to have my eyes examined. Thanks for you help(again). What's the damage? Thanks..Paul

What ever you think send it to IHC185 operating fund to help cover our humongous server base.

Dave: Donation sent. Thanks..Paul