I had the honor of restoring a 23J Vanguard Deacon sent me . . .

Which was constructed in 1932 . . . s/n 27537639

and nicely cased AND . . .

FITTED WITH A ONE OF A KIND WALTHAM ALLOYED ELINVAR UNCUT BALANCE WHEEL AND HAIRSPRING! used in the R&D conducted by Arthur Rove in 1933 to sucessfully complete his refinement of Waltham's most accurate Elinvar-based movements!

This is a "ONE OF A KIND" watch.

A friend in the Waltham, MA area is forwarding the Data cards from this testing that I will return to our very own Deacon Jones with this excellent running watch next week.

Congratulations Deacon for your part in rescuing this piece of history!

Note the little green thing in upper RH Corner is a piece of Rodico I used to stop the balance wheel for the Photo)

Very interesting, nice watch, nice work... thank you for sharing this beauty...

I think this is the proper time to use the word WOW!

Regards, Krister.

AND RARE

Certainly a nice watch. These WI Waltham's are very desirable and under rated IMO. This one above the others.

This is really a center piece of any collection. -and a part of history...

The credit belongs entirely to David for his wonderful work on this unusual piece of American watchmaking. I was simply lucky enough to buy it but without Davids work it would not have been saved for the future. David I thank you and I appreciate all the effort you have put into this watch and all the help you have generously given me.

David you use one-of-a-kind to describe something that is special because there is nothing else exactly like it.
I have seen few of those before it might be rare or
uncommon but not one of a kind.
I try not to offend you and Im sorry if I did
but we do sometimes use some words very loosely.

Peter, Thank you for your consideration and comment. The W.I. is NOT one of a Kind, but it is the ONLY ONE with a balance wheel and hairspring that CAN be validated as one of a kind because it was actually used by Arthur Rove in 1933 to perfect Waltham's Elinvar later used in production.

Sorry I must have missed the Arthur Rove part
in reading your post them it is One of a kind indeed

Dave in the 4th photo you might want to use the piece of rodico to grab that hair or fuzz at 6 o'clock position.

Wonderful job.

The fuzz left w the rodico. Since the watch refused to budge even one second over 72 hours, I put it in the fridge this AM, see how it likes the "COLD"!

wouldnt putting it in the fridge cause condensation??

Rob, mebbe in Georgia, here with <10% humidity, NOTHING "fogs up". In 24 hours it gained 4 sec @ 36 deg F.

LOL oh ya I forget its dry out there. It was just a thought. I know here I try to keep full tank of gas in winter to prevent condensation getting in gas and wondered if it was enough to be of concern in having rust start. I know I bought a dehumidifier for my safe just in case.

This is the "Rove Data card" I think this one is number 4 (counting from left)

Note the top of the timing strip says "10 Vanguards".

In some further discussion with my friend from that area, he said one of his ex-Waltham friends told him that Waltham called their material
"Elinvar" and were making at least some of it themselves . . . probably under license from Hamilton. That was mentioned because Waltham did experience continuing difficulties with alloying this stuff.