I recently purchased a watch from a member of the club, said to have a broken staff. B4 I dissembled it, I let it down and it spun 6-7 turns and then relaxed. I thought all I was going to have to do was install a new staff so every thing went in the cleaner and I decided to take the mainspring apart so it would get a good cleaning too. After all it's not that hard to wind it backup and stick it in the barrel. I'm still laughing at what I found. I can't believe our member knew it was like this. I think he got duped too.

#2

I've never seen such a creative "fix". If that's the watch I sold you let me know and I'll send a Msprg if I have it. Maybe that repair guy could solder the staff.

NEET, I guess that guy figured out when you are "in a pinch" FIX it "With a pinch"!

Its amazing it was still holding tension.

That is butchery, at its finest.

Maybe McGiver had it.

Let me intercede respectfully if I may;

Ye Ole Time Watchmakers made repairs on existing parts especially during the war years. This was a very common thing to do as most metals were going for the cause.

To me, this represents ingenuity at it's finest and making do with what was there. Now definitely when this MS reached that point where the two pieces were hooked/joined and it transmitted it's power to the train, there would have been some problems with power surges

This is not the first time I have seen this and it is representative of a great time/period/era when this was a common and accepted type of repair. I have also seen MS's bradded & riveted. The good thing about this type of repair was that it could later be replaced with a new MS. This is what a real watch repairman would likely have done during that time period and unlike the butchers we have today that don't apply the 1st rule of logic to repairs which is; whatever you do, make sure it can be reversed at a later time.

I say "hat's off" to the ingenuity of Ye Olde Watchmakers.

regards,
bb

Buster, you may be correct. Now that I think about it, it's possible. But on second thought most of the parts for this unit would have been made before 1939. The war effort would not have effected their manufacture. It could be WWI effected it but then most of the parts were mfg b4 that. I really think it was just a quick fix to make it tick so it could be sold.