I've been sent an Elgin to check over, which was bought on eBay - supposedly in Perfect working order.
The watch kept stopping due to the minute hand catching against the seconds hand, which curiously, also perfectly matched the position of the hands in the photo on the listing!

Turning the crown, I could feel the gear slipping somewhere, so pulled the dial to check, and it appears the gear is riding up the teeth on the intermediate wheel, then skipping over it.

I've changed the two return springs from a pair I had in a donor, which has improved it no end, but it appears the top spring still isn't strong enough.
There's also some side slop in the gear on the stem which probably isn't helping - how much slop is 'Normal'?.

The cannon pinion feels fairly normal with no excess pressure needed to move the hands.

Is this a common problem with this type movement, and are there any recommended fixes?
I've no other spares here to try!

The first shot shows the teeth about to slide over!

Any opinions appreciated.

Best regards

John

Shot of the movement, Is this a reasonable grade model?

John

Octagonal Cased Elgin.

Does this have a model name at all?

John

John,
You need to rearrange one spring. The clutch lever spring doesn't have the spring part of the lever placed in the right place. Place the post in the gap of the spring. I hope I'm making this clear to you,but I have no other way of describing it.

Thanks Lawrence, I've just tried that, but it then remains permenantly in 'hands set' position and won't go to 'wind'.

I've noticed too that there's end float on the gear sufficient to let it ride halfway up the intermediate wheel anyway, is this usual?

The movement looks squeaky clean too, and also has small chip out the dial on one edge like someone tried to pry it out of its sink.
The hands had actually been shoved too far down on the pipes, which caused them to bind on each other, so I'm guessing someone has got at it!.

I've stripped my donor, and looks to be a quadrant and lever arrangement under the bridge, do these wear out?

Hoped this would be quick fix - just move the hands and off back home with it

John

John,
I gave you some wrong information in my last post,sorry.I was wrong about the arrangement. Maybe you can find some help in this manual.You might want to start on page 13. Good luck.