Friends;

I consider my self very lucky to own an Elgin 18 size, grade 181, with the fully intact stopworks mechanism on the going barrel. I have just fully cleaned and oiled the watch but the best run time I have been able to get is around 18 hours on a "full" wind. I suspect that the stopworks is not correctly set. Can anyone share the proper process for setting this mechanism or point me in the direction of how to get this accomplished?

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Hi Serge , I am not an elgin expert , But let me take a stab , 18 hrs is about what I get with an old mainspring that is "set" , did you replace the main spring ?

Hi Kevin,

That is a very good point and I was suspicious that the spring may have taken a set. I'm comfortable with replacing mainsprings but with the Stopworks i'm not sure how to properly set it. I'm more concerned about doing harm to the mechanism or the movement so for now I'll leave it as it is... "do no harm"

Thanks for your valued input!

The idea is to use the middle section of available spring power, improving isochronism.
Figure out the total number of turns the spring can be wound.
Subtract from that the number of slots in stop works.
Divide result by two.
Preload the mainspring this amount and assemble stopworks.

Thank you very much Paul!