30 HOUR NON LUMINOUS MARK V ELECTA S/N 158012 I have recently inherited this watch from my late Mother, I believe it belonged to my Grandfather. Thanks to Posts on this site I have managed to to piece together some of the fascinating history behind it. However I would be grateful if someone could throw some light on a column of numbers that appear to be hand etched on the inside of the back cover. I apologise if I have posted this in the wrong section, this is my first post and I will get better ( I Hope)

Hello Ken,

Welcome to the forum.

Good question: The little scratches are the code used by one or more watchmakers who serviced the watch during its working life. Here in the US the American Watchmaker's Institute assigned a code to be used by each AWI member. I have such a number myself, but I have not used it in so long that I don't remember what it is! What I am supposed to do is scratch the code into the back of each watch/clock I work on and to keep a ledger. At one time, law enforcement officers used these numbers if investigating the ownership of a watch or clock.

Thanks Greg,
I must admit I was all for selling this timepiece, however the more I delve into its history, the less I feel inclined to sell and more inclined to have it "refurbished". It is in relatively good condition,keeping pretty good time,even so I realise "refurbishment" would probably cost more than its resale value, but you cannot measure everything in monetary terms.
So I would ask,are you, even though Michigan is a long way from Wales or anyone out there able to recommend someone to undertake the work.

I don't know anyone in your area to work on your watch. If it's in good working order, I would not bother. Unless you intend to use it every day, which is not adviseable anyway.

These are fairly straightforward movements so you should be able to have it serviced by any reputable and fully trained watch maker in your area. Of course you will need to avoid those jewelry stores that offer to clean any watch for 20 pounds or so as they are not really cleaning it - they are only dunking the entire movement in an ultrasonic bath and giving it a quick spray of lubricant for a price like that. You want a real watch maker who will disassemble every piece, clean it, and repair or replace anything that is too worn out, then apply the right kind of lubricants in just the right amounts in just the right places, and finish up by calibrating it to keep good time. As you say, the cost for a real servicing like that these days is likely going to be more than it is worth but it will allow you to run it for the next 5 years or more before it will need another servicing. Alternatively you can just keep it as is to admire and enjoy thinking of its history.