I'm a sucker for the patterns on the 18s model 1883 crescent st movements. It's now in a 5 oz silver case. The Elgin 12s 19j is now in a gold filled case.
On and off for a couple months I've been working on these two Hamilton 992's and 0s fancy dial Walthams for a friend. He originally wanted two watches for him and his son. I decided to also add the two fancy dials for his wife and daughter.
I had to put back together the salesman cases, take apart all 4 movements, do the cleaning, etc. I get them back together, finally have them done, and then the cat jumps up and knocks down one of the 992's. Thankfully that was just replacing a crystal. And after a week of them running one of the 992s mainspring went. So replaced that ( ...I know, should have done that while servicing....). But either way I'm giving them to him for his birthday this coming week.
This orphaned movement needed a new mainspring. And of course I have a fair amount of NOS mainsprings but technically none labeled for this movement. But I was fortunate enough to find one that would work. What's interesting about this private label is I can't find another Illinois with the same name. I'm assuming the dial isn't original but does work with the model/grade. Now to put it in a case.
Today's project was reminding myself not to buy lots of torn apart movements. Picked this up at a flea market. There's a fair amount of usable parts. But a long time ago I decided I would rather just buy a part I needed that would cost more instead of having a hundred pounds of possible parts I might need in the future.
The balance is good but over banked. Mainspring is broken. The finish is washed out some. I'm curious to how it will turn out after cleaning. Needs a second hand and a case. My first thing is seeing if I have a mainspring for it.