1941 Barry

One of my favorite things about restoring watches is when someone contacts me with a family piece.  The story is almost always the same... "I found my grandfather's (or father's or even great grandfather's) watch in a box (or drawer, or pile of stuff) and I'd like to get it working again".  I think it's almost a universal story, including my own, for how people start to collect watches.

My least favorite thing is when someone contacts me with a family piece that they're looking to sell.  It always reminds me of the "Cats in the Cradle" song.  Someone's memory is being forgotten and perhaps they didn't do a good job creating memories worth keeping.  

It's a lesson for us all.

Anyway, I recently had an opportunity to restore family piece and I thought I'd share it with you.

It's a 1941 Hamilton Barry.  The Barry was introduced in 1941 and continued into 1946, with a slight disruption in between to fight a war.

The Barry came in a 14K gold filled case, with a sterling silver dial outfitted with solid 18K gold numerals.  It's distinctive by the raised humps that celebrate the lugs that attach to the strap.

My project watch looks like it might have fought a war.  It has a serious case of dial rash from missing it's crystal and the hands have corroded.  The hands are gilded over steel.  Eventually the gold wears off and the rust can take over.

I looked in my stash of project watches and came across a Barry with mismatched hands and also a Cedric.  The Cedric came out in 1950 and looks very similar to the Barry.  I can reuse the hands on my project watch and take the dial from the other Barry.

Clearly I'm walking in someone's footsteps here.  The movement inside is a 17 jewel 980.  The serial number dates to 1942 but the Barry should technically have a 19 jewel 982, since it has a 14K gold filled case.  The 10K gold filled models got the 980.

In addition, you may spot the balance cock has different damascening and gold enamel.  That means it's from a 982M movement... any easy way to replace a broken balance staff or balance jewel, or both.  This watch could tell some stories, I bet.

I'll prep a new glass crystal for installation while all the parts are in the ultrasonic.

Everything is cleaned and dried.  The watch already had a white alloy mainspring.  I grabbed a balance cock from another 980 movement so this watch is ready to be reassembled

The reassembled movement is ticking away with a good motion.  It looks like it should with a proper balance cock and is now bright and shiny.

Well, overall it's looking promising but the beat error of 4.2ms is a tad high for my preferences.  The beat error is a measure for how centered the balance is.  Ideally the balance is centered and will swing equally to one side and the other.  As the beat error increases, the balance swings more to one side and less to the other.  Eventually this will cause the watch to stop prematurely.  It's not uncommon to have to give a watch a little shake to get it running - that's a symptom of a slightly high beat error. 

Correcting the bear error requires removing the balance from the balance cock and adjusting the hairspring one direction or the other other, then reinstalling the balance and trying again.  Every attempt is a roll of the dice and tempts disaster.  I usually draw the line at 3.0ms but 4.2 is a little too high.  

On my first attempt, I chose poorly and went the wrong direction.  Now the beat error is 4.7.  Sometimes you get lucky but not this time.  I'll have to try again.

The third time proved to be the charm and I arrived at a more than acceptable 0.6ms result.  Now I can move on to the dial and hands.

The finished watch looks fantastic.  The dial is an old refinished dial but it looks very authentic and a better hands with a fresh glass crystal make this watch look like a very well maintained 80+ year old watch ought to look.  A new genuine lizard strap is icing on the cake and makes this watch wrist-worthy again.

I hope this family heirloom continues to get passed down to the next generations, just as it should be.