1937 Sidney

The most prominent decorative art style in the 1920s and the 1930s was Art Deco.  It features delineated geometric shapes and bold colors.  You'll find Art Deco influences in all sorts of objects from household appliances to sky scraper buildings.  It's sometimes applied incorrectly to the bold linear designs from the 1950s and 60s that would be better described as Mid Century Modern.  However, you'll often find Art Deco influences in the watch designs from the 1930s.  A great example is the 1937 Sidney.  It was produced through 1940.

 

The Sidney was part of a new generation of models that introduced the "new" 6/0 sized 987A movement.  The 987A replaced the 987E and although it shares a lot of the same parts, it was a significantly improved design.  The 987A would eventually power hundreds of thousands of WWII military watches.

My Sidney project watch is an interesting example.  At first blush, the dial appears to be the black enamel numeral design - it's definitely the correct pattern.

However, the printing is actually gold in color, depending on how the light hits is.  So this is obviously a refinished dial, but it's very interesting.

This was a Christmas present from 1938 for "Ethel" from Bus Tate.  That's a rather odd name, don't you think?  Is it a first and last name or is it nickname?  I wonder what the story was between Ethel and Bus Tate.

This is an early 987A movement... the 38,077th one to be made to be exact.  However, notice the extra holes in the barrel bridge and the train bridge to accommodate case screws.  There were no three piece cases during this timeframe but this movement was designed for use in one - perhaps as a replacement should a 987, 987F or 987E fail.

The movement winds and winds and winds without ever getting tought - so that's a clear sign that the mainspring is broken or not attached to the arbor.  Opening up the barrel solves the mystery, this blue steel mainspring is clearly broken.

The crystal on the watch is clearly beat up so while all the movement parts are in the cleaner I will prep a new glass crystal for installation.

Everything is ready to be reassembled.

The movement is ticking away with a vigorous motion.  Let's see what the timer has to say.

It's running a tad fast and has a high amplitude.. maybe the mainspring I installed is too strong.  I'll try another.

Yikes... it's still running way too fast and beyond the adjustment of the regulator.

One of the things that can make a balance run really fast is if one of the balance weights comes off... that can happen in the ultrasonic as the weights are just screwed into the balance wheel.  They're installed in pairs opposite each other across the balance arm.  A missing weight will dramatically speed up the motion but in this case I don't see any gaps.

A balance is "poised" so that it's equally weighted all the way around and doesn't have a "heavy side".  In order to slow a balance you can add weights to wheel.  If you need to speed a balance up you can remove weight.  However, you need to make sure you change the weight the same on each side of the balance.

In this situation I will add a timing washer to two opposing screws on the balance.  I'll use the screws that are closest to the balance arm.  These timing washers are tiny - so tiny that you probably wouldn't even see them if I took a photo.  They are crazy small but just heavy enough to slow the balance 1, 2 or 3 minutes per day, depending on which one you choose.

Well, now it's running a smidgeon slow but I can adjust it from here with the regulator.

A touch here, and shove there, and finally I get the beat rate to be an acceptable 11 seconds per day fast.  The amplitude and beat error are excellent too.

My finished project watch is looking great with a new crystal and it's running as nice as it looks.  This was a challenging project, I'm glad I was able to fix it.  I think Ethel would be very pleased.