Identify correct stem, sleeve and crown

[hank7421]

I am restoring a Waltham 1883/1902 OF 11j Grade Sterling PS movement SN 11678350. I would like to put it into the Silverode case shown below. How do I identify the correct stem, sleeve and crown that would work with this movement?
Hank

[Bob Tascione]

Hi Hank,
I’m not sure how you would go about ordering for that case without actually sending the case in to the material house. I’m not saying you have to send it in I’m just saying I don’t know how else to do it myself. When I was actively repairing for others I would normally make weekly trips into Los Angeles to suppliers like RT Smith (long gone now) taking any watches that I didn’t have parts for which included cases in need of sleeves and crowns and we would rumage through his endless supply of case parts.

I always found in my assortments what I needed for American cases but when it came to some of the European cases matching things up became difficult at times.

When ordering sleeves for American pocket watches I think you would order for the case used. So for example Waltham usually used a line of cases made by several case manufacturers such as Fahys, Wadsworth, Crescent and a few others that i can’t think of right now. So…you would order a sleeve for the case and a stem for the Waltham movement and they would work together. With your case I’m not sure how you would go about ordering a sleeve that the Waltham stem would fit. That would have been something that would have most likely made the trip with me to L.A. We always came up with something but often had to modify or make a stem to work. The important thing is to find a sleeve that fits the case well and then the stem can be modified from there if need be.

As for the crowns I just grabbed from my assortments to match the case style. You can use books that have illustrations of crowns like the Illustrated Manual of American Watch Movements etc. to choose the style for that case making sure the thread size and crown opening matches that of the stem and case. I don’t have access to my books right now where I’m at so might be a better resource available but that book should have some good info in it.

One of the big problems these days is the lack of suppliers carrying old parts. We often have to rely more on our own backup of parts and assortments as well as creative ingenuity to get a job done. Of course one is compensated much better these days than in the past for his or her knowledge so it can make up for the extra effort and make it worth while.

Hopefully there are others up here who are actively repairing for the trade or retail who can help you more with current parts ordering needs.

Hope this helps a bit though,
Bob

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