Above my paygrade – part two

In Wordsworth’s manifesto of the English Romantic movement, there is a rejection of the high flown language that passed for poetry prior to 1800. The emphasis is on plainness of speech, and finding the extraordinary in the ordinary, of finding a richness of spirit and meaning in the very poorest of places. And when we view an object or a scene it is not simply the contemporary reality we see, more the multiple layers of its existence in time, as granted by imagination and history.

Thus an old watch becomes more than a timepiece, not so much the sum of the time it tells as the times it has known. There’s also something truly beautiful about mechanical watch mechanisms. They sum up all that is best in mankind, in the thousand minds and the hands of the past that came together to create such delicate, wondrous devices.

So when I find one that’s ailing and abandoned, I take a pleasure in seeing if I can get it going again, in helping it on its way. There is no purpose in this, other than a kind of defiance, and few people are appreciative of it anyway. After all, why not simply buy a new watch? Well, that may be the best policy if all you’re concerned about is telling the time,  but there is something more in restoring life to a machine created by past hands and minds. We pay homage to it and to something in ourselves. For a certain type of person – me – there is something of the soul-life in it, something Romantic.

This Accurist I’m working on is a quality piece, and comes apart nicely, easily. I’m not used to seeing gold hallmarks on a watch. They confirm the date of manufacture, while various arcane service marks tell me it’s seen some work, back in the days when watchmakers were numerous and not as expensive.

So, what’s up with it? Well, the balance won’t swing, but a few puffs from the blower brush seem to wake it up and it runs, hesitantly at first, settling down a little slow and there are significant variations in all the positions – face up, face down, crown left, crown right. Either the balance is worn or it just needs cleaning. We’ll stay positive and assume cleaning will do the trick.

I’m not going to disturb the whole mechanism, so it’s just a light strip and clean the balance. I do the pivot holes of the escapement train with a toothpick dipped in white spirit. Watchmakers will grind their teeth at the thought, but they had their chance and turned their noses at it. So,… my turn, my methods.

Then it’s oiling, and the best bit for me, a steady hand and a dropper finer than a pin. It’s just the pocket-jewel atop the balance that’s the usual challenge, trying to get the dropper through those balance coils without touching them. I do smear oil on the coils a few times, so clean it off by immersion in white spirit – the Duncan Swirl method – try again, get there finally. Then I tease it all back together and it runs – much better – much less variation in the positions. It’s still a little slow, so I leave it a day to let the new oil settle in, pick it up again tomorrow. Pleasure postponed is always worth waiting for.

Tomorrow, nudge the regulator arm, let it rest, count the beats. An error of fifteen seconds a day is the best we can hope for here, but I’m happy with a minute on a piece this old. It runs well. The beat is good, nice and flat on the trace. Keeps time. We clean the case up a bit, give it its old sparkle back. That foxing on the dial looks just right, I think, and the guy’s happy, restored to his past, to his place in time. And that he’s happy makes me happy.

Sure, it’s a good piece, and worth it. Plus, we needed each other. It’s certainly picked me up and dusted me down after a bit of a kicking and I’ve saved it from oblivion, lying useless and forgotten in a keepsake drawer. Small victories are important when you’re coming out of a dark place. Accurist, eh? They put their name on some good watches in their time.

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Above my paygrade – part one

It’s above my pay-grade really, this watch, but without me it’s dead. I know its history, and that doesn’t help. Purchased as a twenty first gift by a doting aunt in 1958, it’s seen a man through all the milestones of a long life. But you know how it goes with these old mechanical timepieces? You leave them be if they’re running okay – and it’s been running okay for sixty years – and then they stop.

It could be nothing. A bit of dirt on the escapement. If so, cleaning and oiling will sort it out. The problem is I’m just a tinkerer, some professional skill with machines, but not at this scale. I’ve done watches before, yes, made a hobby of it, so I’m not exactly clueless, but they’re mostly worthless pieces I’ve worked on. The case of this piece is gold, so I’m not expecting a cheap movement inside of it, and I’m right. Hiding, all shy under the balance wheel, the Loupe reveals the distinctive mark of a Swiss ETA.

There are still watchmakers around of course, but they’d want a hundred quid before they’d look at it, those who would even deign to touch it in the first place. I mean an Accurist is a dcent watch, but isn’t exactly an Omega is it?

So the guy was disappointed, hesitated to part with that much money, even though he still clearly valued the watch, would sooner I chanced it, he said, and no blame if I killed it. I mean, after all,… it’s dead already isn’t it?

I enjoy stripping and cleaning old watches, especially the fine oiling and the regulating. It’s a meditation of sorts – the tools, the focus, the dexterity, like Tai Chi in miniature. I’ve years of political stuff to get out my system now after a stunning defeat in the elections, one I don’t see ever being turned around in my lifetime, so I’m turning back to my hobbies for deliverance.

I’ve deleted the news apps from my phone, no longer listen to the BBC. I’ll read a book at lunchtimes at work instead of poring over current affairs online like usual. The new PM can declare nuclear war, the Labour party can appoint whatever bland centerist they like as a leader and I wouldn’t know or care. It’s an over-reaction to a profound disappointment of course, and I’ll get over it, but old watches like this fascinate me, they have character, and history, and this one is easing me back onto my feet.

Except,… I wish it didn’t have to be this particular one because it’s a fine piece and I’m feeling sullied at the moment, lacking confidence. It needs someone more competent.

But what the hell, here goes,…

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