Expert: Melvin Mills - 5/15/2008

Question
QUESTION: Hi,  I have a Seth Thomas pocketwatch that runs too fast, it is from about 1978.  Anything I can do? I'm reasonably handy.

ANSWER: Is it a quartz watch or a mechanical one?

Kind regards,

Melvin

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: It is mechanical, there is a "flywheel" that spins back and forth about 3/8"in diameter

Answer
Tim,

It might have been exposed to a strong magnetic field.

Try this:

Hold the watch in one hand and a magnet in the other.  Hold them together in front of you.  Spread your arms until they are outstretched, like you might see from pictures of Jesus on a cross.
Now drop the magnet. NOT THE WATCH. That will take away the magnetic field.

If you have a de-magnetizer, that will work too :)

If that is not the problem, it most likly needs a cleaning. There is probably something keeping two or more of the coils of the "flywheel", which is the balance wheel, together.  By effectively shortening the length of the coils, it make the watch speed up.

Let's hope it is the first, which is an easy fix.  Cleaning is easy but you might not have tools to do it.

Kind regards,

Melvin