# Gindrat & Cie



## Dick Browne (Dec 16, 2008)

Just picked this upyesterday, for the bargain price of Â£35. Silver cased, key wound and with a lovely short leather leash for the key. Overall in good, rather than very good, condition.

The only small downside is that the mainspring seems to be slipping, and I can't find a replacement.

The movement is unfamiliar and I suspect unusual, although I'm no pocket watch authority - I've never seen a movement without an escape pawl before! The balance wheel engages directly with the escape wheel.

Here's a few pics:



















And if you look closely, you'll see the reason I expect to sell it at some point in the future too









At first I thought it was a standard finger plate movement, but I needed to correct what I thought was an overbanked balance, and realised that the escape was different from anything I've worked on before.

It's all working marvelously, even with the slipping mainspring it's keeping time quite nicely.

If anybody can help with information about the movement, the manufacturer or the company in general, I'd be delighted. Also, if anybody has a barrel which will fit, and it's really getting tehm down by hanging around the house, making the place look untidy, let's talk!

Cheers

Richard


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## Sparks (Feb 3, 2010)

Hello Dick,

I've never heard of Gindrat & Cie. I do however have a small silver pocket watch which appears to have an identical movement but no identifying marks on it or the face. It's quite small at 41mm diameter over and is currently awaiting a service when funds permit. To the best of my knowledge, it's over 65 years old. I have seen pocket watches on flea-bay with similar movements so I assume these were mass-produced and then cased by various vendors.





































Sparks


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## Dick Browne (Dec 16, 2008)

Hi Sparks,

Yup, that looks very much like the same movement - even down to the lack of escape pawl 

I did have a tinker last night, having timed the watch and finding that it ran for about 8 hours on a wind with the slipping spring. I removed the barrel and uncased the spring, sure enough the tang on the outside had snapped off, so I removed it and carefully bet a new one into the spring. Popped it all back together and gave it a wind. It took a full wind without slipping and now, more than 24 hours later, it's still keeping pretty much perfect time.

Next stage is to strip and clean it, then a quick case polish and oil before putting it all back together. Then I'll probably be bored again 

Richard


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