1951 Grover

I recently had an interesting project that I thought would make a good blog post.  

It's a 1951 Grover, a model that was produced through 1953, if you include the movement change to the Grover B.

Originally it was outfitted with the 14/0 sized 17 jewel 980 movement and sometime in 1952 it was changed over to the 12/0 sized 17 jewel 752 and a B was added.  It was available on a bracelet or a strap.

My project watch arrived with a 3 pack a day nicotine habit, based on the golden tone of the dial.  It should be a two tone white / butler finished dial but this one has an even pee-yellow patina. 

The glass crystal has some scratches but more disturbing is the crown has lost it's gold layer at the knurling, so it's just a simple brass color now.

Aside from the typical grime of a dirty watch, the back is otherwise unremarkable.  Overall the case is in really good shape.  This model often shows a lot of wear near the crown and on top of the prominent lugs.

Well this is an interesting find... there's a 980 movement inside but it's from 1936.  So this is obviously a replacement movement.  Based on the overall look of the movement I would say it's been a long time since it's enjoyed a trip to the spa.

The inside of the case back is clearly stamped Grover, making identification of the model very easy.  This was a trend that started in the late 1940s and continued for about 10 years.  

The early 14/0 movements had a split set lever bridge.  Not too long after this model was made Hamilton changed the design to a single piece bridge.  If this set lever yoke ever breaks, it could be tricky to find a replacement as you'd need to find an early 980/982 to scavenge from.

I don't normally see how a movement runs before I service it but the little voice in my head told me to give this one a try.  It runs but it's more accurate to say "it ticks", it's definitely running very poorly.   Hopefully the spa treatment will improve it.

The inside of the movement definitely looks like it's been a while since it was cleaned.

30 minutes later, all of the parts are now cleaned and dried.  I also cleaned the dial and the nicotine is now gone.  It looks like a brand new dial now!

The reassembled movement is ticking away with a good motion - let's see what the timer has to say about it.

It's running slow, which isn't surprising based on the position of the regulator.  The beat error is well beyond my personal specs of 3.0 ms or less.  So I'm going to have to remove the balance and try to adjust it.  These really old balances (pre-WWII) can be very finicky.

It took some trial and error but I got it to 3.0ms and I'm going to call that good enough.  Every attempt at adjustment is a roll of the dice and I could easily damage an otherwise fine hairspring by being greedy.  It's not much of an adjustment to get below 3.0 but I could easily screw it up with one false move (ask me how I know).

I replaced the crown and installed a fresh glass crystal.  This "1936" Grover is now ready for 2026 and looks fantastic.  What a huge improvement over what I started with, don't you think?