Elgin 670
Description
The Elgin 670, produced in small numbers and launched in 1951, is an American-made movement that is exceptionally well-made.
base plate
Even the two minute wheel bearings are equipped with jewels, and thanks to the tonneau shape, the mainspring barrel can be made particularly large - it’s hard to imagine anything more.
gear train
The movement uses a classic design, starting with the mainspring barrel, then the directly driven central minute wheel, the third wheel, the decentral seconds wheel at 6 o’clock, and the escape wheel.
A Swiss-style pallet fork escapement is used.
side view of the gear train
The comparatively large, two-armed balance wheel is not yet shock-protected. It operates at a contemporary slow rate of 18,000 A/h, and its hairspring with a Breguet terminal curve can be adjusted using a long regulator arm.
lever bearing
The Elgin 670 uses a cap jewel fixed with a screwe on the bottom of the movement side pallet fork bearing.
In fact, this movement uses cap jewels for both the pallet fork (2x) and the escape wheel (2x), resulting in an exceptionally large total of 21 jewels.
Interestingly, the cap jewels always have differently shaped mountings.
ratchet with spring
The ratchet mechanism uses a fairly large spring that is wound around the movement side mainspring barrel bearing and therefore can be found below the ratchet wheel.
Elgin 670: Dial side
On the dial side you can of course see the yoke winding mechanism, but most of all all the three different cap jewel bearings for balance wheel, lever and escape wheel.
In the lab
Timegrapher result
Because of a bent pivot of the seconds wheel, this well used movement was not able to show its real capabilities on the timegrapher.| horizontal positions | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| dial up | +2 s/d | 279° | 1.5ms |
| dial down | +8 s/d | 295° | 1.1ms |
| vertical positions | |||
| crown right (12 up) | -52 s/d | 257° | 1.3ms |
| crown up (3 up) | -15 s/d | 261° | 1.1ms |
| crown left (6 up) | +18 s/d | 263° | 1.5ms |
| crown down (9 up) | -16 s/d | 250° | 1.8ms |
Technical data
| Manufacturer: | Elgin |
| Caliber: | 670 |
| Size: | 15/0s (measured: 17,6 x 24,4mm) |
| A/h: | 18000 |
| Number of jewels: | 21 |
| Escapement: | Pallet lever |
| Balance types: | monometallic screw balance (two legs) |
| Shock protection(s): | none |
| Balance bearing / direction hairspring: | Clockwise |
| Moveable stud: | no |
| Adjust mechanism: | Hairspring key |
| Construction: |
|
| Construction type: | solid construction |
| Winding mechanism: | yoke winding system |
| Setting lever spring: | 3 holes |
| Attachment of setting lever: | screwed |
| Features: |
|
| Production years: | 1951 - 1952 |
| Production figures: | 31.501 |
| References: | Feilner: Bl. 43 3906 |
| Inventory number: | 24037 |
Usage gallery
Lord Elgin gents watch