Restoring my Grandfathers Late 30s Gruen Doctors Watch

[offrdmania]

This watch was given to me among other things about 20 years ago after my grandfather died. I didn’t think much of it then due to its corroded and dirty state, so it was tucked away in the closet and forgotten about until the other day while clearing out cloths to send to charity.

It is my understanding that this watch was given to my grandfather, by my grandmother on their first Christmas together after being married earlier in 1938.

I am told that my grandfather wore this watch while serving in the Pacific during WWII.

It is a 1937 Gruen Model 290 doctors watch. It runs on the rarer 17J cal. 500 Manual Wind movement. Most cal. 500 movements were 15J.
The case is 44mm long and 22mm wide, not including the crown.

Unfortunately, the movement has seen moisture and is rusted on the crown side. The crown is actually gone. It broke off sometime in its life and is lost to history.

So far, I have only polished the case, the crystal and installed a new crocodile strap for it. I didnt take before pictures but it was bad. The case was dark and dirty, the crystal was hard to see through. It was a mess.







I happened to stumble on another 17J cal. 500 movement that runs, to scavenge parts off of.
Coincidentally, the serial number on the donor movement is in the same range as mine. Most likely produced in 1937 or maybe as late as 1938.

[themast]

Cool. Keep us posted with your progress.