Elma Super Elite Restoration Part #3 Fixtures & Fittings

Had some spare time today so seeing as my new stainless steel fixture and fittings arrived, its time to start piecing the machine back together, and fit preparations were to the base, and heater.

The cast alloy base of the Super Elite is what houses the heater, and three glass cleaning jars, and retainer springs. Originally the base had cork strips under the jars to help hold them firm, but at the same time to prevent accidental damage when refitting the jars back into the base. Needless to say, the old cork strips were removed when I cleaned the base up.

So the first job today was making some new cork strips. I used some A4 5mm thick cork matting, and measured out the required sized for the jars, 2 x mats, measuring 4″ x 1″

These are then stuck to the base, as photos show below. I cleaned up the mating areas first with acetone to give a good adhering.

Then it was onto fitting the new feet to the base.

And then the heater and its lower base housing, after a good clean I might add.

And corrosion, and stains removed.

Hopefully this weekend I will get the final rewiring completed, and then finally start putting the machine to work. Reason I wanted this machine is it will help me save a lot of time, as you can imagine, cleaning a watch movement by hand is a time-consuming process. I could of purchased a new machine, but where’s the fun in that?

Thanks for reading, if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to leave a comment below, thanks.!