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Calling all Pocket Watch Buffs
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ghce
路My 鈥減arts stash. Six drawers. Plus a 100 year accumulation of NOS obsolete watch parts. I am constantly astonished at how often I am able to find what I need!
There are a lot of "parts watches" in those drawers and quite a few of them jump out at at me as ones that I would be restoring with due haste.
I have always been of the persuasion that if the watch is reasonably complete then it should be restored, and that's what I do.
I recently got just a stainless case and back of a manual wind watch. The case was so crisp clean and unpolished I felt it my duty to hunt down the reference from the case back and source all the correct parts, dial, movement, hands, crown etc and have ended up with a nice looking watch ready to do it's duty for the next generation.
As for the Illinois I will ask my Watchmaker if he's up for the task of doing the balance wheel.
One of my main drivers for getting it was the year of production, the same as another recent purchase.
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Alpha
路路Kilt Owner, Beagle Parent, Omega CollectorMY French friend enjoying a rare outing this evening 馃榾
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Alpha
路路Kilt Owner, Beagle Parent, Omega CollectorHumble Smiths Empire this evening,
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DaveK
路路Yoda of YodelersThere are a lot of "parts watches" in those drawers and quite a few of them jump out at at me as ones that I would be restoring with due haste.
I have always been of the persuasion that if the watch is reasonably complete then it should be restored, and that's what I do.
I recently got just a stainless case and back of a manual wind watch. The case was so crisp clean and unpolished I felt it my duty to hunt down the reference from the case back and source all the correct parts, dial, movement, hands, crown etc and have ended up with a nice looking watch ready to do it's duty for the next generation.
As for the Illinois I will ask my Watchmaker if he's up for the task of doing the balance wheel.
One of my main drivers for getting it was the year of production, the same as another recent purchase.
Fun car !
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ghce
路IIRC, from a previous post, that is a1928 Austin?
Yes indeed, 1928 Austin Burnham Sedan Sixteen light Six. (16/6)
As the name suggests a 6 cylinder engine (2249 cc) though it's possible this is a 2504 cc engine I will need to check if it's been changed at some time in its history.
What to me is a bit fascinating is that the "door handles" are actually carriage handles ( horse drawn days) and that the sedans had smaller carriage handles and that the open tourers had larger carriage handles, the rational being that if you had an open roofed car you wore gloves etc and so needed bigger handles to accommodate easier opening with your larger hands.
This is the last year that the 16/6 had them changing them to the more modern door handles that we see today.
And yes it's fun to drive, completely different to my smaller 1934 Austin Ten- Four being a much larger car with more antiquated equipment and systems.
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Canuck
路Yes indeed, 1928 Austin Burnham Sedan Sixteen light Six. (16/6)
As the name suggests a 6 cylinder engine (2249 cc) though it's possible this is a 2504 cc engine I will need to check if it's been changed at some time in its history.
What to me is a bit fascinating is that the "door handles" are actually carriage handles ( horse drawn days) and that the sedans had smaller carriage handles and that the open tourers had larger carriage handles, the rational being that if you had an open roofed car you wore gloves etc and so needed bigger handles to accommodate easier opening with your larger hands.
This is the last year that the 16/6 had them changing them to the more modern door handles that we see today.
And yes it's fun to drive, completely different to my smaller 1934 Austin Ten- Four being a much larger car with more antiquated equipment and systems.
I keep staring at your Austin, and I can鈥檛 help but see (what appears to me to be) an American made car. I guess I have a preconceived notion as to what English cars looked like over the decades. Especially since in your earlier post, you mentioned you had acquired an Austin, but didn鈥檛 (at that time) show a picture. Austin鈥檚 were not likely imported into Canada until possibly the late 1940s or early 1950s. So these later models were what I had in mind.
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ghce
路I keep staring at your Austin, and I can鈥檛 help but see (what appears to me to be) an American made car. I guess I have a preconceived notion as to what English cars looked like over the decades. Especially since in your earlier post, you mentioned you had acquired an Austin, but didn鈥檛 (at that time) show a picture. Austin鈥檚 were not likely imported into Canada until possibly the late 1940s or early 1950s. So these later models were what I had in mind.
I would have thought that Canada being a Commonwealth country that there would be plenty but perhaps the proximity of Henry Ford and co may have made for stiff competition for the Brit manufacturers and with the USA predilection for bigger is better as opposed to the humble Brit who didn't want to be to flashy or waste to much cash the once bigger cars of the 10's and 20's devolved to more smaller utilitarian vehicles of the 40's but prior to that English cars had their fair share of big practical Saloons too.
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Canuck
路I would have thought that Canada being a Commonwealth country that there would be plenty but perhaps the proximity of Henry Ford and co may have made for stiff competition for the Brit manufacturers and with the USA predilection for bigger is better as opposed to the humble Brit who didn't want to be to flashy or waste to much cash the once bigger cars of the 10's and 20's devolved to more smaller utilitarian vehicles of the 40's but prior to that English cars had their fair share of big practical Saloons too.
Austins (or British cars generally) most certainly reached these shores. But probably not in quantity until probably the early 1950s. I remember the very first British car I recall ever having seen. It was an MG TC, vintage probably early late 1930s or early 1940s. It reached these shores after having been imported by a returning WWII RCAF pilot who fell in love with them while in England. I saw this car in about 1949 or 1950. Hence my vision of British cars as represented by those from the 1950s and later.
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TexOmega
路I've always liked Rockford PWs and this one came to me not too long ago along with the last two Ball PW's I have posted here.
Never had seen one in the flesh.
And the condition was/is overwhelming馃槻.....Take my money, please.
A private label, Murphy & Co's "Railway" with a unique two-tone patterned movement Rockford offered to distinguish their private label issues from their standard checker-board patterned issues.
Grade 88 Model 7...... advertised then as "full and finely adjusted" (temperature, isochronism and positions) their top grade for this period.
16j lever set
Nice Deuber GF case, beaded and double coin-edged馃憤 and engine-turned back, also a nice subtle bead around the hinged bezel.
Fleur-De-Lis hands馃憤
Top-Notch porcelain (for you Continentals, vitreous enamel) dial with Roman numerals and outer RR minute track and same for subdial馃憤
Nice thick, flat glass crystal
Circa 1889
Never had seen one in the flesh.
And the condition was/is overwhelming馃槻.....Take my money, please.
A private label, Murphy & Co's "Railway" with a unique two-tone patterned movement Rockford offered to distinguish their private label issues from their standard checker-board patterned issues.
Grade 88 Model 7...... advertised then as "full and finely adjusted" (temperature, isochronism and positions) their top grade for this period.
16j lever set
Nice Deuber GF case, beaded and double coin-edged馃憤 and engine-turned back, also a nice subtle bead around the hinged bezel.
Fleur-De-Lis hands馃憤
Top-Notch porcelain (for you Continentals, vitreous enamel) dial with Roman numerals and outer RR minute track and same for subdial馃憤
Nice thick, flat glass crystal
Circa 1889
Edited:
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Canuck
路I've always liked Rockford PWs and this one came to me not too long ago along with the last two Ball PW's I have posted here.
Never had seen one in the flesh.
And the condition was/is overwhelming馃槻.....Take my money, please.
A private label, Murphy & Co's "Railway" with a unique two-tone patterned movement Rockford offered to distinguish their private label issues from their standard checker-board patterned issues.
Grade 88 Model 7...... advertised then as "full and finely adjusted" (temperature, isochronism and positions) their top grade for this period.
16j lever set
Nice Deuber GF case, beaded and double coin-edged馃憤 and engine-turned back, also a nice subtle bead around the hinged bezel.
Fleur-De-Lis hands馃憤
Top-Notch porcelain (for you Continentals, vitreous enamel) dial with Roman numerals and outer RR minute track and same for subdial馃憤
Nice thick, flat glass crystal
Circa 1889
I鈥檓 not certain how many individual watches I鈥檓 looking at in the pictures, considering that three are listed in the text. The only serial number I can read is 348088. Here is the pocketwatchdatabase listing says.
https://pocketwatchdatabase.com/search/result/rockford/348088
I don鈥檛 run into a lot of Rockford where I live, but a friend has three of them.
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TexOmega
路I鈥檓 not certain how many individual watches I鈥檓 looking at in the pictures, considering that three are listed in the text. The only serial number I can read is 348088. Here is the pocketwatchdatabase listing says.
https://pocketwatchdatabase.com/search/result/rockford/348088
I don鈥檛 run into a lot of Rockford where I live, but a friend has three of them.
One watch
馃槙
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SOG53
路Waltham Premier Vanguard 23 Jewel from 1936 in the original outer and inner boxes
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Canuck
路Yummy! A recent acquisition, or have you been hiding it from us? I don鈥檛 see any repairers marks inside the case back. So it is unlikely it was ever used by an engineer, fireman, brakeman, or conductor. Do you know the background on it? Family? The pocketwatchdatabase listing calls it a grade 1623. Most of you likely know this, but for those who don鈥檛, that grade number means 16 size, 23 jewels. This watch came from a run of 5,000 watches. Some lever set, some stem set. Your pictures don鈥檛 tell me. Stem set or lever set?
Here is the pocketwatchdatabase listing on this handsome watch.
https://pocketwatchdatabase.com/search/result/waltham/29377616
Here is the pocketwatchdatabase listing on this handsome watch.
https://pocketwatchdatabase.com/search/result/waltham/29377616
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SOG53
路Yummy! A recent acquisition, or have you been hiding it from us? I don鈥檛 see any repairers marks inside the case back. So it is unlikely it was ever used by an engineer, fireman, brakeman, or conductor. Do you know the background on it? Family? The pocketwatchdatabase listing calls it a grade 1623. Most of you likely know this, but for those who don鈥檛, that grade number means 16 size, 23 jewels. This watch came from a run of 5,000 watches. Some lever set, some stem set. Your pictures don鈥檛 tell me. Stem set or lever set?
Here is the pocketwatchdatabase listing on this handsome watch.
https://pocketwatchdatabase.com/search/result/waltham/29377616
I鈥檝e had it for more than a year actually found on eBay and moved quickly. So no provenance unfortunately. I have Hamilton and Illinois and Waltham watches, with almost identical watch as this from 1940 which is my favorite daily companion
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Waltesefalcon
路@SOG53 that's a gorgeous Waltham! I usually don't really care for boxes but yours is in such good condition that it is hard not to appreciate it.
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SOG53
路Yes I agree- dont usually pay much attention to boxes either- but this one caught my eye. I have a couple of Hamiltons in the plastic cigarette pack size case with flip top that are pretty nice watch slides in snugly
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Canuck
路Waltham Premier Vanguard 23 Jewel from 1936 in the original outer and inner boxes
This 12-size, 14-karat Waltham Colonial was a presentation watch from 1937. It came to me in the linen sachet, the vinyl presentation box, and the cardboard outer shell, just as you see it. I bought it at auction about 10 years ago. I鈥檓 sure this watch was stored as you see it for its entire life from 1937, until 2012 when I bought it. About 75 years, and succeeding generations of the family appear to have not used it. The vinyl box appears to be identical except for colour.
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SOG53
路This 12-size, 14-karat Waltham Colonial was a presentation watch from 1937. It came to me in the linen sachet, the vinyl presentation box, and the cardboard outer shell, just as you see it. I bought it at auction about 10 years ago. I鈥檓 sure this watch was stored as you see it for its entire life from 1937, until 2012 when I bought it. About 75 years, and succeeding generations of the family appear to have not used it. The vinyl box appears to be identical except for colour.
