Calling all Pocket Watch Buffs

jyles_baldemor · Jan 16, 2023

Canuck
Like them all, but love the Omega.

The Waltham is really clean looking. I still need to look at more but the both the Omega and Waltham are clean.

Fritz · Jan 16, 2023

jyles_baldemor
Been interested in getting a pocket watch. There something about it that draws me towards it everytime I see it.

go for it...

If you get one of the more common American models you don’t have to spend a ton to get a beautiful piece and parts are reasonably plentiful as well.

just steer clear of that @DaveK character, he’ll be trying to wrap everything you own in leather trimming.

DaveK · Jan 16, 2023

Fritz
go for it...

If you get one of the more common American models you don’t have to spend a ton to get a beautiful piece and parts are reasonably plentiful as well.

just steer clear of that @DaveK character, he’ll be trying to wrap everything you own in leather trimming.

Be kind to the new members @Fritz, don’t make them spend all their money on custom made pocket watch lanyards and belt holsters 😗

ghce · Jan 16, 2023

Fritz
go for it...

If you get one of the more common American models you don’t have to spend a ton to get a beautiful piece and parts are reasonably plentiful as well.

just steer clear of that @DaveK character, he’ll be trying to wrap everything you own in leather trimming.

Common ones like Bunn special, 60 hour reserve, double sunk dial, Montgomery style, with a wind indicator in a solid 18K case

Canuck · Jan 16, 2023

A Bunn 60-hour with winding reserve indicator? Show me one and I might buy it! 😁

ghce · Jan 16, 2023

Canuck
A Bunn 60-hour with winding reserve indicator? Show me one and I might buy it! 😁

It never hurts to have an impossible dream 😁
But if one of them ever existed I doubt my bank balance would have any chance of covering the cost.

Canuck · Jan 16, 2023

ghce
It never hurts to have an impossible dream 😁
But if one of them ever existed I doubt my bank balance would have any chance of covering the cost.[/QU

Don’t stop buying pocket watches until one turns up!

Fritz · Jan 17, 2023

DaveK
Be kind to the new members @Fritz, don’t make them spend all their money on custom made pocket watch lanyards and belt holsters 😗

Ya gotta ease them into the habit... first he gets five or six nice watches... I hear @Canuck is selling off his Bunn Special / wind indicator collection...

then, when the poor bugger is properly hooked, you get in there with the leather goods!

Canuck · Jan 17, 2023

@Fritz ,

The Illinois Bunn Special with wind indicator is just as rare as the Bunn Special 60-hour with wind indicator. Illinois didn’t make a wind indicator model in 16 or 18 size! So if I am besieged by the gullible wanting to buy my Illinois Bunn Special wind indicator models, I shall cast a hex on you and your collection! 🫨

Bernhard J · Jan 17, 2023

My Elgin has a wind indicator 😝

Canuck · Jan 17, 2023

@Bernhard J ,

Why didn’t Illinois choose to build a wind indicator model? And Hamilton, (aside from their marine chronometers) didn't either. Of course, Elgin and Waltham did! Who else built wind indicator models in 16 or 18-size pocket watches? Does anyone know off hand? I have a 16-size, 23-jewel Waltham Vanguard indicator model. A friend has three of these!

noelekal · Jan 17, 2023

Well, even neophyte pocket watch aficionados like me can field a couple of Waltham wind indicators, a Vanguard (left), and a Crescent Street (right). I'll just stick 'em up here again.

Canuck · Jan 17, 2023

No such thing as showing a particular pocket watch more than once, twice, three, or four times, or more, even! 🥰

noelekal
Well, even neophyte pocket watch aficionados like me can field a couple of Waltham wind indicators, a Vanguard (left), and a Crescent Street (right). I'll just stick 'em up here again.

Bernhard J · Jan 17, 2023

In English pocket watches wind indicators are also found and typically regarded as a quality feature (rather than jewel count)

Canuck · Jan 17, 2023

I just finished servicing the pictured Elgin pocket watch for a friend. Earlier this evening, I was reading a thread on the OB about a watch repair guy who claims to hate working on antique and vintage watches, and this one came to mind. It is not very distinguished in that it is not highly finished or highly adjusted. Plus it is not in its original case. It is quite unlike any Elgin of its vintage that I have ever worked on. The winding and setting mechanism is largely what sets it apart from other Elgins of this vintage that I have ever worked on. To be honest I didn’t hold out much hope for it. But the owner really wanted it returned to health, so I decided to give it a shot. I was astonished how well it turned out. But to me, there is a sense of satisfaction that comes fro making a sows ear into a silk purse! An interesting feature is the “jewelled” dial with gold and silver brocade in the design. The watch is about 123 years old, and aside from the case, it is in remarkable condition, and the dial is beautiful.

https://pocketwatchdatabase.com/search/result/elgin/8220902

Canuck · Jan 17, 2023

Bernhard J
Indeed, similar in my Elgin Culver. Together with the coin silver case, this watch is more than massiv. I take particular care that it does not slip out of my hands.

Note that the dial name is the NATIONAL watch company. That was the original name of the company that became Elgin. When the decision had been made to change the company name to Elgin, for some time thereafter, dials were marked Elgin National Watch Co. Over time the word National was phased out, and the firm became Elgin.

Canuck · Jan 17, 2023

In 1995, the NAWCC held a symposium on railroad standard pocket watches and railroad time, at the clock Tower Resort in Rockford, Illinois. A friend and I went to that symposium. A feature of the resort was perhaps one of the most outstanding watch and clock museums anywhere in the world. The museum was simply called The Time Museum. The resort and the museum were owned by Seth Atwood who was of advanced years at that time. To give you an idea of his status as a collector, and also an idea of his wherewithal, he commissioned someone to build a replica of Harrison’s marine chronometer # 1. Very soon after we visited the museum, it was shut down, and the museum’s artifacts were dispersed. Seth Atwood passed away at around that time. One prized volume in my collection is a hard cover book which shows most if not all the museum artifacts, along with detail on each item. To gain an idea of the museum, if interested, go to Google Images, and type in The Time Museum, Rockford, Illinois. I tried to provide a live link, but it didn’t work.

A significant portion of the museum’s artifacts was at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry in (of all places), Chicago. Before you go, check with the museum to see if the exhibit is still there. It was a number of years ago.

https://www.roadtripamerica.com/places/timemus.htm

Here is a link to a Wikipedia article on Seth Atwood.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seth_G._Atwood

Fritz · Jan 19, 2023

Canuck
@Fritz ,

The Illinois Bunn Special with wind indicator is just as rare as the Bunn Special 60-hour with wind indicator. Illinois didn’t make a wind indicator model in 16 or 18 size! So if I am besieged by the gullible wanting to buy my Illinois Bunn Special wind indicator models, I shall cast a hex on you and your collection! 🫨

I figured it out this morning when I wound up my ‘28 Bunn Special.

And so, I present..

The Illinois wind indicator defined: close your eyes and pick a watch from your collection and wind it up.

if you get a cramp before you are done winding its an indicator of an Illinois 60 hour spring.

easy...

TexOmega · Jan 19, 2023

Fritz
Ya gotta ease them into the habit... first he gets five or six nice watches... I hear @Canuck is selling off his Bunn Special / wind indicator collection...

then, when the poor bugger is properly hooked, you get in there with the leather goods!

I kinda like that GSTP on leather😗

Canuck · Jan 19, 2023

The Illinois Watch Co. Was bought out by Hamilton, circa 1928-29. The first Illinois watch to be finished by Hamilton was the grade 161. This was basically a Bunn Special 60-hour with a model number given to it by Hamilton. The watch was still marked as an Illinois, but the movement was marked Illinois Watch, Springfield. The abbreviation CO was omitted on Hamilton-made Illinois watches. The grade 161 had 21-jewels. There were 8 versions of the Illinois Bunn Special 60-hour grade 161 produced by Hamilton, including an Elinvar model. Hamilton also produced basically the same movement with 23-jewels. It was the grade 163, and was made in 4 models. One model was not equipped with Elinvar, while the other 3 were equipped with Elinvar. Hamilton had experimented with a 60-hour movement, but I gather it never got past the prototype stage.

This all leads to a question for @Fritz . What is the serial number and jewel count on your Illinois Bunn Special 60-hour, and how is the movement marked? With the CO. , or without the CO. ? Is it a grade 161 or 163. That was how Hamilton marked these models.

(This information gleaned from the Meggers & Ehrhardt “blue book” on Illinois, and Shugart, Engel, &. Gilbert bible # 34 from 2014.)