Calling all Pocket Watch Buffs

bobertdob · Apr 28, 2026

I recently added a 1915 Omega to my collection of Regina and Omega Pocket Watches. I had posted a picture of the Regina 21 Jewel movement with its simple micrometer regulator earlier but I recently got a 21 Jewel Omega with was also pictured here by you or perhaps someone responding to your earlier note...anyways here is a glimpse of my 16 size 21 Jewel Omega open face in a gold filled case. Runs well, crystal appears to be plastic and yellowed so I will be replacing it with glass shortly. Ran it for a day and kept good time so I look forward to wearing it.

bobertdob · Apr 28, 2026

bobertdob
I recently added a 1915 Omega to my collection of Regina and Omega Pocket Watches. I had posted a picture of the Regina 21 Jewel movement with its simple micrometer regulator earlier but I recently got a 21 Jewel Omega with was also pictured here by you or perhaps someone responding to your earlier note...anyways here is a glimpse of my 16 size 21 Jewel Omega open face in a gold filled case. Runs well, crystal appears to be plastic and yellowed so I will be replacing it with glass shortly. Ran it for a day and kept good time so I look forward to wearing it.

But in the same deal I picked up a spectacular early ie. 1909 Hampden 18S 17J Dueber Grand railroad grade pocket watch in a spectacular 4 oz Illinois Elgin Hercules Silver Filled case embellished with a gold inlay of a miner on the back....Watch has Personality!!!....runs well and just an outstanding conversation piece....Has a nice leather lanyard with it

bobertdob · Apr 28, 2026

And I also got a Burlington Bulldog to add to my Burlington collection! Burlington was an independent company not a division or brand of Illinois but for most of their years Burlington sourced their movements from Illinois so you date them from the PWDB from the Illinois section. I love the 16 Size Burlingtons and have picked up some made early on but the watch I just got was made in 1927 which is relevant as the owner of the Illinois Watch Co had died his company floundered and was taken over by Hamilton in lieu of bankruptcy. Burlington however either could not or did not contract with Hamilton for movements post 1927 so for a few years contracted with Henry Moser in Switzerland to make movements very similar to those that had been produced for Burlington by Illinois. This 1927 Burlington is one of the last produced by Illinois and labelled the Bulldog model on the back of the case. The case is also somewhat unique with a metal ie. GF inner cover but its not on a hinge its friction fit....I now have both an early and late Burlington 21J 16 size pocket watch and also fortunate enough to find and now own a rare 14 S 21 J Burlington made by the Henry Moser company.....

noelekal · Apr 29, 2026

Would you purchase a pocket watch from this man?

I did a thing. It was not a good thing either.

Ever since I went down the rabbit hole of pocket watch collecting I've always had an inordinate fear of dropping a pocket watch and having it "grenade" into ruination. No shock resistance, glass crystals, and vitreous enamel dials, large cases that dent, all features that combine to render pocket watches into grenades with pins pulled and just waiting to detonate, to my mind.

Last Friday afternoon I went to fetch a case of 16 size pocket watches from off of a closet shelf in order to put away a couple of pocket watches that I had recently worn, but then had been left on top of the gun safe. I noticed that a stray necktie had its "tail" caught under the case on the shelf. Not a great length of tie tail either, but just the end. I keep the neckties on a tie caddie hanging on the inside of the closet door so have no idea how that tie ended up underneath the watch case on the shelf. The watch case lid was unfastened.

I grasped the tie and tugged at the tail to free it. Not a hard and jerky tug, just a mild tug. This sent the entire case, still containing 16 pocket watches, crashing to the closet floor. Some of the pocket watches clattered onto a shoe shine box with surface about 9 inches above the floor, but most cascaded to the floor which is a wood veneer with concrete slab beneath, about a 42-inch fall.

Was loud enough to sound catastrophic to Mrs. noelekal who was in another part of the house. She hollered: "What happened? Are you alright?" I replied that yes I was fine; just putting things away in my messy hobby room.

Her reply: "Well, it's about time you straightened up that mess."

Feeling heartsick and wretched I gathered up the watches and replaced them into the case, in the favored order, just so. One got completely away and was lurking underneath the bottom closet rod that has trousers hanging on it and it took a few minutes to turn up.

Examination found no broken crystals or cracks in dials. I have been winding up and setting three per day too check them out mechanically. I forgot to wind three yesterday. So far, the tests have been positive, all watches apparently running normally and keeping time.

What are the chances of me testing the 16 pocket watches and finding not a single casualty?

TexOmega · Apr 29, 2026

😵‍💫

Head to Vegas, quickly, if no staffs are broken.

Canuck · Apr 29, 2026

noelekal
Would you purchase a pocket watch from this man?

I did a thing. It was not a good thing either.

Ever since I went down the rabbit hole of pocket watch collecting I've always had an inordinate fear of dropping a pocket watch and having it "grenade" into ruination. No shock resistance, glass crystals, and vitreous enamel dials, large cases that dent, all features that combine to render pocket watches into grenades with pins pulled and just waiting to detonate, to my mind.

Last Friday afternoon I went to fetch a case of 16 size pocket watches from off of a closet shelf in order to put away a couple of pocket watches that I had recently worn, but then had been left on top of the gun safe. I noticed that a stray necktie had its "tail" caught under the case on the shelf. Not a great length of tie tail either, but just the end. I keep the neckties on a tie caddie hanging on the inside of the closet door so have no idea how that tie ended up underneath the watch case on the shelf. The watch case lid was unfastened.

I grasped the tie and tugged at the tail to free it. Not a hard and jerky tug, just a mild tug. This sent the entire case, still containing 16 pocket watches, crashing to the closet floor. Some of the pocket watches clattered onto a shoe shine box with surface about 9 inches above the floor, but most cascaded to the floor which is a wood veneer with concrete slab beneath, about a 42-inch fall.

Was loud enough to sound catastrophic to Mrs. noelekal who was in another part of the house. She hollered: "What happened? Are you alright?" I replied that yes I was fine; just putting things away in my messy hobby room.

Her reply: "Well, it's about time you straightened up that mess."

Feeling heartsick and wretched I gathered up the watches and replaced them into the case, in the favored order, just so. One got completely away and was lurking underneath the bottom closet rod that has trousers hanging on it and it took a few minutes to turn up.

Examination found no broken crystals or cracks in dials. I have been winding up and setting three per day too check them out mechanically. I forgot to wind three yesterday. So far, the tests have been positive, all watches apparently running normally and keeping time.

What are the chances of me testing the 16 pocket watches and finding not a single casualty?

I have flat trays like the one in your picture. But I use two small suitcase style cases with two layers of foam rubber cups, and the inside of the top cover containing rubber fingers to hold the watches in place. I insert a rectangle of foam carpet under padding before I close the lid as the watches aren’t secure without it. Each carry case holds 20 watches. When we do an exhibit of 120 watches, the flat trays come out as overflow. But I always snub them shut with elastics just in case. If you can’t get to Vegas, buy a lottery ticket!

TexOmega · Apr 30, 2026

A favorite

Canuck · Apr 30, 2026

A friend showed me this today. It is looking for a new home. Gorgeous! In spite of the fact I don’t collect Rockfords. Case is not so nice. In a Canadian made case. Circa 1903.

From the Pocketwatchdatabase.com site :
https://pocketwatchdatabase.com/search/result/rockford/600192

noelekal · Apr 30, 2026

Lovely movement and I have thought I would like to add a Rockford to The Home For Wayward Watches, but I'd just drop it on the floor.

MarktheTime · May 1, 2026

Couldn’t resist grabbing the vintage ad from 1946 to match the pink gold Patek pocket watch, now 80 years later! More pics on my Instagram feed at @MarktheTime. 🤓

Erik_H · May 1, 2026

Rockford! I have a few and I really like their movement decorations. This is a 18 size grade 825 private label from 1898.

When looked at up close Rockford’s movement decorations almost look three-dimensional.

TexOmega · May 1, 2026

Hamilton grade 972 circa 1902 Pendant set RR grade/approved

Pendant set was universally allowed at the time, the 1898 rules had no mention of pendant vs lever set. The 1907-8 rules stated lever set was the requirement. Plus this was about the time "Adjusted to 5 positions" had to be marked on the movement.

US requirements

My favorite dial signature(including the period after Co).
Correct hands for the era and a mighty handsome Keystone case....beaded and coin-edge.

A nice COA would make the dial and movement really pop.

watchmann44232 · May 1, 2026

I started with small Elgin (womens?). Because I had no connection to the brand previously I rationalized this is a good specimen to start from a clean slate. And, one appeared online that ticked many boxes: hunting case, pre-1900 with roman numerals on the dial, moon hands, movement mid-grade(ish?), felt good about the looks, and the price wasn't too bad. Unlike a lot of people who appear to be selling grandpas old pocket watches, this gentleman after some messaging appeared to be a collector downsizing (having purchased this watch some ~20 years a go via EBay from US seller).

Please see below the pictures (sellers, it arrived but I'm out of town too). I've been 'dissecting' the watch as follows while learning where to draw information on various characteristics.

Movement serial/grade: 3746817 (Elgin grade: 67, 15 jewels, 1890) [serial]
Case type, size: Hunting, 6s/40.8mm (64.3g), gold filled
Dial: Single Sunk / Enamel / some uneven discolouration [dial]
Hands: Moon [hands]
Case: Dueber [dueber][wikipedia]

Observations: The dial has this 'robot(ish)' figurine around Elgin text - only found a couple of women's Elgin's via google images that had similar figure (but not the same). Also, I'm thinking the moon hands are little early, but then again internet tells me they were around at 1890s. I didn't look too hard on this because I've realised I really like the moon hands!

I suppose other than obviously period incorrect case, there are no easy ways to tell if the watch has been re-cased?

One down. I am feeling pretty good about this right now. Also my wife gave it a pass. I hope I didn't miss anything too obvious here...

[serial] https://pocketwatchdatabase.com/search/result/elgin/3746817
[dial] https://mb.nawcc.org/wiki/Encyclopedia-Subjects/American-Pocket-Watches/Pocket-Watch-Dials
[hands] https://pocketwatchdatabase.com/reference/hands
[dueber] https://pocketwatchdatabase.com/guide/case-companies/dueber-watch-case-mfg-co
[wikipedia] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dueber-Hampden_Watch_Company

Canuck · May 2, 2026

Well, I have been wearing my 118 year old Keystone Howard Series 5 pocket watch on my @DaveK mystery braid leather lanyard for the last week, after having serviced it. On Friday, I used the lanyard to fish my Howard out of my watch pocket, and just as the watch began to emerge from my watch pocket, my leather lanyard separated from the watch, and the watch fell………….back into my watch pocket! A word of caution to those who have bought Mystery Braid lanyards, I found out the hard way that these lanyards can let go of your watch, if you don’t keep an eye on them. Quite by a stroke of good fortune, my Howard is none the worse for wear after a strange occurrence.

TexOmega · May 2, 2026

How do they “let go”? Are you saying they break?

Canuck · May 2, 2026

I’ve had two of them let me down. On mine (and perhaps others), at the watch end of the lanyard, there are two loops, a brass stud, and a third loop. On one of mine, the leather tore at the stud, and the strap pulled out of the three loops. I still use that one by stapling it. Yesterday, on my other one, the strap came OFF the stud, and the strap then pulled through the three loops, and let go of my Howard which (by a stroke of good fortune) fell back into my watch pocket. I’ll continue to use them, but I’ll staple them!

Waltesefalcon · May 2, 2026

I got mine from Dave when he first started up, and I've never had a problem. @Canuck What weight is the leather of your straps?

Waltesefalcon · May 3, 2026

Last year I bought this Columbus Railway King, at the time it was in a badly worn open face gold filled case I bought an Illinois Model 2 Grade 2 in a plain coin silver hunting case to swap the cases on (the Illinois is in the old worn case the Columbus came in) but I remembered I had this case squirreled away. The only problem was that it was missing a bezel. After talking to a member over on the NAWCC forum I was directed to Bill Eichholz in Florida who provided the bezel for this one and did some case repair on another of my watches. Anyway, I am happy to have this watch in this 4 oz coin silver Chicago case.

TexOmega · May 3, 2026

Canuck
I’ve had two of them let me down. On mine (and perhaps others), at the watch end of the lanyard, there are two loops, a brass stud, and a third loop. On one of mine, the leather tore at the stud, and the strap pulled out of the three loops. I still use that one by stapling it. Yesterday, on my other one, the strap came OFF the stud, and the strap then pulled through the three loops, and let go of my Howard which (by a stroke of good fortune) fell back into my watch pocket. I’ll continue to use them, but I’ll staple them!

Ok, thanks.....I have a few and will make a mental note to be watchful.........so to speak.

Never had a problem with mine.

ghce · May 3, 2026

Canuck
Well, I have been wearing my 118 year old Keystone Howard Series 5 pocket watch on my @DaveK mystery braid leather lanyard for the last week, after having serviced it. On Friday, I used the lanyard to fish my Howard out of my watch pocket, and just as the watch began to emerge from my watch pocket, my leather lanyard separated from the watch, and the watch fell………….back into my watch pocket! A word of caution to those who have bought Mystery Braid lanyards, I found out the hard way that these lanyards can let go of your watch, if you don’t keep an eye on them. Quite by a stroke of good fortune, my Howard is none the worse for wear after a strange occurrence.

That reminds me, I must get my orphaned Howard movement elevated to encased status.
Your Howard has a stunning dial!!