Not many pocket watches with shock protection. Nifty!

 

I recently got a call from an on line auction outfit in town, telling me one of their clients has 9 watches that are up for probate. They asked if the executor could bring them for advice and information. Ther are really only three that amount to anything, and only one that belongs in this thread. The skinny:

https://pocketwatchdatabase.com/search/result/waltham/15133432

You will notice that the vitreous enamel dial is damaged, unfortunately. It is an 1899 model Waltham, 19-jewel, Riverside grade, make circa 1906. I think these 16-size, higher grade Walthams are about as pleasing to look at as any watch. I gave the executor chapter and verse on this one, and there is a chance it will stay in the family. Strangely, nobody in the family knows who had owned it. The monogram script on the case back doesn’t speak to any of them. The case maker is REGAL, and the case, including the cuvette, are 14-karat gold.

 

MY WATCH:

HanHart "Rattrapante" or Split Seconds Chronograph
Maybe a civilian cousin of the German Navigational stopwatch or HanHart got a great deal on a case style and just used them for many models of stopwatches.
Not really sure on the date, says Made in Germany and that would be post 1989 or pre 1945 and appears newer than that.

Front loader








NOT MY WATCHES OR IN MY COLLECTION:

 

Much nicer than my Riverside, also mine doesn't run at the moment.

 

Here’s the skinny on your 1888 model Riverside.

https://pocketwatchdatabase.com/search/result/waltham/6539320

I have read that the 1888 model is odd for a 16-size Waltham in that the movement doesn’t fit well in a standard 16-size case. I believe it is thicker than a typical Waltham 16-size. You are showing the movement without a case, and also cased Waltham. If the second picture is your 1888 in its case, you have done well to have an original hunter case to contain the movement. The 1888 model was also done in an open face version.

I see a gold centre wheel and 5 gold jewel settings, as well as gold screws on the balance wheel. And the attached description calls it “adjusted”, so it is a quality watch. Do you plan on fixing it?

 

No, it's the other HP (Hippolyte Parrenin). You were right about the French look of the movement.

What I don't know is the term for the finish on the bridges, sort of hammered or gouged pattern.

 

A sad story. Years ago, we were visiting an elderly lady who was the reason my wife and I met. My wife of 55 years was to be the reason we initially met, because of this lady. She is now deceased, but she was the mother of my wife’s best friend through junior high and high school. She was a widow, and her deceased husband was a jolly, very burly, section foreman on the Canadian National Railway. As a section foreman, he would have required a railroad standard pocket watch.

When we visited “Anna”, I asked her if she still had “George’s” railroad watch. She replied that, since nobody was interested in it after his death, she...............get this...............threw it out! One can but wonder how common a situation this might have been!

In the mid 1970s, an acquaintance whose foresight I happen to admire (but he’s a jerk), belonged to a retired railroad pensioner group, although he had never been on a railroad. He used to join these elderly retired railroaders on their beer klatches. He bought the railroad standard pocket watches from probably hundreds of these elderly retired railroaders, over the years. But he didn’t get them all, ........., just most of them. How does the saying go. A day late and a dollar short?
.

 

I'd be enthused to have one railroad watch from each of the major brands.

My problem is that I don't know which are major brands and which aren't. I suppose that Hamilton, Waltham, Illinois, and Elgin would be considered major. Not sure where that leaves Hampden, Howard, Rockford, and South Bend.

 

I remembered another movement that had the unusual "hammertone" finish (my terminology).

A recent Tissot with an ETA 6497 movement.



While not in the league of the American of finer Swiss watches, it's still an attractive watch to use as a daily wearer.

 

@noelekal ,

I once read that Hamilton paid a survey outfit to canvass active railroaders to see what brand of railroad standard watch they were carrying. IIRC, the survey results indicated that 58 % of active railroaders were carrying Hamilton railroad standard watches. The other 42% were carrying railroad standard watches from other makers who made such watches. We might well ask if the results of the survey were skewed by someone, to yield favourable answers. Elgin probably produced 5 or six times the number of watches than Hamilton did, but Hamilton specialized in railroad watches, calling themselves “The Watch of Railroad Accuracy” in their ads, for decades. You could possibly build a collection of 2 dozen or so railroad grade and railroad standard Hamiltons, and have no duplicates! Could you with any one of the other U S makers? I don’t know. You mentioned the names of 8 watch manufacturers. The big 4 were Hamilton, Waltham, Elgin, and Illinois. But the other four makers were in the business as well, and produced railroad standard watches. Why are you concerned with who were the “major” manufacturers. Is it because you want to focus only on the majors? I would call the first 4 you mentioned, the “majors”. You can acquire a collection by the “rifle” method, or the “shotgun” method. A narrow focus, or a broad focus. Has perusing the offerings in this thread helped at all in giving you a focus? My collection of railroad standard watches comprises mainly the “big 4”. But I also have Keystone Howards which I quite like. And I have two Brandt (Omega) 19-jewel grade CCRS. I just like railroad watches, period.

 

I like the hands on this one

 

Yes, me too.

Little did he realise what an influence he would be on generations of watchmakers from all brands.

Although his other contributions far outweigh simple things like numbers and hand shapes.

 

Yes it has helped. Both in focus and in prompting further internet research. Of course one has to learn discernment in order to sort out internet research, separating the good information from the inaccurate. The running thread of information posted by our Forum pocket watch collectors' posts rings true with what I perceive to be the best available on the internet. Thread content here also reveals inaccurate information provided by those who just open their heads and pour the contents out on the world wide web. It seems that if information doesn't agree with something offered in here then that information is suspected of being whacked out.

I'm admiring the "railroad watch" quite a lot myself. Only since the arrival of this thread on Omega Forms have I seriously considered pocket watches. Previously I admired them from afar while stridently avoiding diving into that rabbit hole. I don't see me gathering a vast collection of pocket watches, but they are a lot of fun to study and admire.

I have wide collecting interests, in watches as well as other pursuits and I have always acquired by the "shotgun" method. Or, perhaps it's the "blanket bombing" method which admittedly can lead to false starts and unnecessary expense. Sampling can also discover surprising tangents that become worthy of pursuit.

 

Yes I do, just haven’t found the time yet.

 

I enjoy collecting this way also. It's fun for me to have some classic examples of certain styles of watch. I greatly respect collectors who "go deep" in a particular brand or style, but that's just not my preference.

 

WWII Moeris GSTP
19H 15j nickel plated movement
Nickel case

 

Ranfft has a page on Moeris. Not a maker I am familiar with. The Ranfft site shows that Moeris (apparently) devoted a large chunk of their production to pocket watches. Was the subject watch U S military?

http://www.ranfft.de/cgi-bin/bidfun-db.cgi?10&ranfft&2&2uswk&Moeris_19H

 

Me to. I have a really nice Illinois Bunn Special in white gold, and two Hamilton 992bs (different dials) in yellow gold. I would eventually like to get a Waltham & Elgin to round things out. A Ball watch (a Hamilton RR watch branded & sold by the apex Railway Chief Time Inspector, Webb Ball

 

Creeping metabolism! The more you want the more you get the more you want the more you get. See you in the poorhouse!

 

It doesn't say anything about not drooling on the glass.