Calling all Pocket Watch Buffs

Canuck

This watch is marked 23-jewels. Legislation was enacted decades ago, during the era of the 100-jewel watch (75 of which did nothing, and were fitted only to avoid fraud). This watch would not meet modern standards regarding “functional” jewels. Cap jewels on most watches act as thrust bearings, and where they are used, the pivots beneath them are conical, so the tip of the pivot contacts the cap jewel. On this Porte & Markle, there are 4 cap jewels (three of them circled) that are only there for decoration. Beneath them are standard plate hole jewels, and square shoulder pivots. In fact, this watch has only 19 actual functional jewels when the modern definition of a cap jewel is used. These cap jewels appear to be held by screws, but the cap jewels are not removable! Never saw anything like this before.

Canuck

On almost all higher jewel count watches with cap jewels and conical pivots, the correct oiling procedure results in a “bead” of oil on the under side of the cap jewel. The cap jewel is not there as a “dust cover”, or hub cap. It’s main purpose is to aid in the reduction of friction, and as a retainer for lubricant by helping stop it from spreading away from where it is needed. This image is from the Bulova Watch Co. watch repair training manual. The red represents the “bead” of oil mentioned above. Capillary attraction keeps the oil centered over pivot hole in the hole jewel assuring the oil is retained at the pivot where it is needed. Here, the tip of the conical pivot that would run in the hole jewel, uses the cap jewel as a thrust bearing.

The subject watch is not jewelled in the manner above. The cap jewels serve no function other than eye appeal. The pivot beneath the cap jewels in the subject watch have square shoulders, and run in a standard plate jewel, and neither the oil or the pivot contact the cap jewel. A peculiar arrangement. The watch is marked “23-jewels”, but actually only 19 of the jewels are functional. Legislation enacted in the 1950s to counter the practice of fitting jewels that don’t do anything, would mean that the subject watch is not marked legally. But it is still a nice watch.

Canuck

With a Canadian private label name, and given that the maker cannot be identified, it could not have been railroad approved in Canada. Porte & Markle Ltd. were likely railroad watch inspectors, so I very much doubt they would have touted it as railroad standard. My thinking is that it may have been used by them as a “loaner” watch for use by a railroader whose watch was in for repair. The watch has had very little use in it’s approximately 110 years of existence. The fit and finish of the watch and every part of it tells me it likely was adjusted to a high standard. I doubt any maker would pay so much attention to microscopic detail if they intended to stretch the truth by marking it

I have uploaded two pictures of a genuine fake railroad watch. The watch was produced by the Trenton Watch Co., Trenton N J., using a standard run, cheap Trenton movement. This one is marked 23-jewels! You can see six fake cap jewels on the top bridge. These are made of red celluloid. So, 23 minus 6 equals 17. Beneath these fake cap jewels there are plain un-jewelled brass bearings. The movement has only 7 jewels! A slight exaggeration of only 10 jewels! It is marked “ADJUSTED”. (Snicker). Not a hope. The movement and dial are marked “LOCOMOTIVE SPECIAL”. Yeah, right! The dial has a locomotive on it. It is lever set. The watch was produced for an outfit in Chicago, and its type was aimed at people who believed in a free lunch. That you could buy a genuine railroad watch for under $10.00, when a genuine one would be 3 or 4 times the price. It had all the visual cues to convince the unwary. So my Porte & Markle is not typical of a fake railroad watch.

The Trenton Watch Co. was sold to Ingersoll circa 1908. Ingersoll in turn was sold to U S Time circa 1922! U S Time became TIMEX! So this one’s cheap watch DNA is clearly evident!

TexOmega

I'll re-post this here as a reminder that Ingersoll-Trenton made at least one nice watch.

RR grade and approved on a spur or two........IN THE US😁

15 or so are documented

Advertised as......."21j performance at 15j pricing!"

Canuck

The Elgin book by Roy Ehrhardt lists this watch as grade 156, one of a total production of 4,000. Kinda makes us wonder about the modern definition of limited edition. Beautiful watch. Any chance you can show us more pictures of (for example) the case and dial?