Calling all Pocket Watch Buffs

JimInOz · Jul 18, 2022

Canuck
@Jones in LA ,

A lot of folks like this thread. We are now at 95 pages, over 69,000 views, and almost 1,900 contributions! And the thread is only 18 months old. Lots of good work from lots of folks. And continued interest from folks such as yourself. Many folks have discovered the allure of pocket watches because of this thread. We owe it all to @DaveK whose idea this thread was, in the first place!

I think there's another contributor who has helped this thread grow by giving us glimpses of his collection, as well as helping others with information about their watches.

UncleBuck · Jul 18, 2022

JimInOz
I think there's another contributor

I agree!
Thanks, Doug, @Canuck for your insight, your work and all your cheerful help expanding our knowledge and showing us new chapters of Horology.
You are a treasure to the hobby.

DaveK · Jul 18, 2022

UncleBuck
I agree!
Thanks, Doug, @Canuck for your insight, your work and all your cheerful help expanding our knowledge and showing us new chapters of Horology.
You are a treasure to the hobby.

indeed! I am enjoying the stories and insights from @Canuck. I’m also enjoying seeing his impressive collection. I think he started his own security firm to protect it 😉

Canuck · Jul 20, 2022

Canuck
I checked the Elgin later on Saturday, to find it stopped! Checking it over initially, I was unable to see what had stopped it. So today (Sunday), I stripped it again in preparation to re-clean it. Then I discovered the cause of the stoppage. From the time of the initial cleaning job, I had occasion a number of times, to do more adjustments in order to bring it to time. Somehow, something found its way into the movement, perched in the third wheel pinion, and the watch quit. So today, (Sunday) I cleaned it again. Re-set to time, and back in my pocket. We’re headed for the mountains on Tuesday, for four days of camping. I’ll wear it.

The Elgin is now 7 seconds slow in 3 days after the re-clean. We’re camping until Saturday, so I won’t fuss with it until I’m back home. It is still keeping railroad standard time, but it will get better. And it is 111 years old!

Canuck · Jul 20, 2022

DaveK
indeed! I am enjoying the stories and insights from @Canuck. I’m also enjoying seeing his impressive collection. I think he started his own security firm to protect it 😉

Not affiliated. Each watch in my collection is in a separate baggie, embedded in anthrax powder! Should be secure enough!

Tony C. · Jul 20, 2022

Canuck
Each watch in my collection is in a separate baggie, embedded in anthrax powder! Should be secure enough!

"I'm telling' ya, boss, this guy has a big stash of valuable pocket watches, and for some reason, he packs 'em in cocaine!" 🙄

Alpha · Jul 21, 2022

Elgin on duty today 👍

Canuck · Jul 21, 2022

You have to love those old Egins! Mine offers felicitations!

JimInOz · Jul 22, 2022

Nice pics there! The movement shot, especially the spinning balance and that micrometric regulator.

I serviced a couple of Elgins, much later that that one, and they still used the same regulator.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Pip · Jul 22, 2022

I have a few, most recently bought this one to have a play with as I fell for the arrow markings (yes, I am a bit of a sucker).

Alpha · Jul 22, 2022

French friend hanging around this evening 😀

Canuck · Jul 22, 2022

I am impressed with the obvious fit and finish of the movement in @Alpha ’s pocket watch. And it has been spared the vandalism of careless tinkerers, so the movement appears pristine. The whiplash regulator and Breguet hairspring speaks of a watch that was designed to be a precise timekeeper. A watch to be proud of.

sheepdoll · Jul 22, 2022

It was actually pocket watches that got me into Omega. On a collectors trip to Switzerland we were given an old catalog reprint. I found old uncased movements at the NAWCC mart. Easy to work on. Then the constellations started breeding in my "interesting watch' drawer.

The biggest issue I have is the lack of cases. I have not looked in some of my drawers for 15 to 18 years. I always loved repeaters. Never could afford one. I did get one that had been in a fire. Attempted to restore it. The parts are still in the drawer. I built a pinion cutter in my restoration attempt. (that is still in the closet.)

To my surprise, I found a grand complication movement in my box of omegas (no makers mark.) This had been stripped of it's hunter case and mood dial. Guess I was going to restore it when I got laied of from Apple or EFI in the late 1990s. Weird thing I I accidentally dropped it when I went to photograph my omega collection. Figured if the balance was not broken before, I would be now. Instead the watch started running.

Sad that so many of these fine old movements are stripped of their cases. I looked into case replication, but one would need a factory to do it justice.

I have cases and I have watches, but never the twain will meet. Modern collectors do not seem to like marriages anyway.

-j

Canuck · Jul 22, 2022

sheepdoll
It was actually pocket watches that got me into Omega. On a collectors trip to Switzerland we were given an old catalog reprint. I found old uncased movements at the NAWCC mart. Easy to work on. Then the constellations started breeding in my "interesting watch' drawer.

The biggest issue I have is the lack of cases. I have not looked in some of my drawers for 15 to 18 years. I always loved repeaters. Never could afford one. I did get one that had been in a fire. Attempted to restore it. The parts are still in the drawer. I built a pinion cutter in my restoration attempt. (that is still in the closet.)

To my surprise, I found a grand complication movement in my box of omegas (no makers mark.) This had been stripped of it's hunter case and mood dial. Guess I was going to restore it when I got laied of from Apple or EFI in the late 1990s. Weird thing I I accidentally dropped it when I went to photograph my omega collection. Figured if the balance was not broken before, I would be now. Instead the watch started running.

Sad that so many of these fine old movements are stripped of their cases. I looked into case replication, but one would need a factory to do it justice.

I have cases and I have watches, but never the twain will meet. Modern collectors do not seem to like marriages anyway.

-j

We all know the story on gold cases going to a refiner. A number of years ago, I had a 25-jewel Illinois pocket watch shown to me. The owner indicated that he had a hand shake deal with a scrap dealer. He wanted the movement removed, and the case weighed. I made him an offer which he declined because he felt beholden to the scrap dealer. Several months later, he phoned me and offered me the movement only for $500.00! You can imagine my response!

I have two Louis Brandt grade CCR (Omega) pocket watches. They are 16-size (19 ligne), 19-jewel movements which were railroad approved in Canada. One is a private label for a jeweller in Greenwood, British Columbia, and the other has a Louis Brandt & freres marked dial.

nick arbuckle - Google Search

Canuck · Aug 7, 2022

No surprise, here. Same Elgin 18-size, 15-jewel “survivor” that has had me entranced for several weeks, since resurrecting it from a cabinet full of scrap watches. I didn’t wear it for four days when we were trailering in the Rockies. But I wound it and set it 48 hours ago, and as you will see, It has picked up two seconds! Carried for 12-hours, face up for 12-hours. Based on railroad standards which require 30-second per week accuracy, this one currently is about 30-seconds per month! Not too bad for a watch that hadn’t seen the light of day for about 50 years! And it is not a railroad standard watch. On my @DaveK mystery braid lanyard.

noelekal · Aug 11, 2022

Canuck

No surprise, here. Same Elgin 18-size, 15-jewel “survivor” that has had me entranced for several weeks, since resurrecting it from a cabinet full of scrap watches. I didn’t wear it for four days when we were trailering in the Rockies. But I wound it and set it 48 hours ago, and as you will see, It has picked up two seconds! Carried for 12-hours, face up for 12-hours. Based on railroad standards which require 30-second per week accuracy, this one currently is about 30-seconds per month! Not too bad for a watch that hadn’t seen the light of day for about 50 years! And it is not a railroad standard watch. On my @DaveK mystery braid lanyard.

You "go for the gold" and keep us posted on its performance. It's a hoot to look in from time to time and see how the big Elgin is keeping up.

I was inspired to fire up an Elgin this morning, yet another one I gathered in last summer/fall as we were moving. Best I can tell, this one's a 1918 vintage B. W. Raymond Grade 455 19-jewel model in a white gold filled case.

In online browsing I've not read as much on the Elgin watches as some other pocket watch brands. Is a 19-jewel B. W. Raymond considered to be a lower grade watch than the Raymonds with higher jewel counts?

sheepdoll · Aug 11, 2022

noelekal
...
In online browsing I've not read as much on the Elgin watches as some other pocket watch brands. Is a 19-jewel B. W. Raymond considered to be a lower grade watch than the Raymonds with higher jewel counts?

Love the selfie shot reflection in the second photo down.

As for Elgin, I have a lot more Elgin pocket watches than Waltham's. I think the true frankenstien was made up of random Elgin parts, which were all the same grade.

For some reason I am not feeling as inspired regarding the pocket watches as I am about the vintage wrist watches (1940s through 1970s.) It used to be the other way round. The railroad grade stuff was becoming rather pricey in the 1990s. Which sort of lead me into complications, especially repeaters and chronographs.

Some of this may be due to that most of my pocket watches are bare movements. Looking at the gearing in them is like looking at a clock. What cases I do have for the most part are turnips. What few hunter cases or the ones with double backs (for winding) have problems with hinges and bezels. The metal on these is thin, it seems to want to warp just looking at it.

The outsourcing of these brands in the late 1940 (especially Elgin) really damaged the reputation. It did not help that a lot of container watches in the 1990s were branded with names like Lord Elgin.

On the other hand what ever DWC watchmaker estate I got the bulk of my spares from seemed to have liked Elgin. Unless I dump them, I will never want for an Elgin balance staff.

Elgin watches must have been popular in the day, But it is hart to determine what is American and what is Swiss /German. There really are not guides to collecting Elgin, and searching on the online auction sites is hit and miss. Some of it still being sold by the pound for 'art projects.' Elgin has pretty much a generic term it is hard to know if a reference is to a pocket watch or a wristwatch.

-j

noelekal · Aug 11, 2022

sheepdoll
Love the selfie shot reflection in the second photo down.

I think the true frankenstien was made up of random Elgin parts, which were all the same grade.

Canuck · Aug 11, 2022

This is from thepocketwatchdatabase.com site regarding your B W Raymond.

https://pocketwatchdatabase.com/search/result/elgin/20927219

Elgin made B W Raymond grade watches in 17, 19, 21, and 23 jewel versions. You will note in the link that your 19-jewel version was railroad approved. Thereby, it would have met the same performance standard as the Elgins with the higher jewel count. In my experience, by far the majority of B W Raymond watches I recall having seen have been the 19 and 21-jewel versions. Might be the ones with the higher jewel count are a bit rarer.

As to my Elgin. Sadly, I report that I forgot to wind it on Wednesday, and it ran down just after noon today. However, at my time check at 7:00 am today (Thursday), it had picked up 5 seconds, and was 2 seconds fast. S there is little for me to prove by reporting daily about its rate. I am confident that (should I not forget to wind it) would be within 30 seconds per month! It is truly amazing! It only runs 37 hours on a wind, where more modern ones would usually run for closer to 50 hours.

noelekal · Aug 11, 2022

I like this, found within the specifications listed for the B. W. Raymond.

"Regulator: Traveling Nut (spring)"

Could describe me, a traveling nut.