The seller was very upfront that this watch is not functional, but the nice layout of the movement plus flashes of nice finishing (black polishing and some nice chamfering) made me jump on it given the bids at that time. Now I am waiting for its arrival. This watch belonged to Ansel Judd Northrup, who was a NY lawyer of some sort, and purchased the watch when he was 68 years old in 1905. Here is a short bio. NORTHRUP, Ansel Judd, author, born in Smithfield, Madison County, New York, 30 June, 1833. He was graduated at Hamilton college in 1858, studied in Columbia law-school, and was admitted to the bar in 1859, since which time he has practised his profession in Syracuse, New York Since 1883 he has been county judge for Onondaga county. He has published "Camps and Tramps in the Adirondacks, and Grayling Fishing in Northern Michigan" (Syracuse, 1880), and "Sconset Cottage Life " (New York, 1881). He has in preparation (1888) a genealogy of the Northrup family. Love how he is a lawyer, and yet writes about camping, fishing, and cottages - keeps his priorities straight I'd say! Anyhow, I would love to know more about this watch movement, or better yet, this model of pocket watch. I would love you learn what the market for pocket watches looked like in 1905. Who were the big manufacturers? How was Longines conceived relative to say..Ball or Hamilton here in the US? Thank you, in advance Peter
Here's some pretty good articles on the American manufacturers and the general marketing of pocketwatches in the 19th and earliest 20th century: http://www.collectorsweekly.com/art...-antique-pocket-watch-collector-tom-mcintyre/ http://mb.nawcc.org/showwiki.php?title=Longines http://mb.nawcc.org/showwiki.php?title=Longines_Private_Label_Watches From what I can tell from these articles and others, Longines made movements in standard sizes in several different grades specifically for export to the USA. The A. Wittnauer company was agent for the North American market at the time. You could go to a jeweler and pretty much custom make your watch to your specifications, as there were a number of options for pocketwatches, depending on how they were intended to be used. It was quite similar to buying a personal computer market today. You can either go to Best Buy and get one "off the shelf", or go to a company's website, pick what features you want, and pay accordingly. Your watch is a bit unusual, in that it is dual-branded with both Longines and the jewelers name on the movements. I think that indicates that this particular watch is a better than average grade. Most only have the jeweler's name. I have seen a few Tiffany pocketwatches marked with both names. Hope this helps, gatorcpa
Thank you so much gatorcpa. That is incredibly helpful! It's pretty cool that they can make watches semi-bespoke. Nowadays, we have to pay a fortune for that kind of privileged. Thanks again for your help and knowledge.