Princeton Watch Co., New York

[Canuck]

I’ve been asked for an opinion on this watch. Movement and dial marked Princeton Watch Co., New York. Does anyone recognize this movement? It looks Swiss, but it has a higher grade finish than I would expect out of a garden variety Swiss watch. Marked Princeton Watch Co. New York. Marked to appear on to be an American watch, it has some earmarks, but suggest it is Swiss.

Edited: Jan 20, 2024

 

[wagudc]

I'm not seeing the pictures. Not sure if it is a problem on my end.

 

[Canuck]

Picture posted (above). My mistake!

 

[JimInOz]

Regulator style (Waltham?) suggests US, but the plates are more like Swiss designs.

Princeton appears to have been applied to numerous watches, quite a lot of the very basic and way below the quality of this one.

This may help.

https://pocketwatchdatabase.com/gui... a grade of,conducting a serial number lookup.

 

[Canuck]

Thanks @JimInOz ,

The New Haven Watch Co. and apparently the Trenton Watch Co. used the Princeton name on watches. Of that I was aware. But to the best of my knowledge, neither company produced a watch of the quality of this one. That “travelling nut” regulator was used by Elgin. Whether it was patented in the U S or not, I don’t know. This movement has many features one might expect on a quality watch, and the finish is quite good. Swiss? U S? No idea.

 

[JimInOz]

An Elgin example. The basic similarities are there.
I don't know if that style of click (finger spring) was widely used on US watches.
Safety Pinion also makes me think more of a US watch, I don't recollect many Swiss watches using it.

Maybe Princeton/Trenton was better at designing fancy bridges.

 

[Canuck]

Trenton produced higher quality movements than New Haven. They also produced cheap watches. Trenton produced railroad standard movements. @TexOmega has a Trenton railroad grade model IIRC. Here is a picture of the railroad standard movement recently posted by @TexOmega . The Princeton Watch which is the subject of this thread look nothing like the Trenton.