Princeton Watch Co., New York

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Canuck

·Jan 20, 2024

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

 

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wagudc

·Jan 20, 2024

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

 

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Canuck

·Jan 20, 2024

Picture posted (above). My mistake!

 

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JimInOz

·Jan 20, 2024·Melbourne Australia

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.

 

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Canuck

·Jan 20, 2024

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.

 

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JimInOz

·Jan 20, 2024·Melbourne Australia

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.

 

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Canuck

·Jan 20, 2024

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.

 

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nathanmoore

·Dec 29, 2024

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.

Your Princeton Watch Co. watch was manufactured by J.J. Badollet (Swiss) for sale in the United States by the A.C. Smith Watch Company. I published an article this morning about the origin and relevant connections to the American market:

https://blog.pocketwatchdatabase.co...the-a-c-smith-watch-company-and-j-j-badollet/

Your watch is one of a very small handful of surviving examples that I have logged. If possible, could you post an image of your dial as well? I am curious if it is double-sunk.

Thanks!

 

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Canuck

·Dec 29, 2024

N nathanmoore

Your Princeton Watch Co. watch was manufactured by J.J. Badollet (Swiss) for sale in the United States by the A.C. Smith Watch Company. I published an article this morning about the origin and relevant connections to the American market:

https://blog.pocketwatchdatabase.co...the-a-c-smith-watch-company-and-j-j-badollet/

Your watch is one of a very small handful of surviving examples that I have logged. If possible, could you post an image of your dial as well? I am curious if it is double-sunk.

Thanks!

This thread has been dormant for 11 months. I don't recall at the moment whether I took a picture of the dial, or not. I’ll check my files. Well, I checked my photo files, and I didn’t take a picture of the dial, regrettably!