I got a mental image of you wearing a bow tie working under the hood because it's safer than wearing a dangling tie.
16s 21j Illinois Santa Fe Special, double sunk Montgomery dial, Cool font, circa 1922.
Nifty Keystone J.Boss gf case
Not properly marked inside or outside, nor a proper set of hands to be RR grade but a top notch pw.
While serious shops would not have their mechanics wearing ties (all sorts of bad things could happen due to a tie), some service shops, like Esso as @Canuck pointed out, would have employees at service stations wear ties. Bow ties were common, but so were regular neck ties, tucked into their coveralls.
My last new watch (for awhile anyway) arrived yesterday. It is a Model 3 Stuart, circa 1880. When this watch was made it was the highest grade that Illinois made. I was watching the auction for this one on Ebay and wasn't going to make a bid because I felt I had made enough watch purchases for at least a year, but this one had no bids and the starting bid was a touch under the melt value of the 5 oz Dueber coin silver case. Mine was the only bid and after shipping and tax I snagged it for about $20 over the melt value, $326. I feel like it was a heck of a bargain.
The Model 3 is essentially a Model 2 with the addition of a fifth pinon to convert the watch from a hunting configuration to an open face. This one has a single sunk dial with simple block letters, a nice set of open morning glory hands, and 17 j (with two on the fifth pinon). One curious thing about this one is that it has a square cannon pinon. I am not sure if that is original or if it was a cannon pinon from a Model 1 that someone fitted to it...
The model 2 and model 3 Illinois movements are basically “transitional” movements meaning many can be wound or set either with the stem, or with a key. The Illinois model 3 with the square on the cannon pinion, ( @Waltesefalcon ) allows the hands to be set with a key. I also have an Illinois model 3. Unlike the model 3 pictured by @Waltesefalcon which has the tip of the cannon pinion, square, to enable setting the hands by using the key, my model 3 can only be set with the crown. No square on the cannon pinion. Which is factory? What I find to be odd is that, according to the pocketwatchdatabase, the Illinois model 3 posted by @Waltesefalcon with the key set hands was made rica 1889, while my model 3 can not be set with a key, yet mine is earlier (circa 1880)! I’da thought the earlier one would the one equipped for setting with a key!
You may have gotten my serial number wrong, it's 61,272. It's listed as being made in October, 1880 in Meggers and Erhardt.
