Relatively early Illinois "Hoyt"

[Greg Davis]

I recently received this watch, serial number 25109, off eBay...

http://users3.ev1.net/~temporal-treasures/Hoyt.jpg

It came housed in a Am Watch Co Waltham Mass coin silver case (not original, but not bad either... just a poor fit is all).

Can those of you with the proper texts please look up the serial number and let me know the details.

Thanks,

- Greg

150941
Ch.149 member #77

[Greg Davis]

I recently received this watch, serial number 25109, off eBay...

http://users3.ev1.net/~temporal-treasures/Hoyt.jpg

It came housed in a Am Watch Co Waltham Mass coin silver case (not original, but not bad either... just a poor fit is all).

Can those of you with the proper texts please look up the serial number and let me know the details.

Thanks,

- Greg

150941
Ch.149 member #77

[mikeh]

Greg,

Ehrhardt & Meggers American Pocket Watches Serial Number Grade Book shows the run as 25001 - 26000 KW Hunter 9j Model 1 and finished in Sept '74.

To me, the way they skipped the pallet and escape wheel and jewelled the third and fourth wheels is a little strange, but it may be common in early Illinois movements for all I know. Maybe it was just for show so they chose the more visible pivots. Just a thought.

Regards,
Mike

[Greg Davis]

Thanks, Mike. What I find interesting is the way the balance is sprung.

150941
Ch.149 member #77

[Russ Snyder]

Greg,

First of all, 9-jewel movements were the ONLY way "Hoyt" Grade watches were made, and they were the ONLY Grade to be made with 9 jewels. So it may be uncommon to other watches, but it was 100% common to Hoyt Grade watches.

The serial number, 25109, is from the 11th of 23 different production runs for this watch, even though the date, as previously indicated, is from 1874.

Production of Model 1 KW/KS "Hoyt" movements began in January 1873 with s/n 3571 and continued through May 1881 with s/n 308100.

My records indicate a total of 14,499 watches were produced in this configuration. However, I should also note that I'm finding more and more early watches where the original factory records indicate one Grade, and a completely different one shows up. The frequency of such instances suggests to me that these do not really constitute exceptions -- rather there would appear to be "last-minute-changes" in production that don't appear in original factory records. Whether this is the result of changing market demands, bulk orders, etc. I cannot say.

I offer this "caveat" so that the production data I indicated above is not taken as fact, but simply the best knowledge we have at this time. Original factory records are not always 100% accurate.

Russ