Omega Ladies Sidewinder Pocket Watch c. 1901?

[Dr. Jon]

YOU have a "cut hunter" cased watch. The front which opens may have once been solid making hte watch a "Hunter case". This kind of cover was to protect the crystal while hunting. Many were converted by cutting an opening for a crystal.

Hunting case watches wind at 3.

The AR and FS describe how to adjust the watch. F and S are abbreviations for fast and slow A&R are the French equivalents.

Teh Crown amd Scale are case trademants all associated with the Keystone Watch case company.


The 25 years is the warrrantee time for the gold covering or fill to last. James Boss patented many of the processes for makign gold filled cases and was assocciated.

The works or movement were made for the American MArket and cased here.

The repair cost is probably rational based on the time it takes a skilled watchmeaker to do this work correctly. We don't do values here but suffice it to say that spending that on a repair has to be for sentimental value.

The movement is nice mid quality.

[Kent]

Hi Robinsan:

Welcome to the NAWCC Pocket Watch Message Board!

Only a small percentage of American watches (or Swiss watches for the North American market) were cased at the factories prior to the mid-1920's (even then, uncased movements were furnished to the trade at least until the 1960's). Most watch companies just made movements (the "works") in industry standard sizes. The case companies made cases in those same sizes. The practice at that time was to go to a jeweler, select the quality of the movement and then pick out the desired style and quality of case. The jeweler would then fit the movement to the case in a matter of moments.

Or, watches were sold by mail-order. Large outfits such as Sears, Roebuck & Co., Montgomery Ward, or T. Eaton (in Canada), would offer the movements in a variety of cases of different design and quality in their catalogs. Smaller mail-order retailers would case the watches, typically in a 20-year gold filled case and offer it only that way, with the buyer not having a choice of cases.

Omega movements were made in sizes to fit American cases, as shown in this 1908 Ad (http://photos23.flickr.com/35246731_604b147129_o.jpg).

Omega documentation* shows:
1,000,000 = 1907-1910-1912
2,000,000 = 1904 - 1916
3,000,000 = 1906 - 1919
4,000,000 = 1910 - 1919
5,000,000 = 1916 - 1927
6,000,000 = 1923 - 1927
7,000,000 = 1920 - 1935

* Omega memo:
From: Departement: Controle Central de Fabrication
Bienne la 16 Fevrier 1970
Concerne Annees de fabrication

It seems that, like Hamilton and, to some extent, Hampden and Seth Thomas, Omega may have pre-assigned huge blocks of serial numbers to different models or grades. This would account for overlapping series' of numbers, spanning a number of years.

The '... vase shaped symbol with a large "C" and an "O" inside ... is a keystone, a trade mark of the Keystone Watch Case Co. "J. Boss" or"Jas. Boss" cases are gold-filled, guaranteed for 15, 20 or 25 years. A 1907 Keystone Ad (http://photos14.flickr.com/15015315_eefccd0e9e_o.jpg) shows their balance (scale) & crown trade mark used on their 25-year Jas. Boss (J. Boss) cases, and the plain balance trade mark identifying their 20-year J. Boss cases.

The following chronology and information is from "History of the American Watch Case," Warren H. Niebling, Whitmore Publishing, Philadelphia, PA, 1971 (available on loan by mail to members from the NAWCC Library & Research Center (http://www.nawcc.org/Library/library.htm)), with <span class="ev_code_blue">additional notes in blue based upon an article in an 1889 issue of The Keystone, posted by Greg Frauenhoff, 30-Apr-04</span> and <span class="ev_code_brown">quotes in brown, based upon the online article </span>"Decorative Aspects of American Horology (http://www.antiquorum.com/vox/june_2002/poniz/poniz.htm)," <span class="ev_code_brown">by Philip Poniz, on The Antiquorum Magaizine Website</span>:

1853 - Randolf & Reese Peters were making cases in Philadelphia, employing James Boss.

1859 - J. Boss received a patent for "spinning up" cases made of "gold-filled" type material. That is, material made of a sheet of composition metal (usually brass) sandwiched between two thin sheets of gold. <span class="ev_code_brown">Boss formed cases by rolling sheet metal as opposed to the traditional method involving soldering and cutting. Rolling increased the molecule density of the metal. His patent, No. 23,820 of May 3, 1859, revolutionized the watch case industry by enabling the production of not only less expensive, but considerably stronger cases. ... Unlike gold washed cases, which were made using electroplating, cases produced by means of rolling had much harder gold surfaces and were thus less apt to wear.</span>

1871 - J. Boss sold patent rights to John Stuckert of Philadelphia.

1875 - T.B. Hagstoz & Charles N. Thorpe formed Hagstoz & Thorpe, purchasing the manufacturing facilities (<span class="ev_code_blue">within which, 12 employees produced 6 cases per day at 618 Chesnut St.</span>) and "J. Boss" patent from the estate of John Stuckert. Hagstoz & Thorpe seems to have made only gold-filled cases using the J. Boss patented method.

1876+ - <span class="ev_code_brown">... orders increased so rapidly that larger quarters became necessary immediately. The landlord of their first premises, 618 Chestnut Street, was George W. Childs, ... When Childs’ learned of his tenants’ need for more work space, he offered $100,000 and became a silent third partner. A new plant on Brown Street was erected ...</span>

<span class="ev_code_blue">1877 - E. Tracy, a manufacturer of solid gold and silver watch cases, was acquired.</span>

<span class="ev_code_blue">1880 - the company moved to a six story building on Nineteenth St., with an equal-size annex on Wylie St.</span>

1883 - 1885 - T.B Hagstoz withdrew from the company which became C.N. Thorpe Co. and shortly thereafter it was reorganized as the Keystone Watch Case Co.

<span class="ev_code_blue">1887 - the Nineteenth St. building was almost doubled in size and a four story adjacent building was occupied by Keystone.</span>

<span class="ev_code_blue">1889 - the firm was producing 1,500 cases per day.</span>

Keystone then went on to absorb other case companies (and several watch companies), becoming one of the largest case manufacturers in the country. Keystone stayed in business another 80+ years.

The tiny numbers and marks, hand-scratched on the inside of the back of the case, are watch repairer's or jeweler's marks. When watches were serviced, the watch repairer would place his mark and/or a date code inside the back. The marking might include a code to indicate the type of service that was done. Thus, when the watch came back, the watchmaker would instantly know just when he (or she) last worked on it.

As Dr. Jon indicated, spending that much for repair of a watch such as this is usually only done for those family heirlooms of significance to the current holder. These should be kept within the family and passed down, but its hard to justify that cost. You may be interested in a second opinion. Check out What You Need To Know About Watch Repair at Wayne Schlitt's Elgin Website:
<span class="ev_code_brown">www.midwestcs.com/elgin/help/watch_repair.html</span>
<span class="ev_code_blue">To view, go to the </span><span class="ev_code_brown">Elgin Watch Collectors Site Home Page</span> <span class="ev_code_blue">at</span> <span class="ev_code_brown">elginwatches.com</span>, <span class="ev_code_blue">then copy and paste the address in your browser's address bar and click on </span>'Go'.

Good luck,