Illinois 5th pivot marked Regulator

[larrlarr]

Agin, a watch a friend gave me to sell on ebay, 18 size Illinois #211555. It has a 5th pivot used to drive the second hand. It is listed as a 16 jewel it is stem wind and can be wond with a key too. Illinois effort to use up all the key wind parts they had, I think. The watch is marked on the dial C B & Co Chicago. I can't find anything about this watch except when it was made, the modeland that it was changed from a 15 J to a 16 J. Can anyone help. See picture.

Larry

[larrlarr]

Agin, a watch a friend gave me to sell on ebay, 18 size Illinois #211555. It has a 5th pivot used to drive the second hand. It is listed as a 16 jewel it is stem wind and can be wond with a key too. Illinois effort to use up all the key wind parts they had, I think. The watch is marked on the dial C B & Co Chicago. I can't find anything about this watch except when it was made, the modeland that it was changed from a 15 J to a 16 J. Can anyone help. See picture.

Larry

[Russ Snyder]

Larry,

S/N 211555 is for an Illinois 18-size Grade 103 (unadjusted) Model 3 watch from ca. Sept. 1879. This model came in both 16-jewel and 17-jewel versions, and the only way to tell for sure which it is, is to remove the dial and check to see if there is a jewel on the pillar plate side of the 5th pinion. If yes, then it's a 17J; if not, then 16J. Actual production totals are as follows:

16J = 946 (13 production runs)
17J = 80 (2 production runs)

The P.L. dial markings are found on other Illinois watches, but I don't know what "C. B & Co." stood for.

As noted above, your watch is "unadjusted" for positions & isochronism. Grade "103" also appears as an "adjusted" watch, with "Adjusted" marked on the balance arm, and qualified as RRG.

Hope this helps.

Russ