Higher jewel counts in Hunting Cases

[HenryB]

Since the higher jeweled American watches tended to cater to the RR watches, and these were Open faced watches, how uncommon are watches that were hunters with the 21 J and above count?

I know Hamilton made 21 J 941's. Other than that, I would have to resort to the reference books. :biggrin: Maybe some Howard's also ?

[HenryB]

Since the higher jeweled American watches tended to cater to the RR watches, and these were Open faced watches, how uncommon are watches that were hunters with the 21 J and above count?

I know Hamilton made 21 J 941's. Other than that, I would have to resort to the reference books. :biggrin: Maybe some Howard's also ?

[Kent]

HenryB:

You're correct in that you "... have to resort to the reference books."

The are a large number of 21 and 23-jewel 16 and 18-size hunting-case watch makes and grades. If you haven't gotten a copy of "Complete Price Guide to Watches, No 24," C. Shugart, T. Engle and R. Gilbert, Cooksey Shugart Publications, Cleveland, TN, 2004 (a new edition comes out each year in February. This book is available at libraries, most major bookstores and online at the NAWCC Gift Shop) yet, I strongly recommend that you do so. The enjoyment of the hours you could spend going through the watches listed therein would surely be worth the purchase price.

We can't begin to list all of the varieties, but yes, there are Keystone-Howard ones as well as Illinois, Hampden, Hamilton, Elgin, Waltham, Rockford, South Bend, and Swiss makes also. There is a Private Label Swiss example in the link below.

By the way, there are a lot more hunting-case watches that were accepted into railroad service than most collectors expect.

Happy reading,
Kent

That guy down in Georgia :smile:

[Kent]

Oh yes, if you're a member of the NAWCC, you can also read through "The Railroaders' Corner" columns to learn about (highly jeweled) hunting-case watches, and their acceptance in railroad time service.

If you're not an NAWCC member, this is a good reason to Join (http://www.nawcc.org/headquarters/members/join2.htm). Let me know when you decide to do so and I'll sponsor you.

Kent

That guy down in Georgia :smile:

[HenryB]

Thank you very much for the sponser offer Kent, FIRST ONE I HAVE HAD :smile:

Yes, I have the Pricing book you referenced (2002 edition -cause thats what I want for Buying). I will get the 2004 edition, when I start selling :wink:

Now I can spend the hours going through this book, and see all the Hunting Cases, but then with no production numbers, I still do not know the numbers.
In my real life (Estimating manager), I like dealing in hard numbers.

Unfornately, due to the general nature of this question, I doubt if any "hard" numbers exist.

So therefore an educated opinion will do.

[Kent]

Henry:

There are a lot more production quantities that are known (or closely estimated) than you might think. One good source of these is "American Pocket Watches Serial Number Grade Book, 1993 Prices," Roy Ehrhardt & William Meggers, Jr., Heart of America Press, Kansas City, MO, 1993 (Still in print, see Heart of America Press (http://www.hoapress.com)). It has the production quantities for Elgin, Hamilton and Rockford.

Elgin quantities can be found by entering a typical serial number of a grade at the Elgin website:
http://elginwatches.org/databases/elgin_sn_intro.html
(you should copy this link and paste it in your browser address bar since directly linking to this website from the NAWCC Message Board is not possible)

Illinois production data is contained in "American Pocket Watches Vol. 2, Illinois Watch Co., Encyclopedia and Price Guide," William Meggers, Jr. & Roy Ehrhardt, Heart of America Press, Kansas City, MO, 1985 (still in print).

"The South Bend Watch Co. - South Bend, Indiana - A Complete Listing of Serial / Grade Numbers from Beginning to End, Lyle & Donna Stratton, Longmont, CO, 1999, has the production quantities of South Bend watches.

High-jeweled open and hunting-case Columbus production estimates (close estimates) appear on page 362 in the NAWCC Bulletin, June 2003.

Rough estimates of Hampden 21 & 23-jewel hunting-case production can be generated (with some effort) from "The Hampden Watch Co.," NAWCC Special Order Supplement #1, J. Hernick and R. Arnold, NAWCC, Columbia, PA, 1997 (Still available - see Heart of America Press (http://www.hoapress.com)).

I don't believe that Waltham production quantities are directly available either. The seial number list in "Waltham Pocket Watch Identification and Price Guide," Roy Ehrhardt, Heart of America Press, Kansas City, MO, 1976 (still in print) will serve as bais for generating the information, but it won't be easy. You might do as well by entering a typical serial number of the grade in question at the NAWCC Information Storage - Waltham Serial Number Data Base (http://www.nawcc-info.org/WalthamDB/LookupSN.asp).

Good luck,
Kent

That guy down in Georgia :smile:

[Don Dahlberg]

Hunting cases became less popular as time went on and were never as popular as their open face counterparts. The Hamilton 993, the hunter brother of the 992, was discontinued in late 1924. Only 18,737 lever set 993s were made (2,224 pendant set). By the time the 993s were discontinued, over 250,000 992s had been sold. The 992 continued for another seven more years and then through two more generations (992E and 992B).

Similarly 10,133 941s versus 209,498 940s.

Don Dahlberg

[HenryB]

I suppose if I knew the answer, I would write a book :smile:

Don's two illustrations above yield 7.5 % and 5 %.

[Dr. Jon]

from what I have seen and read, virtually all high jewel count railroaad models were offerred in Hunter cased versions. I recently saw an 18s BUnn Speccial ( Ithink it was marked with teh Washington Watch Company name for the 24 J) in a Solid gold hunting case.

I think the intended market was railroad executives who wanted the troops to know that they too knew a good watch but that they could afford better.

Not as big a market but significant. One of the specialty chpaters pub;ished a Hamilton list of numbers by model, which I NEVER can find when I need it.(Like right now!!!) It would give the breakout from Hamilton.

If someone wanted to collect this stuff the aforementioned hamilton guide and the Illinois Data base from 149 and Waynes Elgin site would provide a lot of data for a nice article.

Dr. Jon