Case history?

[Phillip W]

Hi folks,
This is going to be a long explanation leading to a question, so just stay with me.
I am a watch collector and I sell some on e-bay. I admit that my area of expertise is in wristwatches, but I will dabble with pocket watches. I was selling a Bunn Special on line and identified the case as a white gold-filled case, original to the watch. Someone quickly wrote me and said (somewhat condescendingly) that I was wrong and it was a chrome plated, base metal case.
I re-examined the case and, to my embarrasement realized that he was right; there were no "warranted" or "guaranteed" marks on the case. I quickly corrected the listing and wrote the gentleman back and thanked him and explained to all that I had just assumed it was a gold-filled case because I had never seen a railroad watch in a chrome plated case before. My fault for not looking at the case close enough.
The man then wrote me again and went on to say that chrome plated cases made nice replacement cases in the '30s and '40s.
Now I know that this is the only movement this case has ever seen (the movement was made around 1923), there are no other screw marks on the case. But I still think that this is the original case to the watch (The case maker is Defiance.). The case was highly decorated, too much in my opinion to have been in the replacement. I know that you could buy an Illinois railroad watch, in fact most railroad watches, and buy a case of your choosing to help you save money (and that these cases were usually gold or gold-filled). But didn't some jewelers offer base metal cases (such as silveroid and chrome plated base metal cases)? And weren't chrome plated cases around in the '20s too (I know they were in wristwatches)?
I guess I'm just looking for a little "case history" gang! Please educate me.
Thanks,
Phil

[Tom Huber]

Phillip, I would also think it is a replacement case. My reasoning. The model 9, 16S Bunn Specials were sold from about 1910 to about 1925. These were cased by the jewelers. The first 60 hour Bunn Specials were sold as movements and cased by the jewelers, but were sold cased by Illinois after about 1926.

Your defiance, chrome base metal case is a 1930's vintage case. Therefore, if your Bunn Special is a model 9, it is definitely a recase. That goes the same for the 60 hours Bunn Specials.

With only one set of screwmarks, that means that your Bunn Special was the only watch in that case, not that the case was original.

Tom

[Don Dahlberg]

How do we know that the defiance chrome case was not made in the late 1920s?

Don

[Kent]

Phil:

Does your case look like case 'A' in this 1938-1939 Montgomery Ward Catalog Excerpt (http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2006-9/1217458/1938-1939_MW_LR.jpg)?

[Kent]

How do we know that the defiance chrome case was not made in the late 1920s?

Don

Don:

I don't think it was, but I'm willing to change my opinion if I see one pictured/described in a late 1920s ad or catalog.