Bought out an Estate Help please/Appleton/waltham/illinois...

[vandd]

Ok i just bought out an estate, and found these great pocket watches inwhich i do not know much about, i did by a used complete guide to watches book, but am still a newbe to it, if anyone can help. it will go a long way.

the first watch i have a question on is a Illinois 17jewels adjusted to 4 positions double roller in aseethrough case, having the numbers of 3293706

the second is an waltham 17 jewels with numbers 23607915

the third ia a waltham royal with the numbers 7116306

the 4th is a swiss hampden 17j

the 5th i know some about it, it is a 992b Hamilton railway special 21j adj temped 6 positions c15628

the 6th is a The Appleton Watch co wis 91793

the 7th is a 14k european ladies watch

and the last is an ingraham vice roy

i have also gotten 3 elgins which i can find info on easily. but if anyone has a site that may help me in the near future, please let me know. Thanks much all
vandd4621
p.s. some pics are not shown

[Kent]

vandd4621:

Nice group of watches!

first watch
Russell W Snyder's Illinois Data Base CD, may be obtained by an email to Jon Hanson at jonontime@aol.com

the second & the third
You can find out some basic facts about your Waltham watch by entering the serial number on the movement (the "works") in the field on the Serial Number link accessable from the NAWCC Information Storage (http://www.nawcc-info.org/WalthamDB/walsernum.htm) website. Don't use any commas in entering the serial number.

the 4th
This is post-depression (probably 1950s/1960s) Swiss import having nothing to do with the Hampden Watch Co. other than using the name.

the 5th
What else do you want to know, your copy of the complete guide should give you the approximate date. Also, you can search this message board for "992B" or use the Hamilton (http://mb.nawcc.org/showthread.php?t=38729)sticky thread above.

the 6th
Choose the "SN 1001 to 1.5M" link accessable from the NAWCC Information Storage (http://www.nawcc-info.org/WalthamDB/walsernum.htm) website. Don't use any commas in entering the serial number.

the 7th
This might be better posted on the European & Other Pocket Watches (http://mb.nawcc.org/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=-1&f=29) board.

and the last
You might try doing a search of th message board for "ingraham"

Good luck,

[Fred Hansen]

Here's some info on a few of these ...


The Appleton Watch Co. is a great find and is a scarce and desirable watch. The Appletons were most often an 18 size movement with 7 or 11 jewels. I would be interested in the size of your movement across the dial to determine whether it is a 16 or an 18 size. Also your movement has at least 11 jewels, but if the train is jeweled on the dial side it will be a 15 jewel. It would be very interesting to know the jewel count of your watch but I understand that this may not be something you are able to check for us. Another question ... does the case of your watch have Appleton Watch Co. markings? Once again, great find with this one!


The Hamilton 992B is a very common high grade railroad watch with over 1/2 million made across about a 30 year span, and yours is a nice example from the early end of this production. The nice enamel dial on your watch is correct, the case is one of the proper styles for an early 992B, and your movement has the earliest of the 4 main 992B marking styles. As an early version I would consider this watch a bit more desirable than a typical later 992B in equal condition. There is a huge amount of 992B info on this board and check the links in this thread for some reading ... http://mb.nawcc.org/showthread.php?t=38729


The 17 jewel 4 position Illinois grade 706 is a nice watch. It is a step below the quality of the railroad grade 16 size Illinois watches of the time, but it would rank ahead of the other 16 size 17 jewel non-railroad Illinois grades of the time. The 706 is not as common as some 16 size grades but isn't a hard watch to find, and the striped pattern of yours is the most common and typical version of the 17J grade 706. As Kent has posted the Snyder database would be a great resource for this (and all Illinois watches), and for some more reading on 4 position watches in general check out this thread ... http://mb.nawcc.org/showthread.php?t=17964 (http://mb.nawcc.org/showthread.php?t=17964)

Fred

[vandd]

Thanks much all, i am going to have to take a couple of days and go through this to make sure i understand it before putting it away.

now i am not good with sizes to tell which size is what but for the Appleton Watch Co, the watch case (is an appleton watch case co) is just about if not over 2 inches with out the crown. The case is guarneteed for 20 years and has the numbers of 26193. the face of this nice watch is just under an inch and 4/5ths accrose. to get more information for you guys i guess i will have to contact john p. he only lives about less than 1/2 hour away from me.

now is the illinois case a rareity or a show type? as in you can see through the back to see the movement without taking the back off.

Well thanks much so far, This is emsirering me to take theapprentishship in NH but with going to school (collage) it is going to be hard to drop school to go have some fun in the sun with watches...lol

[Tom McIntyre]

Well thanks much so far, This is emsirering me to take theapprentishship in NH but with going to school (collage) it is going to be hard to drop school to go have some fun in the sun with watches...lol

Are you studying art? :D

[richiec]

Definitely not an English major. Pardon my humor, have fun with watches, they are a great hobby and you don't have to worry about dangling participles, professors or grades(unless you are really into watches). It will take you a couple of months,(or years) to learn where all of the websites are that have the information that you need but learn where they are as they are a great help in understanding what you have without waiting for someone else to tell you when it is too late. Good luck in college, the draft kind of curtailed my fun, but what a great life it is while it lasts.

[vandd]

no i am not in art, even know i love art, i was in engineering but living off campas was too hard even know i passed autocad with a strate A. I am curently going for bussiness management. but back to that subject, i have a watch in my mind i want to make, my person in NH will help me make it as i will be learning and helping him out as well.