New York Standard, 18s, s/n 3949569

[g r thomas]

The attached pictures are of a New York Standard watch that I have. It is a 18s, s/n 3949569 (Circa 1903?), 11 jewels (?), pendant wind, stem set. Although I know that it is not particularly valuable, it is a very nice, clean watch, with a beautiful thick, beveled, glass crystal; and in very good condition. The watch doesn't appear to have been used very much. The watch sets, runs and keeps time very well. It came with an Elgin Veritas watch that I purchased back in 2004, and although I wasn't particulary excited about having to buy the New York Standard at the time in order to get the Veritas, I am now glad I have the watch.

In the limited information that is available, I have not been able to find an illustration similar to the movement in my watch.

Any thoughts, comments would be much appreciated. From what I have read, I am assuming the watch was made about 1903 and that it is an 11j movement?

Thank you in advance for your comments.

Richard

[ggordon]

The only thing that I can tell you off the top of my head is that it is a 7 jewel and not an 11 jewel watch.

Even though they are not particularly valuable, there's something about New York Standards that just says "rugged".

Greg

[Don Dahlberg]

You might find this useful from the Otto Young 1924 Catalog (watch wholesaler).

29498

Don

[g r thomas]

Don,

Thanks for the information. Looks like my movement is a No. 64, 7 jewel.

The following is from another thread I found on this forum regarding NYS:

"NYS turned out its first watch in 1888, but struggled in its early years, taking until 1899 to produce their first million movements. These early NYS watches were reasonably well made and competed with the less expensive lines of watches turned out by the major watch factories of the day. However, to combat slow sales, after their first million NYS began lowering the quality, materials and workmanship in their watches, which also allowed them to substantially lower their prices. This had the desired effect of dramatically increasing sales, and by the early 1900s NYS was prospering nicely and producing over a million watches each year. By 1905, somewhere around the 7-million serial number range, NYS started marking watches with only a partial serial number - they dropped the millions prefix and kept using the same 6 digit numbers over again (a letter prefix was added as a code for filling parts orders)."

Based on the above, s/n on my watch late 1902 early 1903 best guess?

Richard