Kent
09-16-2003, 10:22 AM
Chip:
You can look up the vital data on your watch at the NAWCC Information Storage - Waltham Serial Number Data Base (http://www.nawcc-info.org/WalthamDB/LookupSN.asp).
Its not clear what you mean by saying, "I was told that it is an old Train conductor watch but it is different because it is silver."
Only a small percentage of American watches (or Swiss watches for the North American market) were cased at the factories prior to the mid-1920's. Most watch companies just made movements (the "works") in industry standard sizes. The case companies made cases in those same sizes. The practice at that time was to go to a jeweler, select the quality of the movement and then pick out the desired style and quality of case. The jeweler would then fit the movement to the case in a matter of moments.
Or, watches were sold by mail-order. Large outfits such as Sears, Roebuck & Co., Montgomery Ward, or T. Eaton (in Canada), would offer the movements in a variety of cases of different design and quality in their catalogs. Smaller mail-order retailers would case the watches, typically in a 20-year gold filled case and offer it only that way, with the buyer not having a choice of cases.
The material quality of a watch's case was not a factor in whether or not a watch could be used in railroad time service. It was the timekeeping quality and the features of the watch movement that really mattered. To learn more about this, see "Just What Is A Railroad Watch?" On the Pocket Horology, NAWCC Chapter 174 Website (http://www.pockethorology.org/).
As it says in the upper left-hand corner of the page, we can't discuss the current value of specific watches, but you can see what the movement cost when it was new at:
http://elginwatches.org/scans/sales_catalogs/1887_S_F_Myers/m_waltham_watches.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)
Please let us know if you have any other questions.
Good luck,
Kent
That guy down in Georgia :smile:
You can look up the vital data on your watch at the NAWCC Information Storage - Waltham Serial Number Data Base (http://www.nawcc-info.org/WalthamDB/LookupSN.asp).
Its not clear what you mean by saying, "I was told that it is an old Train conductor watch but it is different because it is silver."
Only a small percentage of American watches (or Swiss watches for the North American market) were cased at the factories prior to the mid-1920's. Most watch companies just made movements (the "works") in industry standard sizes. The case companies made cases in those same sizes. The practice at that time was to go to a jeweler, select the quality of the movement and then pick out the desired style and quality of case. The jeweler would then fit the movement to the case in a matter of moments.
Or, watches were sold by mail-order. Large outfits such as Sears, Roebuck & Co., Montgomery Ward, or T. Eaton (in Canada), would offer the movements in a variety of cases of different design and quality in their catalogs. Smaller mail-order retailers would case the watches, typically in a 20-year gold filled case and offer it only that way, with the buyer not having a choice of cases.
The material quality of a watch's case was not a factor in whether or not a watch could be used in railroad time service. It was the timekeeping quality and the features of the watch movement that really mattered. To learn more about this, see "Just What Is A Railroad Watch?" On the Pocket Horology, NAWCC Chapter 174 Website (http://www.pockethorology.org/).
As it says in the upper left-hand corner of the page, we can't discuss the current value of specific watches, but you can see what the movement cost when it was new at:
http://elginwatches.org/scans/sales_catalogs/1887_S_F_Myers/m_waltham_watches.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)
Please let us know if you have any other questions.
Good luck,
Kent
That guy down in Georgia :smile: