Hi Donna:
Welcome to the NAWCC American Pocket Watch Message Board!
To add to the good information posted by the others:
Please excuse me if I repeat some of what you already know, it's easier for me this way. Checking the references listed in the
E. Howard Watch Co. Encyclopedia article (and looking at your pictures), Howard movement serial number 1,103,162 can be seen to be
a 16-
size,
Series 0
grade,
Adjusted to Temperature, Five Positions and Isochronism,
either pendant- or lever-set, please let us know,
open-face movement,
having 23
jewels,
and a
Whipsping Patent Regulator.
The movement is fitted with a
double-sunk, Arabic dial.
It was built in about 1910-1916, thereabouts. This was a high grade movement of which over 6,000 of this variation were made.
You can see a catalog description of the Series 0 grade, along with a picture and where it fits in Howard's line of higher jeweeled 16-size movements, on the 1911 catalog page 44 (below).
Your
Watch Case is
rolled gold plate and was made by a successor to the Montreal Watch Case Co. This is a replacement case, all E. Howard Watch Co.-made and signed watchs were sold in Howard-signed cases (even in Canada).
If lever-set, this watch is a
railroad watch, one that was widely accepted into
railroad time service at the time it was built.
Unless you know that it has been properly cleaned and oiled within the last few years, you should have the watch serviced before running it very much. It may be helpful for you to read the Encyclopedia article on
Watch Service and its related links, especially the one to the
message board thread on the subject. The Encyclopedia article on
Choosing a Pocket Watch Repair Person may be useful as well.
Having gathered and printed out information about a family watch, it is a wise idea to write out as much as you know about the family member to whom the watch originally belonged - or as far back as you can go, including (and clearly identifying) what you can guess. Then, add the names and relationships of the family members who passed it down to the current holder. Make up a booklet with this and all of the watch information and try to keep it with the watch. You might even include a CD or, better yet, a USB thumb drive with copies of the pictures or information, in addition to the printouts. Even though they may not be readable 100 years from now, some more recent descendent may transfer the files to the then current format and media. This way, the watch has real family heritage instead of it just being an old family watch, the identity and relationship of the original owner having been lost in the distant past.
Unfortunately, many of the links in our Encyclopedia articles were disrupted when we changed to the current version of our Message Board and its been a long process getting them all reinstated. So, if you come across a broken link and want to see what it led to, just let us know and we'll try and post it.
Please feel free to ask about anything that isn't clear to you.
Good luck,
,
