Washington watch co (Senate) info requested.

[captainscarlet]

I recently acquired this watch and was hoping some of the experts on American watches could give me some more information. So far I have found that this watch was made by Illinois for Montgomery Ward and Co. It has a 17 jewel (Getty's?) illinois movement.
Any and all information will be gratefully received. Thanks guys
Here are some pics.

 

[Christopher Burris]

Nice watch and just as right as rain. You've have a Grade 175, Model 5, Open face, lever set, 17 Jewel watch, made in about 1904, with a total production of approx. 14,060 in production between 1896-1912. Dial looks nice. The case is also nice, and made by Illinois Watch Case Company...in a style used in the early 1900's, so it could be its original case. The "Senate" model was a mid-grade model, but a great work horse.

-chris

 

[Bila]

Nice watch and just as right as rain. You've have a Grade 175, Model 5, Open face, lever set, 17 Jewel watch, made in about 1904, with a total production of approx. 14,060 in production between 1896-1912. Dial looks nice. The case is also nice, and made by Illinois Watch Case Company...in a style used in the early 1900's, so it could be its original case. The "Senate" model was a mid-grade model, but a great work horse.

-chris

Just to expand on the information Chris has given you these Washington Watch Co's which were marked Senate or Munro were only made in small numbers, so the total manufactured number is much less then the total production of the Grade 175 movement.


Cheers,

 

[captainscarlet]

Chris and Bila, thank you for taking the time to reply to this post I must confess to finding American watches very confusing to research. Yes I believe that the case is original to the movement as I can find no evidence that the movement once lived elsewhere. Since posting I have found that "one quarter gold" refers to the amount of gold in the case. That being 25% of the weight of the case itself. It would be nice to know roughly how many of the Senate marked models were produced. Is there a way of finding this out?
Thank you once again chaps. And if anyone can give me any further info I would be a happy man indeed.

 

[Kent]

... And if anyone can give me any further info I would be a happy man indeed.

I'm not sure if you got to see the Illinois Watch Case Co. Encyclopedia article and the ads for the Elgin Pride grade case.

 

[Fred Hansen]

I've posted my production estimates for most the 16 and 18 size Washington Watch Co. watches in this previous thread, but I haven't gotten to the Senates yet ...

https://mb.nawcc.org/showthread.php?121336

I plan to get the Senates done eventually and will post to this board when I do. For some perspective though, the open face Getty model Senate as pictured in the first post is the most common 16 size watch in the Washington line.

 

[captainscarlet]

Well then Fred. There was me thinking I had found something rarer than a Unicorns dangly bits Thank you for bringing me back down to earth. I will look forward to your upcoming production estimates when you post them.

Kent......What can I say?....Absolutely marvellous!! I hope you don't mind, but I've copied those two adverts to keep with the watch. Fascinating reading.

 

[Fred Hansen]

Don't get down ... you have a very nice watch and thanks for picturing it here! I like the Washingtons a lot and that's why I've spent some time studying them. At most there were a few thousand like yours made, compared to many other watches this is just a drop in the bucket.

A cool feature of the Getty model watches for Washington Watch Co. is their 1 finger bridge plate design, Illinois only used this particular version of the Getty design with a finger bridge on the escape wheel for the Washington Watch Co. watches they made for Montgomery Wards. Interestingly they used a different style of 1 finger bridge plate design on some Getty model watches for their other big department store customer, the "Plymouth Watch Co." and "Interstate Chronometer" Getty model watches they made for Sears Roebuck have a single finger bridge over the 3rd wheel.

 

[captainscarlet]

I'm not down Fred, I'm pretty stoked about the watch. It's ticking away nicely on my bench after it's strip down, cleaning and oiling. Interesting observations with regard to the bridge layout. This is all gold information which I will place with the watch. I think my favourite part is the "click". Small as it is, details like that make it obvious there was great attention to detail with it's manufacture. The Swiss (where most of my knowledge lies) would have in most cases, simply used a shape of click that worked. Thank you for taking the time chaps, and if anyone has anything further to add, I am all ears.