zenith pocket watch

[mjames91966]

hello to everybody, i am fairly new to collecting and am needing help on one watch in particular. i am trying to date and find any more info on my zenith pocket watch from the serial number with no luck. does anybody know where i might get some more info? the serial number on the movement is 1726093. on the face of the watch is the name "Carl Rahm" and under the name is the are the letters "I/B". any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Tom McIntyre]

The letters i/S when used in this way mean "in Saxony" so a wild guess might be that Carl Rahm was located in Berlin. You might try trade directories for the first few decades of the 20th century.

 

[mjames91966]

Thank you Tom, i tried that but had no luck. Any other suggestions ?

 

[Dave Chaplain]

test

 

[Dave Chaplain]

You might check Bremen, Germany (fairly large city SW of Hamburg), as well. Several Carl Rahm's immigrated to the States from there ...

 

[CZHACK]

mjames - The 2007 version of the Guide/Shugart notes that the Zenith brand was registered in 1897 and that they had made 2,000,000 by 1920. Post a photo and we can get an idea of the production date but I will guess your watch will date to 1915-1920 as production is likely to have been lower in the early years. Mike

 

[mjames91966]

Thank you very much mike, i have been trying to get a clear picture with my digital but i must have a bad camera. seems it doesnt like close- ups so as i may get any detail. I will try different things. i do apprectiate your help.

 

[mjames91966]

Well here are some pictures finally, i do apologize as they are not the best quality. Thank you.

 

[Tom McIntyre]

I have a similar looking movement that I believe is fromthe 1920/1930 period.
[
Sorry about the picture quality. The serial number is 2389213.

 

[mjames91966]

so can it be a safe assumtion to say that the serial numbers used by zenith were in seqential order? Lower numbers being earlier and going up?

 

[Tom McIntyre]

It is not "safe" but it is reasonable in the absence of evidence to the contrary. The numbers were most likely blocked off in groups of 100 or so of a given quality and model that started production together. Once the industry settled into relatively high volume production, that was the pattern with most companies.

Batches were finished according to volume demand, so a low volume higher grade watch might have the batch open much long than a high volume lower grade watch.

Once again, this is speculation for Zenith, but was the general pattern of the industry.

 

[mjames91966]

You have been a great help on improving my knowledge Tom

Thank you, Mike

 

[watchfriends]

That is only the seller, in Germany some watches have this, it is uninteressted. It can also be Bern, Biel, Büren etc.
The movement is Zenith cal. 18 (i think)swiss, very nice.

 

[mjames91966]

Thank you to all. Every little bit helps.Now i just need to wait to hear back from Zenith,which it seems they are on a summer holiday and will return in August.

 

[watchfriends]

I had bought a Zenith cal. 19 for Josegold but i have never found info's about this

http://web1.limg04.tldhost.de/auktion/zenith3.jpg