Traditional folders and watches/timepieces

A couple old fancies. Just got the Elgin back from repair. It belonged to my great grandmother’s brother. I have the chain he wore it on as well but need to pick it up from my grandfather.

The repair was not cheap, and likely cost more than it’s worth if not for the sentimental value. It’s really neat to hear this baby tick.
 

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Today I pulled out a watch that is usually worn with a suit. Since I don't wear a suit often, figured it would be good to give this one a weekend of run time.

This is an Elgin #39 from the mid 1870's. It is 14 sized, all original as I can tell, and lives in a nice coin silver Fahys case. Low mileage on this sucker. Love it. 1848 large cent as a fob. Chose it because that's when my 4th g-grandfather arrived here from Germany.

Accompanying this Elgin are the same small fixed blade as last week and a folder by Robeson. Great old jack with "commercial fiber" covers. Very very snappy. Steel liners with integral bolsters. Nice swedge on both sides of the blade.

Opinel still holding up the business end during a trial run. Darn thing amazes me everyday.
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Hamilton 990 and a beautiful Schrade Cut Co. I’m on the hunt for new hands and a case for the watch. What a talent knowing how to damaskeen patterns like the ones on this movement.

I did a quick movement lookup on pocket watch database and found out the company made 15k of these in total with this one coming from a run of 1000 around 1911.

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WalleyeBob said:
Hamilton 990 and a beautiful Schrade Cut Co. I’m on the hunt for new hands and a case for the watch. What a talent knowing how to damaskeen patterns like the ones on this movement.

I did a quick movement lookup on pocket watch database and found out the company made 15k of these in total with this one coming from a run of 1000 around 1911.

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nice! seems like this was one of those watches that lost its cast during the great metals melt of the 1980s??
 
afishhunter said:
or maybe during WW2?
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I think it's more likely that it lost its case due to parting out watches. There isn't enough in a gold filled case to justify really melting them down. These Hamilton's and the railroad style watches in general are especially susceptible to this because people will pay more for good parts than a whole watch. Flip through eBay and you can find sellers with the dial, hands, case and movement from the same watch all in different listings. Kinda sad but that's how it is.

If you look closely that dial is from a 992b. So that 990 was probably stripped and sold off at some point. Or someone wanted a nice correct 990 dial (which are expensive).

It's an ugly business. See a nice watch in an auction and loose the bid, then see it in parts on ebay a week later.
 
RickHuf said:
I think it's more likely that it lost its case due to parting out watches. There isn't enough in a gold filled case to justify really melting them down. These Hamilton's and the railroad style watches in general are especially susceptible to this because people will pay more for good parts than a whole watch. Flip through eBay and you can find sellers with the dial, hands, case and movement from the same watch all in different listings. Kinda sad but that's how it is.

If you look closely that dial is from a 992b. So that 990 was probably stripped and sold off at some point. Or someone wanted a nice correct 990 dial (which are expensive).

It's an ugly business. See a nice watch in an auction and loose the bid, then see it in parts on ebay a week later.
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Sad and disgusting situation. ☹️
 
RickHuf said:
I think it's more likely that it lost its case due to parting out watches. There isn't enough in a gold filled case to justify really melting them down. These Hamilton's and the railroad style watches in general are especially susceptible to this because people will pay more for good parts than a whole watch.
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You are exactly right. I bought the movement from a fellow who parts out watches. Alas, I didn’t see the dial, case or hands in the lot.
 
A custom I had made from a Sandoz Hong Kong sub homage, Bill Yao Bund dial and “snowflake” hands I found on eBay years ago. Northeast Watchworks put it together for me before I started customizing watches myself, Duarte does a much better job than I do! A nice single blade Case Wharncliffe trapper is along for the ride in my pocket today too.
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WalleyeBob said:
You are exactly right. I bought the movement from a fellow who parts out watches. Alas, I didn’t see the dial, case or hands in the lot.
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It's a heck of a movement! Lots of gold trim, decoration and adjustments. Have fun with your project!
 
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