This is fun....The most I've posted here in quite a spell
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This is fun....The most I've posted here in quite a spell
This is a mint condition key wound 1886 Elgin 18s 11j in a big coin silver “Hunter” case. The key was inserted through the hole in the rear cover to wind the watch. The key was also required to set the hands to indicate the proper time. This was a delicate part of the operation. The term “Hunter” referred to the case type that had a hinged lid that covered the watch face. The terms 18s and 11j refers to the watch size and jewel count. Size 18 was the largest watch made and a watch with 11 jewels was considered to be a high quality watch in 1886.
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Ok, this is a gun site so I'm putting in some "gun porn" with the "watch porn." I apologize in advance for the quality. I usually do better than this but I don't have my photographic mojo today so it is what it is.
Left to right: 1911 21 j Waltham Crescent St with 1926 L.C. Smith Field Grade 12 gauge shotgun (the watch and the shotgun cost about the same.) - 1961 Hamilton 17j Thin-o-matic with 1978 Texas State Police Smith & Wesson Model 28 .357 Magnum Highway Patrolman - 1911 Waltham Crescent Street - 17j Walter Starcke "mystery watch," I know who the vendor was but have no idea who made it despite searching lots of sites. The case is an Illinois Watch Case Company which tells zero about who the actual maker of the movement was -1982 Omega 17j (ETA movement.) I put a "sport chain" on it and, as I previously said, wear this one a lot with jeans, it's very thin.
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All except the Omega are heirloom watches. I would like to think the Waltham belonged to my grandfather (I'm named after him,) it is the sort of thing he would have bought but there is no way to be sure.....
A picture of the Walter Starcke movement when I was having a better camera day. As you can see the watch has been used so much that most of the finish is worn off the stem, but it still keeps very good time.
Attachment 44959
Art,
I can read Walter Starcke on the movement. What does the rest say?
It says
Walter Starcke
Junction City Kans
17 Jewels
That is the only lettering on the movement.
The research I did shows that the Starcke family operated a high end jewelry and sundries store in Junction City from the mid 1880s to the late 1950s. It also had an optometrist shop. The founder, Walter Starcke was a jeweler and watchmaker. Judging from the Illinois Watch Case Company Spartan case and the art deco looking damascening I suppose it was made between 1920 and the start of WWII. The movement is in the 5,700,000 range which seems to be proof positive that the movement was not made by Starcke.
I have only seen one other reference to one of these watches. An auction in the U.K. had a "very rare Walter Starcke" watch for sale, same face but a different case. No on line sites I have found have any reference to these watches. My horologist friend suggested that I post pictures and a description on watchuseek and that was a complete bust as well.
Oh, it is a lever set.
Attachment 44965
The Starcke store in its heyday.
It’s unusual that a manufacturer would exclude their name or model number from the watch. I checked the serial number of the watch against the serial numbers used by the two largest US companies (Elgin and Waltham) and they both blew past the 5 million mark in the 1890s. Yours appears to be an early 1900s to 1920s high quality watch. The 17j, 16s, lever set, spade and whip hands, a white dial with large black numbers and a red seconds chapter, would suggest a specialty purpose (i.e. some possible limited approved RR use). Will keep looking.
One of the watches in my cousin's house was a "Plymouth." It is a very small ladies watch in a 14k solid gold case. Unfortunately it was not repairable. It was, as I recall, marked "Plymouth Watch Company" on the movement.
I found that these watches were made by Rockford and Illinois for Sears Roebuck in the first decade of the 20th century but are not marked as such. Sears was such a big operation then that the knowledge of the makers of the Sears Roebuck watches is common knowledge while the watches made for a single store in Kansas would not be. Sears Roebuck in their ads claims that their 17 j watches are superior to 21j watches produced by the "maker." Obviously the manufacturer(s) of the Plymouth watches wouldn't want their name on a Sears watch with a claim like that!!!