I did not realize how kind the fates would be to me when I bought two pocket watches to use for practice in my class. Got them as a pair, cheap on eBay.
The Waltham 12s was the victim subject of my school efforts and I'm glad I could bring it to life but, as I mentioned in an earlier post, with that purchase I also ended up with an early, unexpectedly well-regarded and fascinating other timepiece, the Elgin 18s B.W. Raymond model manufactured in 1889.
Turns out that Dave the Master was correct. This is considered to be one of the best made watches of its era and considered railroad grade before there was an official standard 4 years later.
Elgin the company was formed in 1864 and they started producing watches in 1867. They became the largest producers of watches in the United States. In fact the B.W. Raymond was the very first model that Elgin made and they were top of the line for many years. It was named after one of the company's founders, board member and former mayor of Chicago, Benjamin W. Raymond. The original Elgin factory was built just 30 miles north of that city.
They made quite a few variations of the BWR right through the 1950s.
Accordingly they were not inexpensive in their day. Here's an 1890 flyer.
$52 in 1889 is approximately $1,700 in todays dollars.
Couple other things worth noting...
Our watch appears to be all original. Case, movement, dial, hands... everything.
The dial is in great shape as are the lovely fleur-de-lys hands which still retain their beautiful blue color.
It has a handsome old case, the "Monarch No.1", made by Fahys Watch Case Co.
And yes
you can look it up and see that this case model was in production for only 11 years which turn out to overlap with the 1889 production date of our B.W. Raymond. So the case is very likely original to the watch. Neat.
Many of the early watches made in the US were 18s sized. This one is a thick and heavy watch with a tall crystal. Feels great in the hand.
While that side view looks very nice and the inside of the case is in beautiful condition, the outside of the case, especially on the back, is very worn, albeit still in good condition overall. Most notably no large dents which can often suggest hidden damage inside.
That pattern along the edge is wear related.
Turns out most gold watch cases were not made with solid gold (super expensive) rather they were "gold filled" which means that a layer of gold (much thicker than gold plating) is fused on top of the stronger brass underneath it.
With our BWR what you're seeing in that photo of the back of the case above is called "brassing" where the outer layer of gold has worn away in places, from many years of wear, exposing the brass layer underneath.
So students... gold watch cases were rated and marketed on "years" meaning how many years the gold fill would last with regular wear. Someone did some math that effectively said "well if we layer this much gold on top of the brass and assume X number of days a year that someone would carry the watch with Y amount of wear on 14K gold then the brass won't reveal itself for say... 20 years."
Sounds super scientific to me.
A 14K gold / 20 year case was a very common, good quality standard rating for a case.
This Monarch case is a 14K / 21 year.
I wonder how they got that extra year?
Could it just be the early days of marketing weaselry?
That wear on our BWR is from many, many years of carrying that watch in a pocket.
So our watch was not tucked away in a drawer. It was worn. A lot.
Ok one more thing. Look back again at the inside view of the case.
Examine closely and you will see many etched numbers and symbols along the bottom edge and in the middle under the makers mark.
Those are the marks of the watchmakers who serviced this watch. There quite a few marks. Sometimes watchmakers would put in dates of service. Others entered numbers like their NAWCC membership ID number (mine is 183380), their initials, or some other unique identifier.
There are least a couple more marks on the right side and the top and left side. Here's a clear example and a more subtle one above it.
I count a least a dozen etched marks inside the case.
This watch was serviced a lot. It was a well cared for watch.
Not knowing its service history other than what I've been able to ascertain from the case marks I'm naturally cautious about whether the watch is safe to run regularly. I've given it a basic inspection and it seems in great shape but that doesn't mean that it's just fine to wind and go.
To be clear when wound it runs quite well and keeps pretty good time. But without a deep look I'd be taking quite a bit of risk to wind and run it regularly.
So I will put it in the queue for service but I will likely work on and learn more with a few more junkers as I climb the watch horology ladder. I don't want to mess this BWR up. I like it too much.
Therefore I will use it minimally until I can deeply inspect and clean it and do whatever else it may require. We'll see.
Meanwhile it sits on my desk and I wind it once in a while. It's just so pretty.
Isn't it!
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It isn't not pretty, Mister Brassy.
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