Gilbert, Cooksey Shugart Publications, Cleveland, TN, 2005. Alternately, check the value in the " Complete Price Guide to Watches, No 25," C. 323, " The Studebaker" in a gold-filled, screw back & bezel case), by using a Google Search you should be able to find similar watches offered by internet dealers, or on eBay, and see what they are selling for. However, knowing the proper description of your watch (18-size, 17-jewel, South Bend No. Be careful not to catch the edge of the dial with your thumbnail, dials get chipped that way.Īlso, Pocketwatcher's website has instructions for Setting A Lever Set Watch.Īs it says in the upper left-hand corner of this page, we don’t provide timepiece values. Usually, people hold the watch in their left hand and use their right thumbnail to catch the lever's little tab and pull it out. To set the time, the lever is pulled out, parallel to the surface of the dial. For most hunting-case watches, the lever protrudes from the bezel at 21 minutes for a 16-size watch and 27 minutes for an 18-size watch. Or, if the case has hinges, there should be a raised lip, just clockwise of the pendant, with which to pry the bezel open on its hinge. The bezel may screw off to expose the lever. Typically, for open-face watches, the lever is at 6 minutes for a 16-size watch and 11 minutes for an 18-size watch. On an open-face watch, the lever is located under the bezel (the metal ring that holds the crystal). This was to prevent the inadvertent changing of the time while winding a watch. Starting just around 1906-1908, it was generally required that watches used in railroad time service be lever-set. Lever-set means that you have to pull out a lever to allow the crown (winding knob) to engage the hands to set them. To meet the post 1906-1908 railroad watch requirements, the watch is lever-set.
So, in examining the production records of the Hamilton Watch Co., it isn't unusual to see two movements having adjacent serial numbers that are finished a year apart. Thus, out of a run of five hundred movements in inventory, if twenty-five are pulled to be finished, their serial numbers may be scattered across the entire range.
When the needed quantity of movements were withdrawn, it was not necessarily done in serial number order. The rough movements may sit around in inventory for years before being withdrawn from stock and sent to the finishing room. If sales are slow, the rough movements aren't finished until they're needed. It's the polishing of the interacting parts and the adjusting of the mechanism to obtain the specified timekeeping quality.
The process of finishing a watch movement is a long and labor-intensive procedure.
South Bend, Indiana - A Complete Listing of Serial / Grade Numbers from Beginning to End," by Lyle & Donna Stratton (that I quoted from above) is entitled " Estimated Serial Numbers and Production Dates." Gilbert (which was mentioned by Whit, above) specifically says " The above list is provided for determining the APPROXIMATE aga of your watch." The table in “ The South Bend Watch Co. The South Bend table in the “ Complete Price Guide to Watches, No 24,” by C. It should also be noted that we commonly accept that serial number verses date tables are only approximate and may easily be off by two or more years. The serial numbers could very well have been assigned, and manufacturing started, in 1908 or 1909. This especially applies to the high grade watches such as "The Studebaker" grades.
It has been frequently pointed out that watch movements could take from nine to eighteen months to build and finish.