I would like to know about when the ubiquitous 16S Mainliner look alike cases began...I've seen them on watches from 1917 and my thought is that these have been recased and that these cases came out later than that..
Posts: 383 | Location: Northern Pennsylvania USA | Registered: April 04, 2007
Sure, they're a nice looking RR case but they scream RECASE..for instance, I just bought a 1915 Elgin Veritas WI in one of those cases...If I can't have a movement in its original case, I like to put them in era correct cases. That's part of the pocket watch collecting hobby as I see it...
Posts: 383 | Location: Northern Pennsylvania USA | Registered: April 04, 2007
The earliest advertisement I have found for the "J. Boss Railroader" case carried a 1923 date and was arguably the most popular railroad model case ever produced. It was sold by retail jewelers beginning in 1923 through the 1950s and was even revived in the 1970s time-frame as what we term "re-strike" cases. So to find one on any movement earlier than 1923 means you found yet another re-cased movement.
In 1937 the true "Mainliner" case which was from Hamilton and differed in several respects came along. The real-deal "Mainliner" came only on "Hamilton 950 Elinvar Mainliners" produced from 1937 through 1941 when they were replaced by the 950B which was a new movement offered in then-new model cases.
Keystone's "J. Boss Railroader" case is often referred to as a "Mainliner-Style" by many collectors.
A true "Mainliner" case will carry one of the two signatures shown in the image below.
Hope this is of help,
Lindell
The real-deal Mainliner cases carry one of these two signatures...
Posts: 10553 | Location: Northeastern Ohio in the USA | Registered: November 19, 2002
I always get a kick out of the term "Mainliner wannabe" when people talk about the "J.Boss Railroader" case. As we can see in Lindell's thorough explanation here, that case came out in 1923. A full 14 years BEFORE Hamilton contacted Keystone to make the few subtle changes in there "J.Boss Railroader" case to come up with the "Mainliner" case for there new 1937 950E.
To me the "Mainliner" case should be called the "J.Boss Railroader" wannabe!
JMHO
Regards, Larry
Posts: 2733 | Location: Northeastern United States | Registered: February 28, 2010
I wonder if movements were ever cased in those cases at the factory for mass consumption? Perhaps only for special orders? Maybe exclusively for recasing?
Posts: 383 | Location: Northern Pennsylvania USA | Registered: April 04, 2007
This was the most popular case ever made, and used in variations by almost every major watch manufacturer.
I'll be putting on a beautiful 950 Mainliner Elinvar tonight. What a beautiful case/watch, and it falls right in with these that Lindell put up as an example on another one I found in 2010;
Those two pictured [by Kevin] are not the same as the generic one we all see constantly...those are marked with the watch co. name, like Elgin, the generics are just marked with Keystone J.Boss, etc....show me a generic marked with a watch co. name....
Posts: 383 | Location: Northern Pennsylvania USA | Registered: April 04, 2007
Lest one think I'm anti-J Boss Railroader, here's one I just bought casing a 1917 Elgin Father Time WI...the photo of the design back doesn't do it justice, it's spectacular...but again, not appropriate for the movement era..a high pendant case would be correct I think..
Posts: 383 | Location: Northern Pennsylvania USA | Registered: April 04, 2007
Someone had said that they didn't make a lot of the fancy back cases either. To find one in the condition of the ones shown here is really a nice find for sure. I sold a customer in Alaska a really nice NOS WGF case like the one Kevin's Howard is in. What a beautiful watch that was.
Regards, Larry
Posts: 2733 | Location: Northeastern United States | Registered: February 28, 2010
I've seen pictures of some Canadian-made "Sturdy" nickel cases that are the Mainliner style, anyone know anything about them? I'm wondering if they also made then in gold filled or RGP.
Posts: 1323 | Location: Lebanon, Connecticut USA | Registered: March 28, 2008
We are off in several directions! Which stimulates additional interest.
Perhaps we should consider the one Dennis shared as a suitable replacement case, that was common.
Ted, often when a case-style was discontinued the dies were shipped to Canada, this even included A few Hamilton styles like the very cool Case 7, a favorite of mine.. Of course the signature inside case-back was updated.
Check out this 2005 sale, looking back an exceptional bargain...
Thanks for the info Lin, I never knew that American watches sold up there had to be in Canadian made cases.That must have been good for their case makers.That model 7 style case was really nice, you'd never know it wasn't a Hamilton from the outside!
Posts: 1323 | Location: Lebanon, Connecticut USA | Registered: March 28, 2008
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Which stimulates additional interest.
