Recently purchased anice 163 in a #28 case with Montgomery dial. Initailly inspection seemed to be a typical 163. The movement was real dry, soItook it apart for service, during cleaning I noticed that the "Train Bridge"was marked "Illinois Watch Co."! I quickly checked that all the parts were properly marked with #75005.

I looked at my other 163's and they all show "Illinois Watch". This movement was clearly produced during the Hamilton period, and it appears that this 163 Variant is unusual.

Any info on this movement would be appreciated.

see attached images.

Thanks,
Sean

here is the front

inside case back

The movement number (5375005) fits into the Gr 163 Type I movement number table in the Seven Stars database and except for the "Illinois Watch Co." mark it appears to be like any other Gr 163 Type I. Apparently there was at least one of the older-style train bridges around when this watch was assembled.

Since the back-stamped numbers check out, I guess we would have to acknowledge a sub-variant if some other examples show up. If it turns out there's only the one example, it's really more of an error piece IMHO.

How this could have happened is anybody's guess. I think it was most likely that an odd bridge with the old-style markings that got sidelined at one point and then after a time, somehow got back into the mix of parts for assembly. Remember they never threw away any usable material.

Sean; Pull the top plate off, check the numbers underneath. If they match, you have a good one!

Tom,

Sean has already done that and posted that the back-stamped numbers do all match. However, with only one example known, all you've got for sure is an oddity or factory error piece.

If enough similar examples show up, then we can think about declaring a sub-variant. A variant is different marking done on purpose. This looks like an odd piece of outdated material that got accidentally incorporated into a later build.

Well here is another one (5375037) that is marked with the Illinois Watch CO. (copied from the eb listing is closed)