I haven't posted much of anything lately, not of any real significance anyway, but I had been in some email communication with another member regarding amonst other things, the ever illusive and hard to find Illinois Watch Co. 21jewel "Fatboy" Type III-A 60 HOUR. I tried doing a search on the site and came up with nothing...maybe it was just me, I am sure it has been discussed before. So I decided to dedicate a topic specifically to it

To me this was one of the most unique and beautiful combinations of dial, hands, and movement ever to come out of the Illinois factory. They only appeared for one year, 1928, and it has been speculated that less than a thousand of these were ever produced. I have had a couple of these in my possesion and I know Lin Riddle has at least one as well.

What made these stand out so well was the dial with its outrageously large Arabic numbers with not only 12 "arrows out" but 60. And what better suited to point to those large numerals? A set of Sangamo hands to call out the time. All the known models were enclosed in a Bunn Special 1st Model case.

If you have one of these you truly own a historical timepiece. And if you do, post a picture of it here

Movement 5060153 is a Type III-A 60 HOUR nothing unique about it ....just part of the package.

The Wadsworth case numbers fit right into the 1928 production of the movement....

One last look at this beautiful configuration with the bezel off...

Steve Middlesworth

Sweet!

Now that is a beautiful watch

Great pictures Steve. I have a FAT BOY which I bought from Lin in 2005.
Tony

horrible, absolutely horrible, you should sell it to me....... lol enjoy that bad boy, err I mean fat boy! regards Joe

Steve I just bought a watch that most likely fits right into the time frame.

Serial # 5069956 which dates to 1927.

Dial is a Fat Boy with a lot of damage. Kite Sangamo Style Hands.

I bought it because of the hands.

Here is 5060657. Case is later. I read there may be as few as 600 of these made.

I have acquired a Fatboy dial with these kite hands. I am not clear as to the appropriate serial number range of movements that would be correct for this dial. I am thinking of putting it on serial # 5,134.352 but have seen serial number ranges claimed for this dial higher than my serial number as well as lower. Can anybody verify my watch as being within the correct ranges?

Bill; I own Steve's Fatboy at the top of this post.
5060153 your # should work as long as it is in the 1926-28 area which I think it is

In another book on Bunn Specials, the serial number range as starting with 5,15x,xxx to 5,25,xxx, which is of course somewhat later, 1929.

I'll be putting the dial up for bid on ebay soon, so someone else can worry about authenticity.

I just bought this FAT BOY Dial watch.

This is my second one.

Serial # 5054141

Here's a picture of the movement.

One last one.

What a beauty, my all time favorite Illinois.

Just acquired another Fat Boy. For those of you keeping score: movement number 5,022,732. First model WGF case #7,687,268.

I'm thinnin the herd a bit.

If anyone wants to own the first Fatboy in this post...the one that belonged to Steve...and probably the finest one in existence...let me know, You'll own the best.