Good afternoon all.
It's been several years since I've posted anything, and I'm thrilled to be back. This past weekend, I was given two wathces, both of which belonged to my great-great grandfather. He was a farmer, so the fact that they are both big and heavy isn't a surprise! One is a Waltham, approx. 1886, and the other is a Springfield Illinois, approx. 1882. I'm just looking for any and all feedback, especially what I should do with them. Should they be cleaned? Tuned up? Should I wind and run them without a cleaning. I know the Illinois does run and keeps pretty good time, but I haven't tried the Waltham yet. They both look great inside, all hands are still blue, faces are pretty good, although the Waltham is cracked across the bottom. Sorry I'm rambling, just a little excited here. I haven't posted pictures for a while, so here's hoping I do it right!

Face with the crystal lifted up.

Inside back cover.

And most importantly, the movement. I would love to hear what y'all have to say about these!

Very nice heirloom to be proud of !!

Please invest in a COA [clean-oil-adjust] for your watch and enjoy it by either wearing it or displaying it somewhere that others in your family circle may enjoy it with you.

Back in the day, these watches if worn daily would have been COA'd at least every 3 years. Nowadays with the new synthetic oils vs. animal oils of that era, they will run a bit longer between oil changes.

Today, this watch will require lubing as I feel sure the remnants of old oil will have evaporated or become severely contaminated with airborne dust particles and will need replacing. Running this watch without servicing [COA] may result in damaging the watch, and sometimes beyond repairs.

The case is in a SB&B [screw back & bezel] case By Fahy's and was their #1 coin silver case, it is desirable today as there weren't as many SB&B coin silver cases made as there were DHB&B [double hinge back & bezel] coin silver cases from that era.

regards,
bb

Hi ED,I love them I would cherish and enjoy them since they were and come from your great grandfather.Nice watchs and pics,ENJOY!!!

Thanks for the info Buster. Those are the kinds of things I was hoping to hear about! I do have another question that I may already know the answer to, but I have to ask. When I first removed the crystal, I saw the notch by the "2". I first thought that it was a lever set that had been broken off. Once I looked closer at it, I realized that it wasn't. Could this be a case of the company having some leftover faces from earlier lever set watches and putting one on this watch, or is there some other explanation?
And Tim, in case you hadn't noticed, I am absolutely tickled to have these! Thanks for the comments!

Some of these old cases back then, came shipped to the local merchants who would have "cased" the movement for the customers, with the "lever-set" already cut out, and if the case had a sleeve in the stem , then it could have been used for either a pendant-set or lever-set movement[s].

regards,
bb

Sorry to keep my own post going, but I just keep finding more neat things! I noticed that there is a date actually stamped on the case between the 8 and 9 position. I can't read the month, but the date looks like "19, 1884". Is this a common thing on these older watches?

Probably a patent date for the case design. I have a Illinois keywind, manufacture date of 1883, that has a patent date of July 1883 in the back of the case cover of the case itself. I have always assumed they started life together. Kind of an odd case for a key wind too....hinged back and curvette, screw down front bezel. Pain of a design too, as it's a cinch to wind up with the hinged back, but you have to take the front off to set the watch......but I digress.....

Regards! Mark

I would say you are correct Mark. When I took a close look at it, it does say "Pat Feb 19, 1884". I obviously hadn't looked close enough before.

Edward, the movement also looks like it has a broken case screw.

I wondered about that Brian. The funny thing is that the other watch that I posted (the Illinois) has the exact same thing. Makes me wonder if they had both been worked on by the same person at some point in the past!