Waltham Crescent St.

August 25, 2008, 02:46

Bill Manders

Hello all,
I have 2 crescent streets, and one is marked adj 5 positions and the other is marked adj 6 pos.
I think these are all adj for temp, and isochronism also. But I have found nothing in anything I have read about the 6 position adj.
Has anyone further info on this ?
Thanks for all the help,
Bill

August 25, 2008, 08:04

Tom Brown

Bill
My understanding is there are a total of nine positions, heat, cold, isochronism & six positions (stem up, stem down, stenm left, stem right, dial up & dial down.

A 5 position watch is heat cold isochronism & 5 positions. A 6 position watch is cold heat isochronism & 6 positions.

Tom

August 25, 2008, 16:31

Bill Manders

Thanks for the info Tom,
Initially I was just wondering about the marking of 6 pos.on the Cr.St, I had not seen anything on this, then presto I opened my Shugart and there it was.But now the 6 pos watch you have told me the positions, which position is missing in the 5 pos watch ?
Thanks,
Bill

August 25, 2008, 17:36

Lindell V. Riddle

Nothing is really missing Bill,

The sixth position is upside-down, a bit of hyperbole popularized by Illinois beginning in their early 20th Century advertising. To my mind it is a bit of a reach to think a pocket watch would be upside-down in normal use, but apparently the advertising ploy worked and eventually all of the other watch companies claimed to also have "six-position" watches.

Another expression is "Eight Adjustments" which is 5-Positions along with Heat, Cold and Isochronism. Then we get to "Nine Adjustments" which 6-Positions including the additional upside-down position along with the time service requirements of Heat, Cold and Isochronism.

In the November of 1927 advertisement below the ad writers tried to come up with an explanation of the whole "Six-Positions" pitch claiming it "insures the greatest possible accuracy and uniformity in any position" and then they push their "60-hour feature" as I sit here in near disbelief.

But of course they had long-before convinced the buying public of the need for unnecessary jewels that served no purpose so the watch companies slogged on with shovel in-hand slinging the hype.

Lindell

Upside-Down... "BETTER THAN THEY HAVE TO BE"