This is my second find (With some help from the sharp eyes of Ralph. He found the watch, I found my wallet.)

This is a real beauty. It is a grade 104, 16s, 23j with jeweled motor barrel and marked case.

It also has a Montgomery style dial. I believe in their catalog it is called a numerical dial.

The movement

Case marks

Dust cover

Goodness Gracious! How Wonderful.
This one is even better!
Boy you did so well. You gotta be so pleased with them both. This one looks heavy too, is it a heavy watch?

A Real Beauty!

Tom,
I believe that your Grade 104 contains a jewelled going rather than a motor barrel. To the best of my knowledge, Hampden never used a motor barrel in their movements. Any watch marked "safety pinion" will contain a going barrel, it was not needed on a motor barrel since the force generated by a broken mainspring would not be directed against the teeth of the center wheel.
Beautiful watch, especially in that marked "Railway Primus" case.

ED,
Thanks for the correction. A watch newbie here, and anxious to learn. I appreciate the information.

Okay. I am showing my ignorance, but why is the case marked Warranted 25 years? I am familiar with the use of that terminology only when a case is notated as being gold filled and from Tom's photos the case metal color appears deep enough to be constructed of a single metal.

Very nice watch Tom. Those Hampdens are definately an often overlooked very nice watch.

Mark, any time you see a year guarantee on a case it is definately gold filled. This one is especially nice though.

Mark...
A 'year' marking on a gold filled case was a relative quality mark.... it reflected the thickness of the gold bonded to the base metal..

a 'twenty' year case would wear longer than a 'ten' year case... 'twenty-five'... longer than a twenty...

this practice of marking was before about 1925 or so as the regulations changes (dating not exact)...

so in essence, this was a quality case... and in this condition it shows!!

Do not get me wrong. The case (as is the entire watch) is in fantasic condition. I understand that the warrantee period is an indicator of quality and that 25 years is an indicator of high quality. My question, I thought, was to inquire what the cladding material actually was because there was no indication of gold karat. I was under the impression that both the warrantee indicator and the gold karat rating needed to be visible. That the cladding material is gold appears to be established by your initial responses, but is it 10, 12, or 14 karat? In other words, did case manufacturers use an implied 'standard' and if so, what was it?

Tom
Congratulations on the Watch,it's a BEAUTY. I've always liked those Hampdens.


Frank

Thanks for all the nice comments.
I am very pleased with this addition to my clock collection.

Mark,

At the time Tom's case was made essentially all gold filled watch cases were 14K. Later when they moved away from guaranteeing the wear period, the markings are like 1/20 10K gf or 10K rgp.

There is some overlap, but early gold filled cases often do not have the mark.

In addition the Dueber Watch Case Co. was a little "slick" in their marking and advertizing, so misleading Dueber marks are not uncommon. Most, if not all, Keystone cases of this period would have been marked 14K gold filled.

Tom;
Thanks very much for clearing that up for me. I have only looked at one Dueber case. It was, I guess, produced in Dueber's pre-slick (possibly post-slick} period. All in all, however, I am very happy that the watch came to rest with someone like Tom Seymour who truly appreciates it. Again thanks.