For me it was a Peoria-For Railway Service on the dial and movement. The dial was a 24 hour dial for railway service. The first one that I had seen. Sn-15236 -Hunter cased.
Tell us about your favorite watch you added in 2012.
Tony

25j Ball Trainmaster wrist watch.

Regards! Mark

Bunn Special 161 Type 1

This one is a toss up for me, as I have two of them that I really like alot.
The first being the Waltham Vanguard early 21 Ruby Jewel Mdl 1892, and the second one being the Hamilton fully marked 940 in the Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen case.
But I must admit I like all the watches I own.
Bill

Only 1? But I have added quite a few real nice watches. But if I had to pick just one...

My 3 finger bridge Elgin Convertible. True it doesnt have a lot of jewels. But I just love the watch and the way it looks.

I acquired many fine watches, but my favorite is this 18k American Watch Company Grade Model 1872.

The movement is spectacular.

I too have acquired many interesting watches, but surprisingly, my "go-to" and by far daily favorite is this humble M1899 19J 5p RGJS SW/LS Riverside. Re-cased in to a relatively thin and light weight Crescent swing case.

And the high mileage work horse, still keeping RR time.

This was my best buy of 2012, it is an English cylinder escapement by Ellcot & Taylor, made in 1883, the picture does not reveal the true beauty of the movement.

and the good part

Francesco,that is a beauty of a movt.What a large diamond endstone it has.
Thanks Roger

Francesco, did you mean 1783?

Hi Ethan, no it was 1883, I know it's weird to see such a highly decorated English watch like this made in 1883 (these are the case markings but the movement was made to fit this case [its really tricky to get the movement out of the case] so I assume the movement and the case where made around the same time period).
Francesco.

Fransesco, compared to "Balance Cocks or bridges", (~pg446-447) in the Price Guide, the wider based solid foot balance cock makes your watch look exactly like it should for a VERGE Escapement Fusee Movement made between 1760 and 1830. I would add my guess that the movement probably was "born" around 1790.

Note, the odds that it is a "cylindre" escapement are about 1 in 99.999. In other words you have a beautiful 18th century hand made watch that was later re-cased.

Hi David, I think you are right, I looked on pg 447 and I saw that the solid foot balance cock was used between 1760 and 1830, I like the thought of having such an old watch in my collection. But, I know for a fact that this watch is a cylinder escapement. I did also notice that it has a ornament similar to Illus. 3 and 8 on pg 445, so that might prove that the movmt is older than I originally thought and much close to your estimate.

Tony, I'm proud to have sold you your favorite aquisition for 2012. Mine is probably the Hamilton 943 I picked up from Tom Dunn. Or the 948 I got from ebay (pictured here).

The 943 case

943 Movement. Not fully marked like yours! https://ihc185.infopop.cc/eve/f...?r=99710279#99710279

This is my favorite watch purchased during 2012. It is a verge fusee by Sam Speer of Newton Scotland, circa 1810. It has a Confederate shield on the dial so it may have been carried by a Confederate soldier whose father had immigrated from Scotland to the U.S.

Here is a shot of the movement.

This is the dust cover with a small port hole showing the diamond end-stone.

my Ball/Hamilton 999

It would be tough, I added some Elgin grades like the 350, 360, 246, 540, 376 along with the 20j 150, all nice watches. Tough to make a call.

Claude,
Pick one///////////////////////
Tony

Ok twist my arm, I will go with the 350

I think my favorite this year would be a lowly 992.Movt bought from Eugene a couple weeks ago here.Put a dial on and put in #5 case.Runs 2-3 seconds in a 36hr.period off of computer.Thanks Eugene.
Roger

movt.

It's got to be my 24-jewel Rockford Grade 800 hunter.


Movement #519420, circa 1898

A close second would be my 18S 19-jewel Ball-Hamilton (movement #669498, circa 1911) with Ferguson dial & hands.

Edward, those are two impressive watches!

Ed I like that RG watch I have had a couple years ago and really wished I kept one. I haven't seen one in years thanks for showing it. I like them model 72's Ethan posted also those higher end models you just rarely see.

For me it has to be my 21J Ball & CO ORRS that I got in June 2012. Not the most valuable in my collection, but extremely hard to find. Only 6 known survivors as ORRS, the other 24 known survivors are Brotherhoods.


21J Ball & CO 18 sz ORRS

happy hunting