A few years ago, Chris Abell asked about a "Crown" watch he had that "looked too good to be Swiss". I have run into one of these too. Evidently while "looking Swiss", these were made by New York Standard Watch co. and cased by Keystone with the same plate design in 12 and 16 sizes with both open Face and Hunter Case styles. They are lowballed in both Shugart and Meggers/Ehrhardt, but I must agree with Chris, the workmanship is above that and I have no idea why these are not considered more valuable. Look at the case!

and the movement of this 16s Beauty! It looks like "Triple Crown to me, Dial, Case, and Movement all with a Crown.

Hey David, Funny,I never even noticed these before. Looks like something I need to find for my NYS collection.

Some further "rummage" produced an early D Gruen 19j 5 adj #756 . . .

While the plate cuts are slightly different the layout generally agrees with Mr. Townsend's adequate sketch of the Open Face version of the Crown. I believe that the "Crown" is in fact a very well made Swiss movement that was for a brief time sold by Keystone through the auspices of NYS Watch Co., and is of nearly the same merit as the Howard/ Keystones.

Hi David, I while back I too had one of these Crown pocket watches, except it was an 0 size hunter case. Same as with your it also was in a beautiful case. I also thought the movement looked more than a little swiss made. Forgive me fo rthe quality of the pictures, still trying to work out formatting.
Geoff

Hi

I just picked up nice 12s Crown hunter case. The movement is all rusted and the dial is bad shape. I do have a 12s open face 12 Crown watch also.
I will post a picture when the light is better.

What have I got here?
Just bought this Crown 15J described as a 14s. The price guide shows a 12s 7J and a 16s in a 7 or 15J.
I hope I have a 16. Sorry the two pictures weren't sized equally.
The serial number is PD0233

Great catch Dave. My guess is it is a 16s, they came in both 12 and 16. Have to see what comes.

Thanks Dave,
Right now I think I have a 50/50 chance that it's a 16. The 12s looks just like it.

Speaking of New York Standard and Crown's, I used to have a 16S 15 jewel open face N.Y.S. It looked just like a Howard series 11 RR Chronometer, except the balance was on the opposite side so the plates were reversed.It was a nice watch, kind of wish I had kept it.I think N.Y.S. watches are overlooked today,but they were pretty popular back in the day.They were much better made than the Swiss watches they had to compete with.

Odd fact, I have sold 30-40 Crown watches over the years. Almost all went to Israel. No idea why.