I have an heirloom Illinois pocket watch that poses more questions than answers. The watch belonged to my father. According to the tale of the watch as related by him, his father bought a "good watch" for each of his sons when they were born. That would put the manufacture date prior to Nov. 1901.

A "good watch" for him was a railroad watch. This watch is open faced, 17 jewel, stem wind, lever set with a 13 increment adjustment scale. The watch still functions perfectly, it only loses 12 seconds in a week, thus after all these years could still meet the requirement.

That is where the common things stop. This watch says Illinois Watch company on the face, the works have only a serial number and bear no indication of the manufacturer. The silverode case is made by the Philadelphia Watch Case Company. The bezel secrews off to reveal the works set in a hinged ring that swings out to reveal the inside of the case. The works are held by two polished flat head screws. The works have an Illinois appearance, but I am not an expert and have not been able to find anything in the books available to me or on the internet. So, I thought I would join Chapter 185 and see if anyone here might know more about this time piece. I look forward to your opinions!

More Images....

The hinged ring..

Watch face

Illinois Watch Co.

Serial Number

Marvin,

Welcome to the Chapter. That is one very nice and very eye appealing watch you have. I agree with Lindell everything looks spot on original to the watch and in outstanding condition also.

Lindell I am at the office so I can't check my Meggars Illinois book, did it say anything about the settings and train on the grade 184? To my eye the settings and train look to be gold.

It is a very nice watch Marvin. Glad to have you aboard.

John

Marvin,
Welcome to IHC Chapter 185!!!

Wow! that is one really beautiful watch!

That movement (works of the watch) sure is clean, and looks almost brand new!

I bet that Philadelphia silveroid (stronger than silver) case has a lot to do with it being in such good condition. They were a strong, and heavy case in those days, and sure kept a lot of watches safe in their day to day use.

Thank you for sharing your beautiful watch with us, I just love seeing a fine example that has a family history attached to it.

OOPS! I forgot to ask, is that damaskeening on the movement, or is that the natural look of the plates on a Illinois watch? Sorry guys, I don't know Illinois watches that well. Sure looks nice huh? Is it common to the Illinois?

Hi Marvin,

Welcome to the Chapter 185 website.

The popular name for your watch is a "side winder" which refers to the winding stem being at the 3 o'clock position. As others have pointed out, this is the natural result of installing a hunter movement in an open face case.

This looks like an original combination to me, the basket-style swing-ring case is entirely consistent with the production date of the movement.

The swing-ring (also called swing-out) case design was intended to make the watch more dust-proof by eliminating one of the threaded joints in a screwed watch case.

However, the swing ring mechanism tended to be balky, so these cases lost popularity and were pretty much gone by the First World War.

Thank you all for the warm welcome to Chapter 185. You make a new member feel comfortable real fast!

I am extremely pleased with all of the information you could give me about this watch. I am sure you can relate to what I meant when I mentioned 'my Dad's tale'. So many of those stories that are passed down through the generations always have some truth, some fiction and some poor memory mixed in them. Now I know for certain that this is as Dad told us. There is so very little left from that generation that I have a tendency to hang on to anything I can. Not having children myself, with my demise this watch will skip over 2 generations and go straight to our youngest family member, my great-grand nephew who turned 4 in July.

I wish you all a great Sunday and hope that I can someday provide you with something to help your research.

Marvin,
That is wonderful. I'm so thrilled when I see a family heirloom passed down, and given so much care. Your father left you with a real gem, and I'm sure in the future, your great-grand nephew will be bragging about you leaving it to him, and treasuring it too.

I have a watch with Zimmerman on it, and funny thing, I always like it a lot, if I can find it, I will post a picture. That's what happens when you start clearing out and logging your watches for a database, you can't find a thing you want to post!

Again, I'm glad you mentioned that you plan to pass your watch on, I love knowing that a piece of Art like yours, will go into the future connected to the family it belongs to.

Fantastic!

Hamilton

Hello Marvin:
Welcome to Chapter 185! Congratulations on your heirloom! I enjoy watches or other "treasures" that have a family story. Everyone who posted prior to myself has covered your watch in a true and thorough manor. All I can add is "welcome!"
Cheers!
Joel