I know Mainliner cases were common for Hamilton watches, and I have even seen some Walthams using them, but would it be incorrect to put a 16s Illinois into one of them?

Bruce,

No. The Mainliner was wade only for the Hamilton 950E. A similar case is shown below that was a case that was sold by the jewelers and I have several of them. A very handsome case and quite popular. Here is a picture of one of mine that has a Bunn 19 jewel 60 HOUR movement in it with a "Fatboy" dial.

Steve

Bruce,

Here is another post where these were discussed. If you are saying that your watch case says "Mainliner" then I am going to say only a Hamilton can go in it. The case above is the very similar except it is considered to be a Rail Roader case by Keystone. Confused yet?

Steve

Some of the details

Hi Steve, The case I am thinking about buying is only marked Keystone J. Boss and nothing else. It sounds like you are saying that I could put an Illinois in it without causing an incorrect "marriage." Is that correct?

Bruce,

Yes that is correct. These were a common and popular case sold by many jewelers so the marriage would be ok provided the movement was from around the 1915 to 1930 or so timeline and not a movement that would have come from the factory cased. Although, if you are just looking for a nice case for your movement just remember, less than .0001% of the population would know the difference.

Steve

Steve, Shugart's Price Guide says the Hamilton Mainliner first appeared around 1937. According to your information, it sounds like Keystone may have been making these from an earlier period, then Hamilton adopted the case as a standard offering of their cased-at-the-factory watches around 1937. Does that sound like a reasonable assumption?

Lindell,

Thanks so much for expanding on this subject for Bruce (great to see you posting again by the way). I have had a sincere love for this case and I have collected a few very nice watches in them. I have been trying to find information on them as well to broaden my knowledge of them. I will read those other post in the morning.

Being an Illinois collector almost exclusively I tend to follow only information regarding them which means the history of most non factory cased movements pretty much ends in the early to mid 1930's. There were some mid 1920's movements that were slow movers and later sold in the 30's by the Hamilton group which I believe were sold as movements only and cased by the jewelers at the time of sale.

Needless to say, thanks for the information, I'm sure it will answer a lot of questions.

Steve

Thank You Lindell and Steve, and this brings to mind a question . . . This mint looking case arrived here wrapped around a mid-20's 17J adj PSB with a busted mainspring from an eBay seller that had listed it along with a toothpick holder, antique Stanley wood plane, old dishes, etc.,etc., so the picture was so bad that nobody bid it so it came here. It cleaned up to a mint watch!

Would this case be "appropriate" for a higher end RR such as a 23 Jewel 60 Hour Sangamo Special?

I would like to elaborate on the exceptions Lindell touched on.

Pictured below are 5 Illinois watches that are not in factory cases. What is unique about four of them, and this was the way I received them and it led into another discussion I had with Lindell a few months ago.

Four of them have Hamilton style dials on them with the two in the back even have Hamilton style hands. I belive those four were put together at the hamilton factory.

The one in front on the left is a Grade 706 19 jewel Serial # 5300858 (1930).

The two in the rear are both 19 jewel Bunn 60 HOUR watches in non factory cases.

The center front is also a 19 jewel Bunn 60 HOUR in a Ball case.

The one on the far right is another 19 jewel Bunn 60 HOUR in a Keystone Rail Roader case.

Is it coincidence that there are four Hamilton style dials on Illinois watches? I think not. I believe the 60 HOUR models, all of mid 20's manufacture were left over units after Hamilton took over the Illinois factory. These were all of the less popular, slow selling 19 jewel variety, That were left sitting in the vault. There were less than 4,000 of these produced and here are three with Hamilton style dials on them.

The Grade 706 model I think reinforces the fact that they started using these dials in the 30's to get rid of surplus and were sold to jewelers as uncased movements to get rid of them.

Steve

I think you guys should rewrite the book on Illinois watches. How about the Sangamo Specials? Would they have been cased in the factory prior to 1930?

Steve,

The answer to your question is yes. All 16 and 17 size Model 10 and the 17 size Model 13 were cased at the factory which they started doing in 1920 through 1926.

Steve

David,
To answer your question, the last of the model 9 Sangamos were produced up to 1923 which would have been sold as movements only. The Rail Roader case came out in 1924 so if there were still Model 9 movements available in 1924 I would say it is a possibility.

Steve