What was the first pocket watch you ever got ???

My first pocket watch was a Waltham Traveler made in 1906 don't have any pictures or much info and I can't upload any because it in the bank. But I would be interested to hear what your first pocket watches where ??? Regards, Francesco.

Mine was a brand new Ingraham dollar watch with a locomotive on the dial...received in 1968 for Christmas, new in the box and purchased for me from our local Kresge five and dime store.

I couldn't cut and paste the discussion, but you can see the EXACT watch I had at this discussion on watchnet:

http://watchnet.com/watchtalk/posts/211.html

The only difference between mine and this one is mine had the script Ingraham on the dial rather than the block lettering.

I've tried to replace it just to have an example in my collection, and have seen it on the bay, but just shy of the triple digits .

I'm guessing just because it had that locomotive on the dial the sellers think they should bring more.

I carried that watch for many many years, until it just finally died....and after that I completely lost track of it.

A good memory of my Dad when I see those old Ingrahams with the locomotive dial, as it was my first pocket watch and came directly from him that Christmas.

Regards! Mark

A Hamilton 990 from 1902. I bought it in 1972 and still have it.

When I was about 9 and just getting interested in watches, my uncle Harry gave me a 16s Elgin Father Time. I promptly took it apart and ruined it.

William

Hamilton 924 with nice base metal train case. I recently gave it to a good friend for his 40th birthday.

My father's 12s 15j Elgin in a gold plate star case. Carried it during my teen years and through college and later and put it away to keep from brassing it out. Still looks and runs good but mostly enjoys its resting place tucked away from harm.

My first was an inherited Elgin 18s from the 1880's from my Grandfather. He was a logger and dairy farmer in Merrill Wisconsin. I was about 14 at the time and promptly lost it.

A non working Grand Trunk Pacific Swiss fake for $16. That watch still isn't working and probably never will. I have not paid that little for a watch since but am loving every step on the road to financial ruin

An Elgin, 7 jewel, size 18, in one of those big silverode cases with a steam locomotive on the back, runs, still have it.

In the 6th grade I let Jesse Bukowski cheat off me during a test. He gave me a cheap stopwatch that worked fine, so I used to walk around seeing how long I could hold my breath.

After passing out from anoxia several times I took the watch apart. I never could get all those little pieces back into the case.

I sold it to some kid; the deal went down in the bathroom at school. I told him it was the timer from a bomb.

Interesting thread I got my first pocket watch when I was about 12 when I was with my grandfather over at a neighboring farmer who had a Ingraham brass dollar watch with a small dial. ( I tried to find it to take a picture but couldnt find it in my mess) Anyway I thought it was so cool and he ended up giving it to me. Later I was given my great grandfathers 21 jewel Waltham 16 size which I also still have displayed. My first pocket watch I purchased was a 992 that I bought off an old man who I worked on his D6 bulldozer for when I was in my early years of mechanicing for Cat. Been hooked since buying selling and trading.

quote:

I told him it was the timer from a bomb.

Not as described, did he give you negative feedback?

After my Dad passed, I was given the choice of one of three pocket watches (my two sisters would get the other two). Since I was the oldest, I got to pick first. Here we're the choices... A large gold colored Waltham. A Waltham in a silver case(Swiss) and an Elgin 12s... I picked the Waltham because of the dial (Montgomery, which I would learn later). After figuring out how to open it up, i was amazed at what I saw.. It was a 18s Waltham 845 in a b&b case.. From that point I was hooked.. It is still one of my prized watches!! Sorry for the long winded story..

In 1958 I wangled a Job to assist a Forestry Ph.D Candidate who was studying the Growth and variation of Jackpine. For the next 18 months I traveled with him throughout the Jackpine growth range sampling about 5,000 trees. (Draw a line from Yellowknife, NWT East through Churchill Man. then to Sept Iles, Que, then South around Nova Scotia to Bar Harbor ME, then WSW to Indiana Dunes State park and then diagonally back up to Yellowknife via the Northwestern corner of North Dakota)

So I got a Dollar watch at the local drugstore for $4.98 which took the whole ride in good order. Hadda change the leather thong about three times though. (Rotten Leather)

Westclox, with luminous hands & dial, about '67 or '68. I bought it (and the next 3 or 4)at the local Rexall Drug Store, where they were kept behind the counter with the cigarettes and liquor Cost was $5.95 as I recall....

Regards,
Bob

In 1962, I was twelve at the time, my grandfather gave me his daily carry. It was a Swiss watch from the turn of the century. I had to get it from the local watchmaker who had it in for repair. It cost me the vast sum of $2. I still have it and are planning to let my oldest grand kid have it when he reaches the same age.

Regards, Krister.

Mine was a dollar watch of some sort that my dad gave me. He was cleaning things out and figured I would use it more than he did. We both can not remember what kind it was but were leaning toward an old westclox of some sort (1960s-70s maybe). At any rate - I lost it within a week... 30 years later I decided to get one that was close to what we remembered - a Westclox Bullsey. Dad still has little use for them but it lead to me getting a Hamilton 992B and the seed was planted. I am not losing any of these
Dan

My dad had a Waltham, 17-J, Colonial, Model 1924 that he was given by his brother and sister in 1929 when he graduated high school. When I was a kid in the 1950s, I used to look in his drawer every once in a while, wind that watch, take off the back and see it go. I was fascinated. He gave it to me when I went to college, and I made a little leather pouch for it and used it on and off for about 15 years before it stopped. When I found out how much it would take to repair it, I thought I might want to learn how to fix it myself, and this started me on my journey into watch repair. I am still fascinated.

My dad's college graduation watch, a 17-jewel Gruen Verithin circa 1939, with original blue plastic box & sales receipt.

My Grandmother gave me a 12s 7j Elgin witch belonged to my Great Uncle Jimmy. I still have it sitting in my jewelry box. It only runs a few seconds before stopping now. Probably needs a coa. But I have a terrible record working on 12s Elgin watches. So it sits in a jewelry box where it would sit anyway even if it were working.

Jim, send it to Chris Abell.. He'll get it running again

The very first pocket watch I ever had was a late 40's Elgin that I purchased new from a local jeweler back around 1974. He had it in his inventory for decades, and never sold it. It was a pendant set 16 size. I never had the back off of it, but my guess is that it was a 574. I was looking for a Hamilton, but this was all he had. I was 15 then...and that watch is long gone. Wish I had it back now! Regards, Brad

Bruce, if it was important that it ran, perhaps I would. But that I have it is all that matters to me. I have lots of other running watches if I need one.