Saw this as a buy it now last week on Ebay & you know me if it has a name attached to it I have to research it.

I paid $205 including shipping so it might be a little high.

The watch is a Illinois, Burlington 21 jewels hunter movement, it is a grade 108 pendant set, adjusted to 5 positions with a gold center wheel & a false center bridge. It was made in 1920 & a total of approx. 10,900 were made

The dial had a hairline which you can see near the 12 o'clock position

It was in a gold filled keystone case with the initials PGW on the front cover

Included with the watch was this ribbon fob for the Native Sons of the Golden West Parlor 26

Here is a close up of the fob

The back of the fob was engraved Presented to Percy G. West July 13, 08.

Doing some research on Percy G. West I found the following;

HON. PERCY G. WEST. – A distinguished and popular representative of the people in the halls of state legislation is the Honorable Percy G. West, the well-known attorney who is a member of the California legislature as assemblyman from the fifteenth district. He was born at Orange, in Orange County, on March 16, 1883, and his father was Henry West, who had married Miss Sabrina Harriett Austing. They were married in the city of London, December 24, 1871, and in May, 1872, came to San Francisco, Cal. In 1876 they located on a ranch at Orange, Cal., which they eventually improved to an orange orchard. They now both live retired in that beautiful Southern city. They had nine children, six of whom are living, Percy G. being the third in order of birth.

Percy West attended the public schools of Orange County, and in time studied law in the office of Robert A. Waring, state inheritance tax attorney, and J.M. Inman, state senator, and also pursued a special course in the School of Jurisprudence of the State University at Berkeley, and on July 2, 1919, was admitted to the bar in California. He had previously worked for the Southern Pacific system, first as a telegraph operator, and then as ticket agent; in 1904 he came to Sacramento and then became traveling freight and passenger agent for the Harriman lines. In 1918 he was paying and receiving teller in the Capital National Bank, and the following year he became undersheriff. In 1920, after having resigned from his office, he took up the practice of law; and on November 2, 1920, he was elected assemblyman from the fifteenth district. He then began the practice of law, in which he has met with success. In 1922 he was reelected to the assembly without opposition. In the session of 1921 he was chairman of the committee on labor and capital. In that session he was the author of the bill creating the California State Agricultural Education Committee, which investigated all the colleges of agriculture in the United States, while formulating a definite policy to be pursued by the University of California in agricultural education, and as a result the State Farm at Davis has been made a branch of the University of California. In the session of 1923 he was chairman of the committee on claims, and he served as a member of the judiciary committee during both sessions. Republican in matters of national import, Mr. West, through his active participation in the affairs of the Native Sons of the Golden West, seeks to stimulate patriotic sentiments and influence. He is past president in that organization, and he has been secretary of the Native Sons Hall Association for fifteen years, since the organization was formed. He belongs to the American Order, Sons of St. George; Sacramento Lodge No. 6 of the Elks; Capital City Lodge No. 499, F & A.M., and Sacramento Pyramid of the Sciots, and to the county, state, and national bar associations

At Sacramento, in 1911, Mr. West was married to Miss Ethel G. Trainor, of that city, the daughter of W.F. Trainor, who was for years paying teller in the California National Bank. They have one son, Robert G. West. Mr. West has vested interests in ranch and home property. He believes in getting out into the open and is fond of hunting.

I found where Mr. West died January 25, 1959 in San Mateo Ca. His son apparently went on to be a lawyer in Ca. & it appears his grandson is currently a patent lawyer in Ca.

Thanks for taking the time to look at all this.

Tom

I saw that on ebay but since I had purchased a nice open face 16s lever set Burlington fancy dial watch I did't want to pick a second one up but it is always nice to research the past on some watches. On one Elgin grade 339 it was private labeled William B Krill and it turned out I found a ancestry site that showed him and his family. Nice looking watch well worth what you paid for it in my opinion.

Nice looking watch Tom. Watches with a little "connection" are much more fun to collect.

Thanks for the comments, I do tend to hang onto the ones with a history, my plan is to someday mount each one in a shadow box with the bio of the person.

Tom

That's a very nice one, Tom! And I agree - it's always an extra treat to be able to find out information about the owner. And you have become so good at sleuthing out these details!

Here is the bio of William B Krill (father) http://www.hershberger.org/Gen...s/WmBKrillFamily.htm This grade 339 looks like no other grade 339 that I have seen with the completely different straight line dmk and gold engraving. I would love to find two wind wheels and a click to replace the ones that have some corrosion on them. I found a nice hunter case for it, once I find the click and wheels I will send it out for clean/oil.

Tom

I would be interested in if you can find any information on his father Henry West. My sister-in-law is a West and her great great grandfather was a Henry West. He was a rancher during the gold rush and made a small fortune raising beef and selling it to the miners.

Hi Bruce

Henry West was born March of 1843 in England, he immigrated to this country in 1872. His wife was Sabina, she was born in March of 1850 in England, she apparently was married to Henry when they immigrated since she is also shown as 1872. In the 1900 census for Orange County Ca. they are shown to have a daughter Amy born Dec of 1876, son Walter born Jan 1881, Percy born March 1883, son Spencer born Sept 1885, son Clarence born June 1888, son Roy born March 1891. All the children were born in Ca.

I would be interested if there is a connection to your sister-in-law

Tom

Tom,

Very nice looking watch. Is that watch in a signed Burlington case?

Steve

I have to take some pictures of my triple signed Burlington (21J/LS) but engraved on the back of the case was R.H. Saunders and when I did a look up on that I found a link to a past mayor of Toronto Canada who was born in 1903, watch was around 23-24 from the serial number so that might have been a possibility. That would have been the 2nd watch that I have that came from Canada the other is an Elgin grade 370 triple hinge presentation watch for the Imperial Bank of Canada to an employee in 1911. In the days these watches were high dollar gifts and sometimes seeing "From Mom & Dad to whoever with a name and date makes you wonder the past history of these watches. I have some of my 6 size watches that had pictures on the inner covers and such.

Thought I might as well take the pictures of mine

Hi Tom

Not the same West. My sister-in-laws would have been in the US at the time of the Calif. Gold rush. Still great reading.

You truly give life to these time pieces. I think learning about the people that owned them is one of the more interesting parts of this hobby.

Having someone like you that can bring the past to life is really a treat.

Hi Bruce

Well that is both good & bad, it would be neat if it was her family but then I would have to give it back.

Sometimes I think everybody might be getting bored with all my history junk.

Tom

Quoth the raven, "Never bored!"
History is always fascinating.
Bob

No, no, Tom. The historical and geneology information you find adds a bit of what all antique collectors wish to have for an item - provenance. Being able to say that an item was owned by John Doe who lived in Anywhere, USA in 1890 IMHO can add to the value.

You have also found information on the ancestors of some of our members, too, such as Mark. That in itself is invaluable to the families involved. So please keep on looking and posting your findings about the watches and clocks that we put up here.

Come on Tom....There is no way that anyone could get bored reading one of your new History 'finds' when someone posts a new addition to their collection....

Many of our members do post just because of your expertise in locating information pertinant to their watches....so lets not hear anymore of that kind of talk....besides, it's not junk....as Mary Ann said, "it adds provenance" to each piece that is identified....

Keep up the great and important work that you so graciously do, it is appreciated....

Regards,
Jerry

OK, if you say so. I just know here locally I get the rolled eye look when I start going on about people I find, so I guess maybe I was seeing some of that eye rolling going on.

Tom

Tom, I think that falls under the category "different stokes for different folks", if you are rowing up the river in a boat does everyone use the same technique? no way! I tend to pick up lower production watches, 15,17 or higher in the jewel count. Others won't even look at 15 or 17j watches but will give up body parts for a 992B or Bunn Special. It is all what you like and makes you happy, others like me dabble in looking up past owners if I can but I don't buy watches just for that purpose but again that is what makes collecting fun.

For me, the history of a watch or its owner, or seller in the case of a private label, adds SO MUCH to its interest that it sometimes becomes more important than the watch itself. I have never been able to understand, for instance, these eBay sellers who openly declare, "this watch belonged to my grandfather...blah, blah". Tom, I love your 'column'.

Well thanks, I feel the same way, a few of the watches I have bought on ebay that the seller makes claims like that I ask them for the relatives name & then after I find the info on them I put it with the watch. The watches that mean something to me are the ones with a history.

Tom