On the watch with the 3 "chain links",see if you can make out what is inside each one.If there is an F,an L and a T in that order,It would be International Order Of Oddfellows.Letters stand for Faith,Love and Truth.Norm

This is a Burlington case catalog page which includes one of the Odd Fellows design choices from that particular period.

They had crystals when I was a kid. My dad stored them with a bunch of coins. Too bad he did not put them in a deposit box or something. Story is My grandfather found the Burlington Special in the sand on a beach in California. Probably true as he was a poor man and wouldn't buy a watch like this. Nice to know they are worth something but I think they are just too cool to give up. Just amazes me the fine work inside these time pieces. Whatever the condition they are fun to admire. I will look up Knights of Pythias. Sounds like a Mason group. Thank you for the info. What are some good resources for restoration?

I recently came across two early Getty movements and both have dials that are signed only Burlington. They both have the same dial and hands. Both movements are 17 jewels for hunting cases. So now it appears not all of the early movements were signed Burlington Special.

Serial # 1,889,693 from 1906 Grade 174

Here's the second Burlington.

Serial # 1,984,365 from 1907 Grade 174
RR

ebay auction images

1889693 and 1984365 are Grade 174 unadjusted movements. Not surprising except the "Burlington" with no "Special" dial signature.

Re: an older post and thread: Claude, the Burlington Special hunters are not common, but I saw this one back in late July 2013. Bought it at your rec. because it was triple-signed.

kh

the movement on the other side of that dial...

and what that case looks like..

This, of course, is a model 185 with those same odd hands seen on John Flahive's open-face grade 806 from 1913. The hunter above came out of the factory in 1910 - consistent with David's almost ironclad finding!

I like it when people post topics and pictures so that you can see watches that might be of interest so I am glad my post triggered the purchase. My father-in-law was a yardmaster at the Sandusky Ohio N&W yards and he had a Burlington 21j that was passed on to him his father-in-law. On some sites people treat Burlingtons like they treat Hampdens (no respect). It is nice to know my 19j hunter is not that common.

I have one Burlington Special hunter case same us
Kens and one open face both 3 fingers and 19 jewels same dials pictures will be posted tomorrow
and both are great runners with in a minute a week
open face one is my carry for this month.

here are the pics.

and the movements

Nice! The three-fingered Getty brothers.

I just picked up a very nice HC Burlington 21J Adj5p Pendant set grade 108. It is triple signed, has the bold Arabic railroad track dial with three matching moon hands.

I can't figure out how to value it. The closest match I get in the Fat book is the Illinois 21J, GJS, HC

And, the movement

I would value you as you tried to, I have not seen too many of the 21j hunters mostly what I see are the 19j hunters. There has always been some debate if "Positions" refers to 3 or 5 but even at 3 they would have met the requirements for most RR lines in the time they were produced. I will comment it is a very clean looking watch from the pictures of the dial and movement, well worth picking up especially if the case is as nice as the rest of the watch.

Thank you sir, I'm never sure just how much liberty I can take with mixing and matching descriptions in the book. Sometimes I worry that it's just a feel good thing.

Problem with the whole RR thing is that this one is a pendant set. The case is ultra nice, low mileage.

Still a great gentleman's watch.

I got a great deal on it because it has an odd monogram and the seller listed it as non-running rather than risk an unhappy buyer.

Just looking back at all the great pictures of these nice Burlingtons.I think it would be quite the collection to have one each of these many different types.It would be a real crusade, that's for sure, especially since so many have been recased.

This is a wonderful post that has been ongoing for almost 4 years. I've read all of the posts, but I still have a couple questions about my Burlington Special, serial # 2,026,410, which I think dates it to about 1910. I'll show some photos below. I believe its a Grade 174, 19J, OF, 3/4 plate Getty movement. It is not marked "adjusted."

My questions:

1) Can anyone identify the Model? and

2) Does the fact that it is not marked adjusted mean that it absolutely was not adjusted at all at the factory? I noted that there are earlier Burlington Specials that are marked "adjusted" without position designation, and that there is speculation as to whether that meant adjusted to 3 as opposed to 5 positions. I thought it would be kind of strange that a completely unadjusted movement of a "Burlington Special" would have been manufactured after Illinois began manufacturing adjusted ones.

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

Here's the dial:

Here's the movement:

Here's the case nomenclature:

Mike,

I come up with a Grade 174, 19-ON5L-U, 1907, total production 3,200

19J, Open face, Nickel, Model 5, Lever set, Unadjusted.

Additional notes include: Polished oval head screws, black or gold fill, patent regulator, DS enamel dial.

I would be inclined to think this dial is a transplant from another run.

Thanks Paul. What makes you think the dial is a transplant? Any thoughts about what kind of dial would have been part of this run?

I may have jumped the gun there Mike.

I just associated this dial with the higher grade movements... It looks like as long as your movement is 1915 or earlier, you are fine.

Thanks for thinking about my issue, Paul. I just love these dials, and the fact that they highlight the great history of a US upper Midwest RR that prominently included my home state of Minnesota. It seems really hard to find one of these dials in really nice condition like this one is. The watch was inexpensive, so the grade of the movement doesn't really matter to me. But I did want to accurately identify the model number and whether it was adjusted to some degree. If this is a Model 5 Grade 174, I'd be curious to know what Models 1-4 look like!

Anyway, I really appreciate the response!

Illinois models 4 and 5 are all Getty's (apostrophe or no in Getty plural)?

Models 1,2 and 3 predate the Getty.

Grades are subsets of models.

Good to know. I thought models were subsets of grades.

Nice Burlington looks to be all original with case sweet .

Thanks Peter! Small hairline by 5, but otherwise seems in great shape.