Hi All,

Just inquiring to see if anybody knows how many hunter case versions of the "John Hancock" 21 jewel watches were produced in comparison with the open face model, the fat book does not tend to list the hunter case model, are they a much more rare version then the open face model?

Regards to All
Bila

Bila, the problem with Hampden is, as you may know, is that there's no factory records to go by for production numbers.But, I think the hunter version John Hancock is more scarce than the open face, there are many O.F. ones around but you don't see that many hunters.They are a really nice RR watch.I have an OF and a HC.I know the railroads were getting away from approving hunting case watches,maybe that could be one possible reason for there being less hunters here today.I looked in the books I have, and none list an estimate of how many were made, but the value of the hunter model is always higher than the open face.Maybe someone else has a better answer. Take care, Ted.

Hi Bila, As a Hampden collector I find your question interesting. As Ted said the production records do not exist so what we have to go on is the experience of other collectors. Interestingly, today I acquired an 18 size John Hancock 7 jewel key wound and set watch that was a New York Watch Company movement, part of the inventory bought by John Dueber when he purchased that company and went into the watch business. It is my earliest John Hancock watch, serial number in the 47000 range and it is open face. I have a similar 7j hunter from the same period. Moving on from there I currently have 4 open face model 3&4 18s Hancock's with 3 different damasceening patterns but only 1 21j 18s Hancock hunter. My experience with the 18 size Hancock's tells me that the ratio of open face movements is probably 5 to 1 in favor of the open face movements. I have had a number of 12 size John Hancock watches and they are relatively uncommon but about evenly divided between open face and hunter movements. I don't know how much help this is but they are well made watches. As you said the big book is not always helpful when it comes to Hampdens and in my opinion the * system they use is not indicative of scarcity on most Hampden models.

Thanks for all the info Ted and Deacon it is very much appreciated. I originally purchased this to repair my open Face John Hancock, as it needs a balance assembly, this one was supposed to be an open face as well. Being a hunter is even better as I will put this away until I find a nice case for it.

Best Regards,
Bila