Won this in an auction on Ebay to add to my loaner watch collection.

It is a 19 jewel Bunn Model 11 made in 1923. The person that was auctioning it said she bought it in 1982 from Schnack Jewelery in Alexandria La., she said at the time they advertised they were selling out all their old pocket watches. While she was a the store someone called on the phone & purchased them all except the one she was looking at so she bought it.

When I got it today it had a broken balance staff but by luck I had one to fit it.

The case back is marked SCHNACK LOANER but it is worn & hard to photograph.

The dial appears to be perfect as far as I can tell.

It had a plastic crystal which I replaced with a thick glass one.

As I mentioned the movement is a 19 jewel Bunn.

This timed out at one of the best watches I have done, it showed an error rate of 1 second a day

Schnack's Jewelry is still in business today & has a web page where I found these photos.

The business was started in 1865 by two gentlemen, in 1870 Carl A. Schnack went to work for the business, he eventually bought out the two owners & changed the name to C.A. Schack's Jewelry.

This is the business in 1865

In 1916 Carl's daughter Nell & her husband Frank O. Hunter purchased the business but kept the same name for the business.

According to their web site the business has remained in the family to this day. The photo below is from 1930.

I emailed them asking about the watch & if they had records for the railroads that they were inspectors for but I did not receive a response.

Thanks for looking.

Tom

Tom,
Very nice looking Bunn, with a exceptional dial.
You have been picking up some nice watches lately.

Tom,

What is the serial number and which variant is it?

Steve

Sorry Steve forgot. It is 4240904, 3rd var.

Tom

Tom,

I have 4240348....they are run siblings.

Steve

Yours can come visit if it wants.

Tom

Nice Bunn, Tom! It has an unusual but nice looking heavy bow.Who made the case?...Ted B.

Thanks Ted, the bow is nice & tight. The case numbers all match, the maker is a company I don't think I have run across before. It is marked E.N.W.CO.

Tom

I've never heard of that casemaker either.Sure is a high-quality looking case, though.That's a watch to be proud of!

Tom,
E.N. Welch Co. was a clock company but I don't know if they made any pw cases. They floundered in 1899 and Sessions Watch Co. bought them out lock, stock & barrel. That case has the extra long urn that could of come from that era. I know they were failing during the 90's and perhaps they tried their hand at the case market, but I have no evidence, only motive
Re,
bb

Tom nice bunn and case,the movement looks too be in top condition.

Thanks for the comments. I found the case maker it didn't even dawn on me, it was the Elgin National Watch Company, I looked in the US Horological Trademark Index & there it was. It was issued a trade mark on June 6, 1911

Tom

Tom

E.N.W.CO was a trade mark of Elgin (Elgin National Watch Co) issued June 6. 1911 (United States Horological Trademark Index, Meyers)

Gerald

Tom won !

I swear I did not copy

Gerald we should never meet up, we could do some damage, like minds & all.

Tom

I have two Illinois Bunn Specials from this era. On those watches, the stem and crown are much different, more modern.

Is this case from old stock that they were using up?

Or did the jewelers just use older cases for the loaners?

My answer is actually just a guess, but I think movements changed in the cases. I am guessing it was kind of like what the Military did but on a small scale. If one of their loaners was damaged I would think they would just swap out another movement with the case. I also think they probably used the cases over & put new movements in old cases.

After you asked I took this one out again & you can see where it held a different movement at one time, one that had the case screws similar to a Ball Hamilton.

Again since the woman I bought this from bought it in 1982 for the jeweler long after it was being used as a loaner they could have just stuck this movement in days before.

But since these were actually just tools of the trade back in the day & weren't owned by anyone other than the jeweler I would tend to think they just used these over & over until they were no longer needed.

Anyone have another opinion of perhaps some facts.

Tom