I'm reading "Modern Watch Repairing and Adjusting" 1941 by John Bowman or the famed Lancaster, PA Bowman School of Watchmaking. On Page 105, Bowman states:

"If our wrist watch is to give the time to an exactitude of 1/2 - 1 minutes we need to have, without question, a first-class movement. Therefore do not attempt to give an exact regulation to a low-grade watch. You will only be wasting your time".

Earlier on the same page, he also states a watch should not have fewer than fifteen jewels.

At this point in my skill development, it is all I can to do to attempt to "get everything right", let alone tweak for temperature and isochronism. I hadn't considered whether a movement was "first class" or otherwise. Most of my personal collection are 15 jewel and higher.

So, can I assume most 15 jewel watches and higher would qualify as a "first-class" movement? Do the well know American Movements...Elgin, Waltham, Illinois and others...What about NY Standard...does it make the grade? Or, am I wasting my time collecting Elgin Pocket watches and Lord Elgin Wrist watches?

Bill

Bowman was interested in the longevity, ease of repair and timekeeping quality of the watch movement.

Jewels greatly increase the longevity of a watch. As a clockmaker, you know that steel pivots in brass holes cause both to wear. Then you have to polish the pivots and rebush the holes, not an easy thing to do in a watch. Getting the depthing right and the sideshake right is a real challenge. All this effort on a low value watch. Jewels that are kept reasonably cleaned will cause little wear on the pivots and virtually no wear on the jewels.

Second, the lower friction of jewels results in greater action in the balance, especially when the mainspring is run down or partially set. This means better timekeeping in terms of isochromism and positional errors.

With little wear, it is rare the you have to polish pivots in a watch. Only when a jewel is broken from dropping the watch, do we need to replace them. When jewel settings were easy to obtain, this was an easy task.

Clearly 17 jewels is the minimum "fully jeweled" movement. More jewels will do relatively little to reduce wear and to improve timekeeping. Fewer jewels means that train wheels are not jeweled. 15 jewels mean the center wheel is not jeweled. I would not include 15 jewels as high grade. It is better than 11 though.

One reason wristwatch people are crazy about Hamilton watches, is that they kept the jewel count high at 17 or 19. With the other companies you have to look at each grade. They produced low grade to high grade movements.

There are other factors besides the movement quality that effect how collectors look at a watch. A 15 jeweled watch was a high end movement in 1860, but a low grade movement in 1940, so historical context is important. Hamilton briefly produced 7 and 11 jeweled watches in the late 1890s, and because these are an exception are very valued by Hamilton collectors. Wristwatch collectors are more interested in the case than are pocket watch collectors.

However, Bowman was speaking as a watchmaker who had to repair watches. When it took more work to repair a cheap (low jeweled) watch than it did an expensive watch, you know he had to favor the expensive watch.

Don

William,
Although I can't give you any technical information, I can tell you that I collect Elgins, and some of my better watches are only 7 jewels, and run perfect. I tend to think that the watches made in the early days were mostly 7 jewels, and look at the number of them that you can purchase that still work rather well.

I also know that there were a lot of watches made with jewels that were not even in use in a watch, so how's that for "jewel hype"? Remember Elgin's 30 Jeweler? They just tossed in the extra jewels for the sake of claiming them in a time when the jewel count issue was on the rise.

To me, a quality watch speaks for itself, 7 jewel or 21 Jewel. I can't say that they don't make any differecnce at all, but since so many have a love of a particular watch, and can be as different as there are people that collect them, I wouldn't exclude ANY watch that some would admire, and another may consider just a watch.

Today, to me, a mechanical watch is a wonder, and there are none like them made today. The fact that they can be repaired at all is proof of their uniqueness and quality.

I dare anyone to find anything as awesome as a vintage mechanical watch, no matter what the jewel count is, no matter who made it, no matter what you place against it as Perfect, none will fit the bill like the wonder of any mechanical watch! PERIOD!!!!!!

Just my opinion.

What's a First Class watch?
ANY, AND ALL OF THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!