Internet Horology Club 185
Could be a rare Bunn Special find.

This topic can be found at:
https://ihc185.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/1086047761/m/582103211

June 22, 2009, 19:41
Steve Middlesworth
Could be a rare Bunn Special find.
When I bought this on Ebay I was going after it because of the dial. It had a single sunk "Fat Six, Flat Three, Arrows In" Monty dial that are very hard to find. Hard enough to find the double sunk let alone the single sunk. This was listed as a BIN or Best offer. I made an offer and the seller countered so I accepted.

It was coming from Canada and seemed to take forever to get here. It arrived today and the first thing I did was remove the bezel and check for hairlines. There were none. It looked to be pretty nice so I was more than happy with what I had spent on it. Next I wound it to see if it worked which it did so I set the time and put the bezel back on.

I knew this was one of the 153,000 of these that were made but I about fell over when I removed the back. The plates were gold and so was the engraved lettering. Mind you some of the gold has come off, probably agressive cleaning solution but most of it is still there.

Bill Megger's said there were 1000 of these made but he had only ever seen one and he was not sure how many of that stated 1000 were actually produced.

So is it real or fake? What do you guys and gals out there think?

Steve


June 22, 2009, 19:41
Steve Middlesworth
Her is the dial with the bezel off.....just beautiful Smile.


June 22, 2009, 19:42
Steve Middlesworth
Here is the back of the Rail Road Keystone case. Nice train engraved on it but the back does have a little brassing.


June 22, 2009, 19:42
Steve Middlesworth
And here is that beautiful movement.


June 22, 2009, 19:42
Steve Middlesworth
Just so you don't think that color on the movement is being reflected by the case, here is the movement out of the case. You can see the finish is worn off the balance cock and on the barrel bridge just above the 21 Jewels as well as on the train bridge just below and to the left of the Bunn Special.


June 22, 2009, 20:49
Lindell V. Riddle

Steve,

Another interesting find!

My first thought was the color was washed away, but there sure seems to be gold in the lettering. With that established it most likely is genuine and quite uncommon.

You are on a roll Smile my friend.

Lindell

Wink

June 22, 2009, 21:40
Steve Middlesworth
Lindell,

Thanks for your comments. I am truly amazed at the condition of the dial and the production of the watch, 1923, falls right in line with the dial. Hands are are also spectacular except the second hand shows some bluing loss but I will have to bring this along on my next visit. It is simply gorgeous to hold in your hand.

Between this one and the "707" from last week I am pretty excited with these rare finds.

Steve