Has anyone compiled a list of 18s and 16s American mechanical pocket watches that were sold by mail-order?

South Bend Studebaker and Illinois Burlington come to mind. Were there many others?

What was the most high-grade mail-order pocket watch?

There were quite a number of firms that sold by mail order, both under their own names (or a house "brand name"), or watches made by well known makes, including Illinois, Elgin, Waltham and even Howard under the manufacturer's name. Both Sears (Ariston, Interstate Chronometer) and Montgomery Ward (Plymouth) sold large numbers of watches by mail. You might want to check the Bulletins, #327, Oct 2000, and #328, Dec 2000. Kent and I did a two part Railroaders Corner column on Mail Order Watches.

Highest grade mail order watch? My initial candidate would be the "Greenwich", a 16 size, 23 jewel Illinois of the Diamond, Ruby and Sapphire grade, sold by Montgomery Ward in the 1914 - 19 period.

Ed Ueberall
NAWCC 49688
IHC Member 34
The Escapement

A Hamilton 992 could be bought from Sears in 1927 for $49.50, manufacturer's list price was $60.00; others available which would pass railway inspection: 19-j Waltham Riverside, 21-j Waltham Crescent St., 23-j Waltham Vanguard, 23-j Hampden Special Railway, Howard Railway Watch ($62.25, more expensive than the Hamilton), 21 and 23-j Illinois Bunn Special. There were 3 different case styles available with the Waltham movements.

I cannot believe I'm correcting Ed Ueberall, of all people... and about his articles, no less!

But here goes! The first of those two great articles titled "It Costs Nothing!... The Mail Order Watch Business" Part 1 was in the August 2000 Bulletin and the second part followed in October of 2000. That one was titled "Do You Want Your Watches Delivered This Way?... The Mail Order Watch Business" Part 2. You'll find both articles very informative as always!

For any IHC member who would like a copy of the articles on hand send an eMail request to ihc185@roadrunner.com and we'll be glad to photocopy these or any other articles of interest and mail them to you.

This is yet another benefit of Membership in Chapter 185!

Lindell

Lindell writes: "I cannot believe I'm correcting Ed Ueberall, of all people... and about his articles, no less!"


Ditto for me, but I believe Plymouth watches and clocks were marketed by Sears Roebuck & Co.

I believe it was "Washington Watch Company," which was marketed by Montgomery Wards.

================

Steve Maddox
President, NAWCC Chapter #62
North Little Rock, Arkansas
IHC Charter Member 49

Gee, sorry Ed. Ariston was a trade name of Marshall Field & Co. [and I do not believe it was mail order].

<< Burlington watches were made by Illinois Watch Co. for the Burlington Watch Co. which was a mail-order sales company. They did no manufacturing. Although they alluded their watches were equal to any railroad watches, they were never accepted by the railroad watch inspection services. Even though many of the parts are the same as Illinois watches, they were not classed as railroad grade watches. Part of the reason was the fact that the watches were sold by mail order and not by watch inspectors. The same situation existed with Sears Roebuck, Montgomery Ward(Chicago Mail Order) and later, Studebaker watches (not to be confused with South Bend "The Studebaker" grade). There was a large anti-trust legal action in the late 1920's concerning this mail-order situation.

The matter of watch inspection and watches approved for time service is a very complex one. First, the standards changed over the years and second, at any given time they varied considerably between railroads. Most railroads published time service bulletins in which they listed makes and grades of watches that were approved for use on their road; however, some listed only mechanical and accuracy requirements and others did both.

Regarding the Burlington and Santa Fe Specials, there is some inferential proof that they were used in time service, at least by the Union Pacific Railroad. In that company's May 15, 1942 Time Service Bulletin they say,"15. Discontinue the use of Hampden, Howard, Rockford, South Bend, Burlington Special, Santa Fe Special, Swiss, also seventeen jewel and eighteen size watches as loaner watches to employees subject to time service rules." >>

I did not know that Sears sold the 992. I have a 992 in a Sears case, and always assumed it was a recase. Does anyone know what cases Sears would have used for the 992?

I will post a couple pages from my copy of the reproduction 1927 Sears catalog soon; I have to move my printer to make room for the scanner.

Well, I can claim one of two things to explain my completely messed up posting above.
One is that I was still recuperating from a very busy trip to the National, and then on to a whirlwind house hunting excursion in Georgia.
Or I can simply say I had a very bad "senior moment" due to advanced age and rapidly approaching senility. .
Regardless, my thanks for all of you who caught my silly errors concerning mail order watches.
I will really try harder to make sure my brain is engaged before hitting the keyboard.
Jerry, your Ariston is quite a watch. From what I have seen, they didn't make any Aristons in large quantities. While Marshall Fields was primarily a Department store, didn't they also issue a catalog so that people could order their goods withouit traveling to one of their retail locations?

Ed Ueberall
NAWCC 49688
IHC Member 34
The Escapement

Here are some scans of two pages of watches from the 1927 Sears catalog. Sorry about the size. The text is very legible if you can open the files using Microsoft Picture It. Notice that they say the bows on the Hamilton watches may vary from the illustration and that the Hamiltons are cased and timed at the factory.

First page of watches

Second page