After starting my thread on "Alert Watch Cases", I wonder what other "odd" pocket watch cases are out there. Anyone? Check your pocket watch cases to see if you have an unusual watch case/s company. Let us know!

Stephanie,
Here is a case that I am rather fond of. It is a little dull but the "doggy" design is neat! It is an 18s and I guess made of nickel. It had a Hampden movement in it. There is no makers name, only the number "195232" so don`t know if it is American or Swiss.

Stephanie,

This case for an Illinois keywinder doesn't look remarkable but it actually is pretty oddball. It is an early (1886) Silveroid marked Pat. Applied that we discussed here . What makes it unusual is that both front and back bezels attach like a bayonet mount lens to an SLR camera. Both dust cover and bezels fit snuggly but are still easy to remove and replace, especially convenient for a KW movement. There probably weren't too many made as keywinders were dissappearing fast by this time.

Ron

Here is the back:

and a closup of the inside of the back cover showing the bayonet mount and markings.

I am not sure if this is an odd case maker J Bull

Stephanie, An oddball case for me was one marked aluminum silver. I believe it was from around 1880-85 in age but was definitely aluminum. At first I thought it was marked to deceive a buyer that it was some type of silver case but of course it was light weight. Subsequently I found that aluminum was alloyed with silver to make it more ductile. Aluminum seems to be a scarce material for watch cases from that time period.

Richard I have this case for awhile..It is marked Alumium do you have any idea of the age of these alumium cases..

Pic 2

This is quite an old thread from 11 years ago but nevertheless still interesting

Aluminum ore was discovered in 1831 and was first called "bauxite". Around 1850 or so a French scientist produced pure aluminum and perfected a manufacturing process. Around the period 1855-1867 aluminum came into its own and was in demand. It was very difficult to extract or mine and its price quickly escalated to close to the price of gold !! Suddenly silversmith shops and jewelry stores began using aluminum for many applications both decorative as well as practical items. About that time it was used in pocket-watch cases, clocks, binoculars, and surgical instruments.

In 1866, Paul Héroult in France and Charles Martin Hall in the United States independently discovered that Aluminium oxide, or alumina, dissolved in cryolite and could be decomposed by electrolysis to obtain molten crude metal. The Austrian chemist Karl Joseph Bayer received a patent in 1887 for a transformation process.

Aluminum is a metalic element(AL) in its pure form, there by classifying it as a metal and not an alloy, however it can easily be alloyed with other metals.

Today it is used in commerce, transportation and other industries. It is used for door knobs, window frames and kitchen utensils. The element is applied in kettles, saucepans, toasters and refrigerators. It is also used in indoor and outdoor furniture. Some sports equipment like golf clubs and tennis balls also use it.

Aluminum is used in practically all elements of construction: skylights, building bridges, shutters, ladders, staircases, gutters, wiring, pipes and railings. Aluminum is low maintenance and light weight. It can be cut, bonded, welded, tapered and curved in various shapes.

Aluminum is widely used in packaging; Trays, foils, bottle caps and cans are usually made of this metallic element. It is also used for thermos, utensil lids and storage boxes. It is also applied as a foil container, bottle tops and foil wrappings. Aluminum is preferred because it keeps food clean. The metal’s properties keep food safe from harmful elements in the environment. It is corrosion-resistant as compared to iron, aluminum oxide is not destructive. It is protective. The metal is impermeable. It doesn’t affect the taste or smell of food packaging. Most importantly, the metal has no toxic elements.

Aluminum is used in the aircraft, boat, railway, and automobile industries for its light weight, aesthetic and thermal purposes. It’s cheaper than other metals so manufacturers prefer it. Aluminum is vital to transportation because of its weight/strength ratio. Aluminum is light; in vehicles this translates to less energy required for motion. While it lacks the strength of modern steel, it can be easily alloyed to meet strength requirements of various parts. More than 75% of a plane’s weight is comprised of aluminum. The metal is corrosion resistant, and means painting is not needed, which translates into savings in money and weight. When compared to say copper or steel, it is 1/3 of their weight !!

I would say in conclusion that subsequent excavations from 1866-1890 revealed it to be a very common metal. So aluminum in the jewelry trade [pocket watch cases] and silversmith stock went away seemingly overnight and 1866-1890 would have been the "heyday" for most of the aluminum pocket watch cases.

The properties of aluminum in pocket watch cases allowed them to wear very rapidly, so today in better shape they can demand prices above solid silver or gold filled cases. They are few and far between

regards,
bb

Buster's history is correct, although, I believe bauxite deposits in Australia, China, Ghana, India and Guinea have made that the primary source for aluminum currently. As I understand the process, alumina is smelted from bauxite (which is a very soft mineral and usually takes the form of clayey soil). The raw alumina is then subjected to electrolysis to produce pure aluminum. from the pure state, it is usually ingoted and shipped to various countries to be alloyed with other metals, depending on the properties desired.

In 2006, I did the site work to design a small (250 ft x 700 ft, or 4 acres under roof)break bulk receiving facility in Baltimore, which receives ship loads of aluminum, nickel and copper, to be trucked across country. It was, I was told, pretty typical of aluminum receiving facilities in all the major US ports.

If the heyday of aluminum cases was from 1866-1890, there was some experimentation with aluminum in the 1920s and 1930s. I once had one of the "heyday" aluminum cases, it was thick and heavy. Aluminum wasn't then being used to exploit its light weight.

However, Illinois, in 1921, and Vacheron & Constantin, from 1938-1955, made some aluminum watches that were extremely lightweight because they used aluminum for both cases and plates, something never done in aluminum's heyday, to the best of my knowledge. I am not aware of any other "all" aluminum watches.

Illinois reportedly made 50 aluminum Grade 525s in 1921. Of these, I only know of three in existence. I have one of them, shown below. I don't know whether Illinois ever marketed these watches. Mine was originally given by Illinois to an ex-senator who was then a major executive of the American National Retail Jewelers Association. I bought the watch from his grandson. Sadly, its dial was badly marred. I had to have it refinished.

My aluminum Illinois weighs 29.6. For comparison, a solid gold 12-size watch typically weighs 50-60 grams.

I also have an aluminum V&C. These are scarce but easier to find than aluminum Illinois. V&C made perhaps 300 of them. My V&C weighs just 21 grams. If you picked it up with your eyes closed, you'd think you'd picked up an empty 12-size watch case. See the next posting for a picture of the V&C.

Pocket watches were rapidly going out of favor when these two aluminum watches were made. Had pocket watches remained popular, perhaps more "all" aluminum watches would have been made.

V&C

quote:

"If the heyday of aluminum cases was from 1866-1890, there was some experimentation with aluminum in the 1920s and 1930s. I once had one of the "heyday" aluminum cases, it was thick and heavy. Aluminum wasn't then being used to exploit its light weight.

You are so right, the watch cases made during the late 1800's were about the same weight as other "white" cases of that era. At the time aluminum was a newly discovered and expensive material and some of those cases were actually marked "Aluminum Silver" !! They weren't heralded as a light weight material such as the Illinois and V&C you pictured that were made 30-50 years later as manufacturing experiments to illustrate their strength and lightweight. Some of the later ones had cases as well as movements made entirely of aluminum except for a few basic parts.

regards,
bb

My dad once told me that he witnessed a giant hydraulic press being used to stamp out 1 piece aircraft wing spars (both wings + the part that goes through the fuselage) from aluminum. He said that the accumulators needed several minutes to build up enough pressure to do the work. I have used alloy 6061 extruded aluminum in some machines that I've built and when compared to steel, it offerd the needed rigidity, easy machinability and tremendous reduction of weight. Wonderful stuff for select applications. Watch cases and jewelry? I'd have rate it up there with chrome on the attractiveness scale!

William

Interesting discussion on aluminum watch cases. The earliest problem with aluminum was the need for very high temperature to smelt aluminum from bauxite. I remember my silver aluminum case as having the bulk and general appearance of most 3 or 4 ounce coin silver cases from 1880-90. However since silver alloyed with aluminum makes the alloyed metal somewhat more workable than plain aluminum I think no dishonesty was intended. Emperor Napoleon III of France had a service of aluminum flatware made in the 1850's and it cost more than solid gold. Time has moved on!

I have a couple odd cases.first is an aluminum with gold.nice engine turned full hunter.

inside

here is another full hunter.a gorgeous one with Illinois watch case co. Elgin USA Giant Exchange on it.only one I have ever seen like it..

markings

I am not sure what you call this ,the bezel , movement and housing are all hinged together .I am not sure of the maker it says guarantee on a banner in the back

Victor, I have not encountered an Aluminum Gold marked watch case before. Does anyone know if gold was actually used as an alloying metal with aluminum? Keeping in mind that when first available aluminum was more expensive than gold an aluminum watch case would have been I believe somewhat of an expensive fashion statement. It would be interesting to see the retail cost of an aluminum watch case in the 1880 period.

"These Alumigold cases have no gold content. They are a brass made with aluminum and copper and maybe a little tin. The metal feels like it would work fairly well.

They were made before the electrolytic process for aluminum refining was invented and aluminum was nearly equal in value to gold. (I have not done the historical research to confirm that.)"

T. Mcintyre