Last year, it was the elusive Ball-Elgin. More recently, it was "a 'The Studebaker' at a good price". In both cases, after looking for months, I acquired two (2) within a couple of weeks.

Now...I wonder when I'll find two "Ball-Illinois at a price that fits my budget"?

In the meantime...I *had* been exclusively interested in American made RR grade pocketwatches. Now, I find myself in the situation where three (3) wristwatches are "in the mail": a vintage Seth Thomas, a vintage Победа, and a "Miami Vice" piece of bling (Ebel 134). The disease is getting worse!

Bringing it back to PW - my current obsession centers on "anything that adds to the story leading to the post-production 992B". Given that the current outer boundaries of that search are indicated by the PWs listed above - does anyone have suggestions on where to push on the envelope? My current collection is nearing 100. I think I have shallow coverage of all major RR grade manufacturers and some precursors going back to the 1860's - with a heavy emphasis on post-production 992B's (about 10 of those). I guess I'm looking for "obscure lines of development that have a credible claim to influencing my "main line". By definition, I don't have much of a clue as to what that might be. Helpful suggestions may keep me from veering off into Switzerland - or worse. Of course, with the Euro dropping like a stone, that might not be so terrible.

You Funny!

I'm glad I'm not the only all over the map...

Buy Amercan! Unless you choose not to.

Kenneth; I can make the 2 Ball Illinois happen rather easily...I have 2 here...LOL

Unfortunately I dont want to sell (give away) yet
hoping the market will continue it's ever so slightly recovery

The Ball Illinois have finally cracked the 3000 barrier...at least one did recently...got $500 to go.
My sell target is 3500...got darn near that in one of em, anyway

My belief is if and when we start to see a bit of a recovery in the watch market The Ball Illinois will be one of the first indicators of that

I'm just not seeing anything too dramatic...yet

I may post one onsite

Ken, with that broad an emphasis on precursors to the 992B, you might want to put a limit on how far back you go to start at those which go "Tick-Tock".

Of course there is always a starting point with the Chinese Water Clock. (Only 3 stories high . . . heh heh)

Well, "American made" rules out the Chinese water clock. So far, I've also limited myself to watches that I would actually *wear* - which means that it has to be feasible to make it work...and not have *too* much of it's value put at risk if it were actually *used*. That puts some practical limits on where I can go. I don't think that water clock will fit in my pocket, or on my wrist.

My watch repair guy loves to see me coming - but I think he'll be happier when I stop bringing him pre-1900 restoration projects.

Honestly, if you are going after the "Family Tree" that led to the 992B, I would concentrate on the design trail led from Hampden to Lancaster to Hamilton through the sequential participation of Charles D. Rood (my third generation removed "cousin in law").

Not surprisingly there are several artifacts of design for the Hampden and Lancaster watches which "survived" the transition to Hamilton designs.

These include the two-screw clamp for the hairspring stud and the full circle pallet fork bridge.

Beyond that are the contributions to the 60 hour movement from the breakthrough design developed by Illinois Watch Co. and subsequently purchased by Hamilton.

Yup - that sounds like my plan. Trying to limit to RR watches, but I've already started picking off military movements (my "travel through many time zones" watch is a G.C.T. model - it *almost* convinces me to set all my watches to G.C.T.) and I have a (much nicer) example that lives in it's US Army "case, carrying". Yes, I'm contemplating the "compare watch" currently up for auction...we'll see. Both of these watches connect me personally to my father and father-in-law, who probably used them during WWII (Navy Air and Army Air Force, respectively).

Staying close to RR watches narrows the search - but allowing for close competitors broadens it. At the moment, I'm worrying more about shallow coverage of brands and models, and less so about deep coverage of every dial, case, damaskeening variation. 18s is definitely in play, as are Hampden, South Bend, Illinois, Elgin, Waltham, and Ball-<X>. Are we having fun, yet? As I said, I'm approaching 100 specimens with no real duplication except for 4C 992B's - and even there I'd have to check to see if my 10 cover all the bases. Doesn't matter - this is my sentimental soft spot.

Alas, I've been tempted to the dark side of the dreaded WRIST watch. Think "Ebel" - I've started with a very nice El Primero (Ebel 134). But, this will be, by necessity, strictly a side line. I haven't really worn a wrist watch since 1963, and a central tenet of my collection is that I wear what I buy.

I'm a sucker for taking the odd opportunity to push my "earliest date" back - but (for what I'm willing to pay) that is happening less and less often. At one point I contemplated jumping the pond to Old English - but seem to have instead opted for New Swiss. (all relative - for me, "new" means '80s)

This week, the watch in my pocket is a very nice 1904 Ball-Elgin. Connecting this to the 992B is left as an exercise for the reader.