Hi All,

I am new on your site. Also watches are my new hobby. I took the virus just one year ago. During one year a took a long way. Now I have around 250 pocket watches and around 150 movements. I have also a lot of parts for repair. My source is ebay USA, UK and Turkey.

I am interested with Waltham, Elgin pocket watches and English fusee pocket watches with chain.

I love to repair pocket watches. I have a lot of books and original Waltham and Elgin catalogs. I have also all necessary tooling. As a result now I am able to repair except balances.

I have an Elgin 10s movement. Serial number 55798. According to Elgin Databases it is a 18s size movement. On the movement I read La F. Mackay
And the most strange this movement has a fusee with chain. I never hear that fusee watches are made at USA.

If anyone has any information about this movement, I will appreciate it.

My apologies for my English.
Thank you.
Bulent Ogel (Istanbul TURKEY)

Bulent, your watch is from a town in Scottland. Elgin is a Scottish town, It is not an American Elgin watch. That is why it has a fusee and why the database won't work for you on this watch.

Very interesting Watch, Bulent....and I would like to welcome you to IHC185.

You have just witnessed why it is so great to be a member of this Horology Association.

You posted a very interesting question and received an answer within an hour.... that is common place here on IHC185....

We hope you will continue to post any question you may have and if there are questions that you find others have posted, please feel free to post your own comment regarding those as well. You are certainly WELCOME HERE!

Again, Congratulations on joining IHC185....

Regards,
Jerry

Can not see photo of movement it's looks like the rest you can see it but it come's up blank on my screen.

The picture comes up blank on mine as well. Are we censoring now? Anyway, welcome to the 185 family Bulent, we are looking forward to your participation here. And don't worry about your English, it is working just fine.

Steve

Thanks a lot Harold. Your explanation is a suprise for me.
I want also to thank to Jerry, Mike and Steve.

I can also no more see the picture. I suppose it was too large. I am resending in a smaller size.

Good weekend for everybody.
Bulent Ogel

Welcome to IHC185 Bulent.

Looks like you've had some great response to your enquiry already.

If I can add a little information here too, what you have there is quite an unusual 3/4 plate Fusee 'English Lever' type movement.

Taking a quick look in my Loomes reference book, there's a John.R.McKay listed for 1860 in Elgin, so very likely related to your chap.
Some folks here do have the later Loomes watchmakers book, so hopefully someone might check and see if there are any others listed.

I wouldn't be too fussy about the different manner of spelling for the surname too.
In the C19th there was a tendency for them to be innocently altered by census enumerators when writing down names phonetically whilst taking details from illiterate householders on census day.
Mackay and McKay sound quite the same, so you can see how easily this change occurs, and what gets written on a census return (a Government doccument) generally becomes 'written in stone'.!

It's also commonly the bane of a genealogists life when researching family names.

Best regards

John

Welcome Bulent, nice looking watch. Looking in the new edition of Loomes at John's suggestion I can not locate any additional information than John has already given you on the maker.

Tom