Hi There
I've just bought a watch made by the Continental Watch Co. Can anyone tell me anything about them were they American made or a Swiss company marketing their watches under that name?

regards Gerald

Here's a picture of the movememnt

Looks like a nice E HowRock Forward, made in Switzerland. Seriously, the 21 Jewels might even be for real, I suggest you find a local Horologist to inspect the watchworks and evaluate it that way. I would love to, but if it fell apart, I would be devastated.

Gerald,

From my experience, most Swiss ebauches of this size and plate design were not finished well. In fact, most were just horrible! However, your Continental is obviously an exception and appears to have been very well finished. There are many features which clearly set this watch apart from the "fakes". Notice the fine steel work exhibited in the regulator and spring and while we're in this area, you will see that the balance has 4 meantime screws as well as a Breguet hairspring. The nicely formed flush mounted jewel settings with their counter sunk screws are also indicative of careful work. The same can be said for the sculpted lever cap jewel setting. The movement was originally housed in a hunting case, possibly solid gold.

This watch looks as though it was made to run well and perform to good standards and I don't believe that the inscribed "adjusted" is an empty claim.

Can you show an image of the dial?

P.S. You might try to get a new barrel bridge screw.

William

Gerald, I totally agree with William on this, the workmanship of the watch looks better than the "me-too" stuff, and while it may or may not be adjusted, the Steel Escape wheel is the giveaway that someone spent a few more swiss marks finishing this. Fromn outward appearances it is a 17 Jewel movment with 2 Pairs of "cap" jewels for the Escape wheel and Pallet fork making it the "traditional (US Variety) 21 Jewel watch. The Swiss would only do this for the USA market.

David and William
Thank you for the information, I will post pictures of the case and dial, the dial in particular looks to be in a bit of a sorry state, there is a chip between two and three and it looks as if someone has had a go at adding a picture to it.
I've been looking on the internet and found the following on Answers.com
Gallet & Cie
The Gallets’ best customer and, from 1877, exclusive distributor in the US, was the wholesale dealer Jules Racine, a cousin of the Gallets.. Jules Racine distributed watches from the Gallet brand, as well as with his own brand names (”Racine” since 1870), Jules Racine, Royale;
Jules Racine also distributed specifically American brand names like “Bridgeport”, “Burlington”, “Chancellor”, “Commodore”, “Continental Watch Company” (Continental W.C.), “The Governor” and others. The style of the cases, bands, watch face and hands were tuned to the American taste, the watch movements however, were always acquired from La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland.
Do you think my watch could have been one of his
regards
Gerald

and a picture of the case it is marked ALERT warranted goldfilled 500362??

Gerald,

Too bad about the damaged dial. It looks like it might carry a masonic theme but I'm no expert on that. But again, for this type of watch, the porcelain seems to be more artistically crafted than most. The watch has apparently been subjected to mild/moderate abuse but looks as if it could be made to run very well, if it doesn't already. I can't speak with any authority as to the exact origin of this Swiss ebauche and its subsequent finishers; It sounds like you have done as much research on this as any of us could have. Your findings sound probable.

William

P.S. I noticed that you're fairly new here, as am I... So welcome! That's really an interesting and nice watch. I have a few odd Swiss pieces like your Continental that are actually pretty sweet. Cheers!

William
Thanks for the reply
I've had thee watch running for around 18 hours, during which time it has lost 10 minutes - so not too bad.
Do you know of anything that an amateur like me could use to make a passable if temporary repair to the dial.

Gerald,

Use the "find or search" feature on this site. There are some excellent posts with great information available to you right here.

Good luck.

William

Gerald, That dial needs the paint stuff removed to return it to it's original charm. It you search "Dial Repair" as William suggests, you wil find some helpful techniques that Lindell has described in much detail to repair porcelain dials. These could be used on yours to at least reduce the damage to a simple Clean "patch" Also, an artist may be able to work on repairing the pattern some then so that the missing features are not so apparant.

Removing that very fragile dial for repair is a liability that should be accomplished by the most skilled hand, and then you might find a manufacturer's name or code under the dial on the main plate as well.

Good luck

Thanks for the advice I've done the search you suggested and found some interesting stuff.
Thank you
By the way Is Polident is a US brand - I guess its what we in the UK call Sterident denture cleaner
regards

Probably the same stuff. I have used plain colgate that way as well. Take care if you use any abrasive stuff to micro-inspect the surface details and learn what is above the glazed surface that could be exposed to abrasion damage.

The "over-painted" stuff may be removed more effectively with a solvent.

Just remember, Gallet & Cie, Racine, and others were not the only Swiss imported watches. There were many, so maybe you should, as David suggested, check under the dial and on the other plate before you decide. It's so hard to get to the bottom of all the Swiss watches out there.

I love the dial, and would keep it the way it is, except the one spot between the 2-3, and leave the rest alone, if possible. However there are some awesome repairs shown here, and they do turn out fantastic!

I like your watch, it looks great to me.
Nice find!

Gerald,

Nice watch, thanks for posting it for us to see.
The movement is an extremely good calibre indeed for the period!!

I don't know enough about the company Gallet to offer comment, but the movement could be theirs! Even so, it just Howls 'IWC' at me, and if there is no IWC pedigree somewhere (International Watch co) then it is absolutely of the same ilk!
Those screwed in jewel chatons are quite likely to be Solid Gold too!

Sadly, dial damage such as this is typical of the stuff we get in the UK, very often caused by cack handed use of a case knife to get the bezel off, or overtightening of a dial foot which pulls the copper backplate and shatters the enamel.

Dial repair kits can be bought, and which have powders and dies plus a catalyst to mix as needed.
Mine isn't to hand at the moment, so I can't give you any details, but it was bought in the UK.
Try companies such as Meadows and Passmore, Walch's (Birmingham) and AG Thomas in Bradford, they may have them.

Best regards

John

Hi everyone
Thank you all for the help and advice you've given me
.
John, I've had a look at Meadows & Passmore's website and see that they have the kind of thing you mentioned.
By the way, did you manage to persuade that friend of yours - the one that collects masonic watches- to join us?