Recently I purchased a 17 jewel OF Grade 603 Hampden for $63. There are only about 600 reserved serial numbers for the 12 size Grade 603.

Well it turned out I had purchased a 16 size grade 603 in nice condition. About 1,000 serial numbers were reserved in 16 size for this Grade.

The Grade 603 is the only numbered grade that was produced in both 12 and 16 size. The plate layout for the Model 5 in 12 and 16 size are very similar and often hard to tell apart if the pictures aren't good.

I am including a picture of both movements. If someone has a better picture of a 12 size Model 5 for comparision purposes would they please post it.

I don't feel bad as I had been looking for a 16 size grade 603.

Below is the 16 size 603
Bob

16 size grade 603 dial

12 size grade 603 movement

and the dial from another 12 size grade 603 isn't too shabby either.

Wow! looks like a pretty great deal to me!

Beautiful movements and dials.

Congratulations!

Bob,
That fergie dial is awesome/////
Tony

Tony

The dial is on a 12 size Hampden Grade 603 (600 blocked serial numbers).

I purchased it several years ago at Jones and Horan for then outrageous price of $250.This is the only 12 size Hampden Ferguson dial I have seen.

Bob

Bob,

Keep sharing your treasures with us. It is like an education and a rare art show all in one.

The Ferguson dial is great, especially with the red and black hands. You don't see them together very often.

John III

John
The hands are probably from a Howard watch that someone painted.

I have been looking for a Fregueson Dial ad to post but have been unsuccessful so far.

If someone has a picture of an ad would they please post it.

Thanks
Bob

I was just wondering how you found out that Hampden watch company reserved certain set of numbers for certain movements. When ever I talk to Bob Arnold I give him a list of all Hampden watches I have seen with serial numbers. Then we usually find that a run will increase on either side of what we thought was a run.

Mike
It is obivious as more serial numbers are becoming available that blocks of serial numbers were set aside for most Hampden grades.

As I continue to say in my postings the numbers I provide are estimates. Typically I assume that a gap of a few hundred is probably part of a grades reserved serial numbers.

From my standpoint collectors get hung up about exact production. In the case of Hampden, only years more of people providing serial numbers will even get us close.

For me I don't care if a grade has 400 or 700 reserved serial numbers or 2,000 or 3,000. What I do know is that not many were produced.

Hope that my explanation helps.

Bob

An easy way to tell a 16s from a 12s in a bad picture is that the fourth and escape wheel bridges are straight up and down, and more angled on the 16s.