Nobody took on my $49 bucks bid for this 1888 vintage 15J adjusted BWR from H.K. seller. So its here . . . very dirty but running! (How can anybody bust off a little tip inside a Fleur de lis hand without destroying the hand?)

After the appropriate fondling I notice it is a bit thicker than usual . . .

Off with the back cover! Whats this?

So the ring unscrews and the movement (in another ring) comes out the back!

Darned if this isn't the niftyest little overcomplicated 4 piece open-faced case I ever saw! . . . . guess I will clean it all up and see if it's still "RR" grade! btw HOW did this little beauty end up in Hong Kong? If it could only talk!

Could be an ugly story, Dave. If it travelled in the late '30's or early 40's.

David

I have the same case, yours is only the second one I have seen like that, took me forever to get that inner ring unscrewed.

Tom

FINALLY!!!!!!!

I purchased a case like this one maybe 2 years ago or more, and never did find out anything about it. I don't have a movement for it, it came with just a dial inside. I'll go digging and see if I can find it, take some pictures and post them.

Wow! Thank you for sharing this one with us.

Oh, and I saved the picture below to come in here and ask if anyone had seen one, and never posted it. Take a look.

(Not my watch, on ebay)

Hi David,

A very nice grade of watch for $49 dollars, you can't go wrong there. That outer chapter on the dial does not seem very wide and the hour numbers seem a bit more fancy for a B.W.Raymond. Do you think it is a more uncommon DS dial from Elgin? It is a very nice dial. A very nice damaskeening pattern on the movement as well, you have got to love that.

I have seen a few of these cases over the years on ebay and did not really realise how unique they were until I read a couple of forum posts in the last week. I always thought these cases had this ribbed ring just for styling purposes and thought that it was un-needed as it blocked out some of the movement. I'll be keen to get a nice example of this case now as I see it is quite a smart little case.

Regards,

Nigel Harrison.

This was a RR Grade116, B.W. Raymond c.a. 1888, with serial number 3661626. Elgin would have every reason then to put on the fancy dial and hands which at that time were perfectly acceptable for RR use, or for a "spendy" citizen customer.

There are a lot of hirlines on the dial, but I am confident thatr it will clean up very nicely and I will leave these lightly damaged hands on it as a "spiritual compromise".