I have a Seth Thomas #207311..A model 5. It has gilt plates that shows demaskeen.. It is 17 jewels and marked Adjusted.. Marked Providence.. anyone have any information on this name or has anyone seen one of these..the dial has a logo on it, but I cannot make it out.. it appears to be the letter A intertwined with W an Co..the dial is a Normal Seth Thomas 2 foot and it is a "real" single sunk..
Posts: 638 | Location: Green Bay, Wisconsin USA | Registered: November 22, 2002
John, I checked the database that Kent Singer & I maintain, we do not show any Model 5's with the name "Providence". The all over gold damaskeen is also scarce, the most likely explaination is that it was a special order with a special finish. Most Model 5's were TuTone, with smaller numbers in nickel, and fewer still in gilt (mostly 7 to 15 jewel unadjusted). I'm a little concerned about the dial, as I believe that all Model 5's used a three foot dial with the "extra" foot at 34 minutes in addition to the common 13 minute and 45 minute locations. If your dial does not show evidence of the third foot, I would suspect that it might not be original to the movement.
Ed Ueberall IHC Member 34 The Escapement
Posts: 620 | Location: Pooler, Georgia in the U.S.A. | Registered: November 23, 2002
It looks a lot like a Waltham dial to me. The design is fairly common on the small dials with a large surround like this one. I don't recall seeing it on a larger dial, however. The design is not exactly the same in that the letter emphasis differs in the monogram.
Posts: 633 | Location: Boston, Massachusetts USA | Registered: November 25, 2002
A couple of more facts on this watch.. There is no 3rd hole in dial plate for a dial foot at 34 minutes and no hole for the foot screw.. The dial never had a 3rd foot. I did think it may be a Waltham dial, but with only the 2 feet probably not.. If you look close at the dial monagram It appears that the W and the C are on "top of the A and O.. In Tom"s picture the A is prominate, On Top, as it should be for American Waltham.. Dial plate on watch in question, also has Pat Aug 25 1891, stamped along the inner edge.. I had not noticed that before..another thing I have not seen before on a Seth Thomas, the plate screws are of the blue dome style, seems like they all were polished steel flat tops on my other ones..
Posts: 638 | Location: Green Bay, Wisconsin USA | Registered: November 22, 2002
John, Found your watch in the "Beginning to End" book by Ehrhardt. The movement is not gilt but rather Gold-plated nickel. Here is the complete listing;
Hi Michael, Interesting to see another with so close of number.. Have you ever pulled the dial on the Providence to see how many dial feet it has?? Any idea on the dial logo meaning...
And if you ever get in the mood to trade it off let me know....
John Pavlik
Posts: 638 | Location: Green Bay, Wisconsin USA | Registered: November 22, 2002
I pulled the dial and it has two feet. The pillar plate has holes for THREE dial feet BUT there is no dial foot screw hole for the third hole. Very strange. The third hole is between 29-30 minutes and not the usual 34-35 minutes. By the way, the gold cover Meggers book does list the 2 foot dial. I don't know what this all means but it is interesting. I don't have any question that both of the Providence monogrammed dials are original to the movement.
I don't know what the logo means. If I ever get to cleaning up the heavy oil off the movement it should look wonderful so I think I might keep it for now!
