Good day:

I purchased a "buy-it-now" Waltham 2-tone movement on e-Bay last week. The movement is stamped “The Globe”, N. Gamse, New York, USA in the area where you would typically see P.S. Bartlett. The writing is in gold script. The serial # is 16,164,614 and it is an open face, lever set movement. It has very fancy gold hands on a Waltham 24 hr dial. At first I thought the hands were replacements, but I have found other N. Gamse watches (non-Waltham) with the same hands. The watch is running great. The seller stated that it would only run for a few minutes; however due to a loose case screw, the hands were rubbing on the crystal.

Has anyone else come across this "Globe" model?
I would post a picture, but my camera gave up the ghost last week

I have provided the link to the e-bay pics, but they are not very good quality. The dial is dirty, but the movement is absolutely mint without a scratch.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5014...TRK%3AMEWN%3AIT&rd=1

Here is also a picture of another Gamse watch that I found posted on another site sporting similar hands.

Any input appreciated.

Best regards,
Grant

Great find Grant!

I hadn't seen "The Globe" before, but that type of name and the overall look of it seems very much in keeping with the line of other Gamse watches.

The only thing about your watch I might question is the dial ... most all of the other Gamse movements I have seen have also had a Gamse signed dial. It is also unusual that the barrel bridge of your watch isn't 2-tone while the rest of the movement is, but Gamse watches are usually a bit different so this isn't that surprising and I expect is probably correct ... but if you get a chance can you verify the serial numbers match?

Here are the other Gamse marked watches I am aware of ...

Waltham - "The American Leader" (21 jewel, 18 size)

Elgin - "The Atlantic" (17 jewel, 18 size)
Elgin - "The Veribest" (17 jewel, 18 size)

Illinois - "Planet" (24 jewel, 18 size)
Illinois - "The American Star" (21 jewel, 18 size)
Illinois - "The Manhattan" (21 jewel, 18 and 16 size)
Illinois - "The Queen" (18 size, 17 jewel)
Illinois - "The Queen Extra" (18 size, 17 jewel)
Illinois - "The Queen of 1897" (18 size, 17 jewel)
Illinois - "The Pacific" (16 size, 17 jewel)
Illinois - "The Union Pacific" (16 size, 17 jewel)

So congrats again on the find, and would love to see some better pics on it if you pick up another camera in the future. In fact I think different Gamse marked watches could make a pretty good thread over in the photo gallery.

Fred

p.s. That Veribest pictured above looks pretty familiar!

Hi there Fred:
I guess it was your Veribest picture that I stole
The barrel bridge is where the script writing appears. I will check the #'s tonight, but I think it may be because the script writing took up so much room on the bridge and therefore the 2-tone couldn't be used? (I hope).
The dial could be a replacement, but if it was they sure picked a rough one to use. Could they have use the 24hr dial because the model was "The Globe"?
Thanks again Fred,
Grant

methinks CoNgRaTuLaTiOnS are in order.......

Good evening:
Thank you very much for all the input. Fred, I checked the underside of the m/s barrel bridge and the serial number does match the movement (you had me worried ) Do you know if the other Waltham watch that you mentioned has a marked dial?
Here is a better picture of the movement that I took with my scanner....
Cheers!
Grant

Great to hear ... and didn't mean to worry you Grant! As I posted above though I expected it would probably be right, but thought it worth checking to be sure.

The couple 92 model Waltham Gamse "American Leader"s I've seen are marked with the Gamse name and the "American Leader" name on the dial, and also with the jewel count above the seconds-bit. So all in all a very similar look to the Elgin Veribest dial above.

So again congrats on a great find, and thanks for posting here this variant on the interesting N. Gamse line.

Fred

WHAT IS N.GAMSE? AND WHAT ARE THEY WORTH?

N. Gamse was Nicholas Gamse a jeweler in Manhattan NY. I do not have any information on value.

Over the years I have seen several Gamse watches and thanks to Tom Brown for informing us he was a jeweler. I thought he might have been a wholesaler but as a jeweler it would seem he was a substantial retailer of watches.

I picked up a model 1883 N. Gamse 18s, OF, the other day and am researching the value in case I might want to sell it. It is in near mint cond. in a silverode swing out case. Louis XIV hands, pristine dial, and a beautiful tu-tone movement. If anyone has any Idea, I would be grateful! As I am for Tom's info as well! Thankx! Don

I will post pic's as soon as I can get them...

To all of those interested in some pic's of my 1883model Nicolas Gamse 18s Waltham s/n 16,164,653 c.1907-1908 Please email me at; drondo@me.com
For some reason I am haveing trouble making the pic's small enough to load on this site. I would be more than happy to email you the pic's! thankx! Don

O.K. HERE IS A BETTER WAY FOR YOU TO SEE THE WATCH. JUST LOOK ABOVE AT GRANT PERRY'S PIC. OF HIS MOVEMENT CALLED "THE GLOBE" MINE LOOKS JUST LIKE IT WITH THE EXCEPTION THAT MINE HAS A PERFECT DOUBLE SUNK DIAL SIGNED, AND WITH THE JEWEL COUNT AS WELL, ALONG WITH THE MATCHING SET OF LOUIS XIV HANDS, AND ORIGINAL SILVERODE SWING OUT CASE WITH A GOLD REFLECTOR RING! P.S. THANKX GRANT FOR THE PIC!