I just purchased this 16s.grade108,17jewel,nickel,bridge in a stainless steel case,circa 1912.Were stainless steel cases common back then?Roger

Movement

cover

Here is the back cover

Very nice little carry watch Roger

It has been recased into a terrific durable case as opposed to its original gold filled or silveroid case from that era. The correct case would be a tall pendant style in any of the manufacturers or materials. The case it now lives in is from possibly a mid thirties to sixties era

regards,
bb

Thanks Buster.I can not discern any ghost screw marks on the case but I suppose if it were anew case when the movement was put in then there would not be any other marks.The case is marked Star Watch Case Co. stainless steel 4379856.Thanks again Buster

Roger,
That's a nice looking watch. Stainless steel was just being developed in the U.S. around that time period. I'm guessing the watch case is a few decades newer than the movement. The style of the watch case is one of the best clues as to dating a particular watch case. When stainless steel started to be used for pocket watch cases is an interesting subject and it would be great if anyone knows the answer?
RR

Thanks Richard for your input and yes I would like to know the answer to that myself.Roger

Roger

Does the case have one or two lever cuts in it?

Tom

I'd say that case was from the 1940-50s. I've seen the same case marked "cased and timed by elgin" that they cased 1950s BW Raymond 571's in. For that hampden 108, it's a great case. You can't go wrong with it, any RR looks good in it and unless you have a 1500-3000 collector railroad in it who cares? Myself, I would take a nice non original case over a well worn original one any day. IMHO.

Hey Tom the case has 2 lever cuts in it

The case is really nice and the watch is keeping very good time.People really do like the look of old with new.

Just picked up this Hampden 105, Serial Number 3305169, ca. 1915. It's re-cased in a cool Star stainless steel replacement case similar to that in Roger's original 2010 post. (It does have two lever slot cutaways.) I showed it to my wife Sally (who generously tolerates my hobby and its expense) and asked her if she thought I should put it in a case that is closer to the age of the watch. She said that was up to me, but she thought the lines in the case really accentuated the marginal minutes. She's got a great eye for designed, and I gotta say I agree with her. Anyway, I thought folks might be interested in seeing another one of these replacement cases resurface.

Another shot.

Nice looking 105 Mike. They are very nice watches.

These stainless steel cases are nice for a wear watch. I have a few of these and I never shy away from picking one up.

After reading the resurrected "Moorehouse" dial discussion, I am thinking that my reference to a "resurfaced" stainless RR case was a bit much . . .

Great discussion about great looking "carry" cases. The term "stainless" is probably very loosely applied to these cases. While they are definitely stainless, so are most pre-WWII high nickel steel alloys.

So more important is the actual age. We know that the (Star W.C.Co.-produced) Stainless Steel-cased Hamilton 992B's appeared in the early 1950's and show some similarity to these Star W.C.Co.-signed cases. That would date these cases closer to when more malleable Stainless alloys had emerged commercially from WWII-developed metallurgy.

Very interesting analysis, David. So, you think this a '50s vintage case?

Post-WWII and probably early 50's.