1917 Ball BLE Journal ad.

We know a lot of dials get switched and parts interchanged by collectors and those who wish to improve their product, but just imagine how many watches might have come in to Ball as a result of this Ad.

Might not he wish to market as many of the trade ins as possible? Would you be surprised if he interchanged plates, regulators, dials or fitted them out with newer on hand dials , hands and parts?

I know that 8774 Hamilton Ball was found in a special case used to convert 18 sz movements to travel clocks. I would imagine that a lot of these trade ins were canabalized for parts or fixed up for resale. If 603 came in about this time, I would speculate that the family might decide to refurbish it and keep it as a memento.

Just speculating, but that seems pretty reasonable to me. They wouldn't just throw those trade ins away.

Happy hunting,