Here is a Gruen 17 Jewel watch I just bought on Ebay for $17.00 plus pocket change. It is triple signed. It was extremely dirty with tape residue etc. on the case, the plastic lens had some light scratches. After some cleaning, and polishing it turned out pretty good. After a slight adjustment on the regulator it is keeping accurate time.

The hyphinated Veri-Thin dates this watch between 1930 and 1945.

Here is the movement Number 468750.

Here is the inside dust cover showing it was also made by Gruen.

Here is the case back. It was really a mess with old sticky tape etc.

I just put this 14K Pentagon Cased Verithin Precision on eBay

You got a steal of a deal there Ernie, Well done!

John

Thanks John. I forgot to mention that it also came with a gold chain. I am very pleased with the watch. It has been keeping accurate time now for 4 days.

Here is my latest Gruen. It has the DGS (Dietrick Gruen & Son logo on the movement. I think the dial has real gold. The lettering in the seconds chapter is worn as is the lettering of the name. The rest of the dial is actually nicer that the camera can take a picture of.

The dial:

Here is the 17 jewel movement with the D Gruen & Son logo the case. The Gruen Watch Case Company logo is on the case. This dates this watch between 1898 and 1910. After 1911 the movements were simply signed Gruen.

Here is close up of the logo on the movement.

Here is the logo of the Gruen National Watch Case Company on the back side of the dust cover on the case.

I was just looking at a 'veri-thin' with a Gruen marked gold filled case with a solid bow that housed a 12s 15j Gruen Swiss movement. It said 'Gruen Guild' on the movement, Swiss made, and the serial number was 748.

I can't find any entries in 'the book' regarding anything lower than a 17j. It had almost the same face as my 1925 Elgin 12s, so I'm assuming it dates to the 1920's. It ran well, clean Swiss movement with regulator dead center to the scale, and fired right up with one twist of the crown. VERY ornate hands.

He was asking $100 for it, but since I really don't know a thing about these, I passed...for now. Any thoughts at all on why Gruen 15j watches are never mentioned? Were they odd ball movements, or just run of the mill items for this company?

Regards! Mark

Mark:

I have doing quite a bit of research on the Gruen watch recently. I am by no means an expert but I will gladly share what I have learned so far.

The 15 Jewel Gruen is a lower priced watch but still a very good quality. Actually none of the Gruens sold for a low price in their day.

If the Veri-thin signature has a hyphen between Veri and thin it would date the watch between 1930 and 1945.

According to the 2008 Complete Price Guide the 15J Gruen is not even listed, which think is a mistake or at least an overlook.

Ok, interestinger and interestinger.

I called my friend back to confirm what you said, and I was wrong. The dial says 'semiTHIN' (as shown), NOT Verithin as I originally thought.

No hyphen, lower case 'semi' and capitalized THIN.

So, what in the world is THIS watch?

Regards! Mark

Mark:

What I found so far is that Gruen used three different nomenclatures in the 1920’s: Semithin (15 J), Verithin (17J), and Ultrathin (21J). But, they did use Verithin for 15 jewel watches before 1920. I believe Verithin was used as early as 1898.

Here is a link some good Gruen information on the web: Gruen VeriThin

Here is my 16 jewel Gruen Guild SemiThin. I need a pair of hands for this one. the ends are missing.

This is the movement for the 16 jewel Gruen Guild. It is adjusted to 2 positions.

Here is a 17 jewel Gruen Guild.

Here is the movement from the 17 jewel Gruen Guild.

Since you are asking to see Gruens, I will post photos of my 3 Gruen Carres, starting with a 14k Carre.

Same watch open.