A nice movement my brother is looking at in an auction tomorrow,any ideas on the quality or type??? Sewill made a lot of chronometers and high grade watches. This movement has a hacking lever,any ideas or information much appreciated,thank you ,Tom

Tom

Without a photo it is hard to say much.

In Loomes there was a Joseph Sewill of South Castle Street Liverpool 1848-1900 & Le Locle 1890-1910, London 1881. Chronometer maker to the Admiralty/Royal Navy. Maker to the Queen of Spain.

Tom

my usual problem Tom ,my 68 year old brain has trouble when the picture is too large

OK, not too sure if this is you guy anyway, I also found this;

Joseph Sewill born c.1813 was a watchmaker and chronometer-maker in Liverpool. It is thought that Joseph Sewill may have retired to London in 1862. He died in London in 1895. His son John Joshua who died in 1891 carried on the family business. His brother Frank succeeded John Joshua but the business was out of the family's hands by 1905.

sewill picture

Tom

It appears to be from the family I listed since it is marked Maker to the Royal Navy & South Castle.

Hopefully some of the experts come in before the auction. Looking at some of his other watches on the web, it appears a lot of them came in 18k cases. Does this one still have the case?

Tom

hi Tom; no it's in a signed Waltham movement bench case so I guess it's been scrapped out. I'm off to the hospital at 11:00 AM to spend most of the rest of the day on dialysis so anything I hear before then I'll forward to him .I sent you a direct email with 4 pictures Tom,and once again,thank you

Hi Tom

Got them & thanks, if you don't mind I might post a couple of them too, if John checks in he might be able to give some input.

Tom

Dial

Tom, a High quality movement by a renowned maker, that doesn't get much better without going 'Freesprung'!

The movement is jewelled all the way to the centre, and I've seen Fresprungs with less jewels.
They're all screw set too.

The hacking lever works as a stop watch device, but it does stop the watch too!
There's a wire actuated by a sliding button on the case band, that rubs on the roller stopping the balance.
Great device too for locking the balance if being posted anywhere!

I've had quite a few of these movements, but sold them off, as not been able to case them up due to their size and the bevel winding wheel, so I'd be interested to see the winding arrangement in the Waltham case.

Hope all goes well today!

Best regards

John

Hi John; the watch movement is not cased ,rather it is in a Waltham Watch Company jewellers movement holder loose, that is a glass on both sides storage case

Hi John

Thanks for posting, I can find information on people but I can't tell anyone about the quality of their watch. I was wondering about the lack of a case & how hard it would be to case this.

the other Tom

Sewill appears to have been a nautical instrument maker as well as a chronometer and watchmaker. I have a 19th century sextant by him.

Apologies Tom, I misunderstood the casing description.

Many of these movements I've had, have been in Sterling Silver cases, so you could look out for a lesser movement of a similar type in a good case.
There are two main types of stem arrangement though, and you won't know what's there until you get the movement out.

The other type I've seen take the form of a slotted short stem in the movement, and a corresponding peg on the end of the stem.

I found later on, that the winding stem is maybe a big problem on these, because of the bevel edge winding wheel and the way they wear out.

I couldn't find out what form the actual winding stem took until I bought watches to check.
The winding stem gear teeth (what's left of them) in cases I've looked at, have been plain spur teeth cut on the end of the stem and not bevel, and being set 90 deg to the winding wheel they just mash over each other.

If you can find a 'pin set' case that lines up and fits the pillar plate to start with, you're more or less on a home run.
A plain stem tube could be altered to take a retaining screw and stem, and at a push, i dare say a neg set case could be adapted.
It would still leave the gear on the end of the stem to sort out.

As these movements come in all sizes, you'd have to do a lot of Emailing to sellers on such as eBay to find a case with the correct size opening.
I 'threw the towel in' on mine and shipped them all out!.

John

Well all worry about knowing the quality and desirability of the Sewill movement was for nothing, as in the end it didn't matter ,the lot consisting of a 14k tie pin,Waltham movement case,the Sewill movement, and a Seiko ring Watch went to my brother for $15 ,no drama at all !!!!

Nice one Tom, a real steal !

John