Ok, time for a new Topic. I'll bet when you read the title of this one, you said, now what in the heck is he talking about. When Lindell showed me this in his Hamilton-Illinois Catalogue from 1928-29 recently we found something new going on. This is information that has probably never been discussed before. It is new to me and I think almost everyone will find it very interesting to some degree.

We all know when the 16 size Bunn Special was introduced in 1913 that it was not factory cased and Illinois did not factory case any of the Bunn's until late 1924 or early 1925 and did not formally announce or introduce the "Complete Bunn Special" until April of 1925 or so. Of course many of the watches they were casing were originally made in or from 1924 as our database shows. I am sure they were testing the waters to see how sales would go and after everything looked like a success, they were probably inclined to Officially offer their earliest and then new, 21 Jewel 60 Hour Bunn Specials complete and Factory cased. As production geared up on the 60 HR watches and they began to sell well, fewer and fewer orders for the older model 9 Non 60HR watches were being taken or recieved. Of course some Model 9's were indeed factory cased as the book and our database shows. But still it would be without question quite a few Model 9 movements remained in inventory. As time went on they kept gathering dust and of course became less and less desirable to the public as the main selling watch was their new 60 Hr Bunn Special. We also, as a side note, know that many Sangamo Specials remained in inventory until the early 1930's (due to price) and many late 18 size 21 Jewel Bunn Specials remained on the shelf unsold as well(due to lack of demand for 18 size watches).

As time went on , in May of 1926 Jacob Bunn Jr. died , and the Illinois Watch Company was purchased by the Hamilton Watch Company at the beginning of 1928. All these things you know. What has not ever been discussed by any of the collectors I know is the fact that Hamilton was planning on cleaning up the excess old inventory that Illinois had not sold and came up with a somewhat creative way to do so.

What you see here in the Hamilton-Illinois catalogue from 1928-29 on page 23 is proof of their offering or marketing. Let's look at what they are saying and what they are NOT saying. They are offering "16 size complete watches". They are offering (as well as a lesser 19J 707) , a 21 Jewel Bunn Special and a 23 Jewel Bunn Special. Cased in either 10k gold filled cases, (which I can assure you are Keystone cases as pictured), or sterling silver or nickleoid cases. This is what they are saying, what they are NOT saying ANYWHERE on this page is that these Bunn Specials are 60 Hour! They are NOT in fact 60 Hour, but ARE in reality the old remaining inventory of model 9's and Model 11, 23J. Bunn Specials! If they had been 60 hour watches you can bet they would have said so. Notice the different Catalogue numbers Hamilton gives them. So, Here we have bonafide proof of Hamilton trying to clean out old non 60 Hour inventory mated up with cheaper cases AND cases that would certainly NOT have been marked Bunn Special. This I feel for sure. So again, what we are looking at is an almost entirely different concept than we as collectors have EVER considered.

No one I know of has ever made mention of it. Not even Bill Meggars. Here is proof of a Factory Cased Bunn Special without a Bunn Special Case in 1928/29 no less!! In good economic times, not the dire straights of the 1930's. These, of course, will be the older non 60 HR Bunn Special watches left unsold from 1924/25/26 Manufacture time period, and now , just a few years later being offered for sale to the public as a "Complete 16 Size Watch".....A Factory cased Bunn Special without a Bunn Special case of any known model, .....just a cheaper unmarked case. You could even get it in nickleoid if you wanted it FROM THE FACTORY! Gave things a completely different perspective for me, I don't know about you.

I think there may also be another reason Hamilton was in a hurry to sell off this old inventory. I am sure they probably had the future Elinvar watches already on the drawing board and knew that in a short couple years it would be introduced. I feel that they were surmising just as the 60 Hr watches had killed most of the sales of non 60 Hr movements, the much improved and non magnetic Elinvar watches would probably dampen sales of Non Elinvar movements left over in inventory when that time came. So, I do feel they were trying to be timely and clean out all old stock. They of course probably did not realize the urgency of just how little time they actually had with the looming clouds of the coming Great Depression just ahead of them. At any rate, here I think we see Hamilton trying to do what they did best, market watches in any form or fashion that might prove profitable.

In hindsight, I now wonder how many of these "factory cased" watches I have overlooked, ha! If I do see one in the future, I will certainly look much more closely at it as I think with this new piece of information from the catalogue it can probably be looked upon as a nice collectable and not just some put together watch from the mid '20's by some local jeweler. I have to say I found this very interesting when I first saw this page and a definite learning experience as I began to realize what they in fact were doing. I hope you enjoyed this realization as much as I did. I of course would enjoy all comments and opinions from you as well.


Below, page 23 from the 1928-29 Hamilton-Illinois catalog...

Interesting deduction Mike.

Now I gotta reload the ole mental data base... as if there wasn't too much Bunn Spl data up there as is was.

Great post Lin! and thanks so much for sharing these pages. I would make mention, Also, to note that nowhere do they say the 18 size Bunn Special will be offered as a "Complete (Factory Cased) Watch" as they are offering to do so with the 16 size NON 60 Hr. Bunn Specials. Note also, below, on page 33 from the same 1928-29 Hamilton-Illinois catalogue that the Movements that ARE 60 Hr. , both in 21 and 23J are STILL available as a movement only... as well as cased.

This page, clearly disproves the Illinois book statement (on page 49) that as of 1929 Bunn Specials were no longer offered as a movement only. Here we have proof to the contrary. I think it makes sense that great marketing would say, sell the watches any way you can. I think we can all agree that the Hamilton Watch Company (who was now in control) was a great marketer of watches. Very interesting to say the least! Happy "New INformation" Hunting!


Sixty-Hour 23J and 21J Movement Only in 1928-29 Catalog...

Well, well, well. I bought a model 9 Bunn Special shown in that topmost catalog illustration in Mike's initial post. Lucky estate sale find.That same case! (serial no. of movement 4,500,389 dates to 1924). I still own movement, case was well worn but traded away. Now I get to look for a similar case again!!