Hello John,
A very nice watch and a great story about your dad's war service.
Accurate watches were and still are a very important component of our military.
Are you still in the Mechanicville area?

Buster,

We can't really track Keystone case numbers with any degree of accuracy like we can the Wadsworth cases. We do know that the Keystone Model 173 case appeared in Illinois advertising in 1928 so it is quite likely the 1929 movement was original to that case. Wadsworth produced their cases for Illinois in chronological order so these are easy to date to movements. I don't think any of the other case manufactures (for Illinois) did this.

John,

Very nice watch by the way. My grandfathers 19 jewel Bunn 60 HOUR Type I got passed down to me and it got me started with the bug.

Steve

You are correct, Steve, I dropped the ball on that one I was thinking Wadsworth instead of Keystone.. John, rest assured Steve knows a lot on the Bunn Special watches. I concur with Steve and thank you for correcting me. I was interested in John's story on the watch and the beautiful specimen he inherited and it was truly an overwhelming account
Regards,
bb

Hi guys,(Edward, Buster annd Steve,

Thanks for the reply .I'm still living in the Mechanicville area, about 10 miles south in Cohoes,five miles north of Albany. We moved a lot when I was young never to far but a lot of different school.


I did not come in contact with anyone who new my father except his sister and his mother.
We did not discuss my father much though. Anyway I'm still curious about the watch.

Steve perhaps you can help me out. My 173 case has a factory pattern back. Did all the 173's
come this way? Is one pattern more preferred over another? Is the dial (23jewel 60 hour) the
only dial on these cases? Lastly, I can not see the serial number of the case on the bezel, just the
back and center. Oh, one more, There are what appear to be initials or numbers (very small)
scratched in the center inside the back of the back. You should be able to enlarge the picture
of the back. Did time-inspectors ever do this?


Thanks again guys,

John J

Buster,

Sorry to repeat myself I went to the end of the posts first before reading your reply. Very helpful info thanks again.

John

John,

There is a lot of information on this site concerning your watch as it is very collectable. There are probably at least six different dial combinations that could have been used. Four of them could be found on this discussion as well as the unmarked variants in the regular and Montgomery styles.

As far as the pattern back cases go, the majority were plain making the engraved ones even more collectable. I'm not sure how many different patterns there were but I believe there were at least two. The number on the bezel was usually hand etched in and sometimes difficult to see, try going over it with a lupe and you may find it. The marks inside the back were usually a code left by the watchmaker as to when it was last serviced. All repair people seemed to have their own code that was unique to them.

Steve

Here is a picture of the box and label for a 118 Star case which houses my matching Bunn Special 163 IIE. Notice the 118 designation on the label

Box with watch

And finally the movement

Gentlemen and Ladies - I've just received a pocket watch from my father. It belonged to his father before him and I'm trying to ascertain the details on this watch. Initial indications are that it is a Bunn Special from the Illinois Watch company (that's the easy part), but the year of production is in question. Some sites say between 1916 and 1926, but I'm finding that others, including this site, suggest it might be from the 1940's. Any guidance would be most appreciated as I'd like to educate my fother about it.

Here is a shot of the front. I haven't seen many pictures of this model with the silver leaf design on the front.

Hi Don, while I am not an expert,I can tell you you're watch is not a Bunn Special.To my knowledge
there were only one model in 12size designated Bunn
Special and it was a 21 jewel movement,whereas yours
is a 19 jewel Grade 406,3 positions,made in 1922,12
size. Nice watch. Really like that dial!

Roger

Thanks Roger!

Hi,

I have a Factory Bunn Special Model 28 "two tone" case that I found but unfortunately I don't have a movement for it. I am somewhat new to this hobby and I was wondering, should a 23J movement be the only one housed in this case ?

I am sure a 21 jewel movement could have been in it.A 161 with a marked dial would look nice in it.and not break the bank also.

Thanks Keith, I really appreciate it. I will start my search for a 161 with a marked dial. Thanks so much.