Just for show and tell, a neat find I got today.
A 15j Waltham in a Depollier signed case with an interesting inscription. The front:

The back is engraved "Thos. M. Guerin/ U.S.S. Hopkins/ from members of/ The Union League/ 1917/of/Philadelphia"
So far I've found out that the Hopkins was a WW1
destroyer which was converted to a mine sweeper
by 1942 and scrapped in '46. The Union League of Philadelphia is still around. According to their website they were founded in 1862 and supported the tenets of Abe Lincoln's Union and were early supporters of civil rights.
-Cort

Good looking waltham. Do you suppose the Union League might have records regarding the presentation?

Thanks for the images.

Greg

Thanks for the post Greg. I have had the impulse to contact the "Union" folks. I was born in the South but, hey, I'm over it . I will give it a go and post any response here.

I cleaned the watch yesterday and it is doing fine in the time-keeping dept. The band is something I'm working out. Original ads from 1916 depict the watch with the identicle patent buckle which fuctions in the manner of lady's ribbon bands of that era. I've got a plan and will post the result here if it warrants it.

The last note is that, when I had the bezel sitting on some watch paper I noticed that the
crystal had a distinctively purple tone. I was an antique bottle digger years ago and I know that lead in clear glass from the teens reacts with UV and can turn purple. This color is popular among certain collectors and so, if I understand correctly, certain bottles(milk bottles, mason jars et al.) have been modified with radiation to get that color. I don't have a clue as to how that is done but I wondered if, perhaps, it is possible that radiation from the dial might have affected the crystal.
-Cort

It is not any lead in glass that causes it to turn purple, it is manganese. Manganese replaced lead in most glass-making formulas starting around the mid 1800s as the ingredient that made the glass more clear and remove the green tinge that comes from natural iron impurities in the sand that is the main ingredient. Around 1915 or so (it wasn't a sudden all at once thing) most glass makers began replacing manganese with selenium as the clarifying agent since manganese glass was found susceptible to turn purple when left in direct sunlight and UV rays for a number of years while selenium didn't do this. Apparently, your watch has a crystal made of manganese glass and at some point in its life your watch was stored in a place where it sat with the crystal being in direct sunlight for many years.

Thanks, Jim. I had no idea of the formulas in glass making.

These comments remind me of a WWI era Elgin wire lug watch in my collection which has purple splotches in the glass from the radium numbers and hands, but the purple is not uniform. Would you suppose that I have the same formula glass, or would the radium make purple burns in other types of glass as well?

Best regards,
Greg

Hi Greg. It is possible that the gamma rays from the numbers could turn the manganese purple as well, but it doesn't happen as fast as ultraviolet rays do it. A really strong gamma radiation source or ultraviolet radiation source can turn manganese glass all the way to amethyst color or even blue sometimes if there are other impurities and some unscrupulous antiques dealers artifically treat old clear glass in this way to create colored glass to fools inexperienced collectors into paying higher prices since real colored antique glass is fairly uncommon. Selenium glass is much more stable and doesn't reallly change color.

These days the science of glass making is really complicated and makers use all kinds of additives such as boron and arsenic and selenium and lead and manganese and other elements to achieve a wide range of desireable properties in glass.

Very interesting Jim. I'm pleased that the info I derived when I was a kid was basically correct
(lead is so much easier to pronounce than manganese ). You state that the transition from manganese was roughly 1915 and this watch is from roughly 1915. I don't know if radiation from the dial could have turned the crystal in 90 years;perhaps?

I took care of the band today and the watch could be done but... I'm now getting picky and I
want to expunge the old radium remnants. It is a bit mad but, since I'd prefer to obtain the original look, I'm giving some thought to repainting the numerals with some glow in the dark paint I saved from an easter egg decorating kit. I am one watch repairer who really knows how to have a good time.
-Cort

It is possible the radium did the color change, but the way to tell if that was the cause is if the tinting is purple spots that were directly above the numerals where the radium lies, like Greg has on his. If the whole crystal is tinted light purple then the reason is pretty sure to be that it was left lying around in a place where the sunlight and its ultraviolet rays got to it for a number of years.

Since it is such a nice looking watch you may want to buy some special luminous paint that is made for watchmakers rather than something made for Easter eggs. It comes in several tints from light green to light brown for restoring old watches and clocks. You can buy it at all of the big watchmaker supply places.

You will need to be real careful on removing the radium on the dial and hands as it is just as powerfully radioactive today as it was back when the watch was made. The only reason the numerals no longer glow from it is that the radium is so powerful that it has long ago burned the phosphorous that was mixed in the paint. It is not the radium that glows in the dark on these - it is the phosphorus. The radium is the power supply that activates the phosphorus. When you remove the radium be sure there is no possibility that you inhale even the tiniest amount of radium dust since it can cause lung cancer. Because of this, most watchmakers won't even try to remove radium any more.