This one was sent to me last week from the midwest.

IT is apparently a very very very early wristwatch..of the type often written about.. where early ladies watches were converted.

Interesting thing about this one is that it is dated 1918 and on the dust cover it has an inscription from a Mrs. McAvoy to a "Nat I Brown, Signal Corps, U.S. Army".

The lugs are clearly added on but the dial, inscription and ack engraving suggest that it was SOLD as a wrist watch. The serial number is for a Longines Tiffany from 1914-1915.

An odd duck and a very very early wrist conversion.

I have tried to find infor on the signal corpsman Brown to no avail.

Any comments?
Jeff Hess

dust cover

pic

front

Hello Jeff,

A great little watch.

Sadley, it is extremely difficult to obtain data on those who served in the US Military during WWI. It was explained to me that a fire consumed most of the US Govt records. It is possible that the man served in the New York National Guard before going over to the National Army. If so, the New York State Archives may have some info on him.

The lugs do have a rather modern look. A sort of spring bar type lug was used in early Elgin and Waltham wristwatches dated around 1917-1918. However, these lugs were thin and tended to wear out. So, maybe the lugs on your watch had to be replaced at some point. If the color of the gold is not exactly the same, this is even more possible.

A few years ago, I found Longines to be extremely helpful regarding their older products. I would suggest contacting them directly with the serial number, etc.

http://www.longines.com/long_html/web_summary.htm

Tiffany may have kept records as well. It would not hurt to try them.

Best regards,

Greg

Perhaps 8 years too late, but here are the facts about that fire at the National Personnel Records Center at St. Louis, MO..

It happened on the night of July 12, 1973, and concerned these records:

Army: All personnel discharged from November 1, 1912 to January 1, 1960 - 80% of these records in no particular alpha order.

Air Force: Air Force: All personnel discharged from September 25, 1947 to January 1, 1964 after the name James L. Hubbard.

However, records of U.S. WWI soldiers can be accessed, to some extent, at Ancestry. British records for WWI are extensive on AncestryUK, but both are pay sites.

Marty