The Illinois Pocketwatch Thread

BrianPankow · Sep 30, 2020

ghce
What an eye opening thread! never seen such beautiful pocket watches before and wasn't even aware of this manufacturer as I have never seen examples of this wonderful brand here in New Zealand before. Might have to start trolling ebay.

Better not start looking at turn of the century Ball watches. 😀

ghce · Sep 30, 2020

Yes always fancied a few of those in the collection.

BrianPankow · Sep 30, 2020

A

BrianPankow
Better not start looking at turn of the century Ball watches. 😀

A slight intro into Railroad pocket watches:

http://www.pocketwatchrepair.com/standards.html

TexOmega · Sep 30, 2020

1921

DaveK · Sep 30, 2020

BrianPankow
I so love the pocket watches. I got started when my father passed and left his grandmother’s pocket watch to me. I rotated my serviced dozen changing up every week, but switched to wrist watches when I kept snagging the chain on things. The final straw was playing with my grandson. The chain got caught in the deck boards and I stood up.

Nooo, keep wearing it! Just get yourself a nice leather lanyard that tucks safely into your pocket 👍 I know a guy that makes these 😗

BrianPankow · Sep 30, 2020

DaveK
Nooo, keep wearing it! Just get yourself a nice leather lanyard that tucks safely into your pocket 👍 I know a guy that makes these 😗

Looks great! Can you send me an address or link?

TexOmega · Sep 30, 2020

BrianPankow
Looks great! Can you send me an address or link?

He makes them

Canuck · Sep 30, 2020

BrianPankow
Looks great! Can you send me an address or link?

You can find any information you might need by clicking on this link. @DaveK on the MB. Dave K of Vancouver, Canada, makes these “mystery braid”, one piece leather watch lanyards. Scads of pocket watch collectors on this MB are wearing their collectibles on Dave’s lanyards. His email address:

[email protected]

His website:

www.yourvintagewatch.com

Try one, you’ll like it!

DaveK · Sep 30, 2020

Canuck
You can find any information you might need by clicking on this link. @DaveK on the MB. Dave of Vancouver, Canada, makes these “mystery braid”, one piece leather watch lanyards. Scads of pocket watch collectors on this MB are wearing their collectibles on Dave’s lanyards. His email address:

[email protected]

His website:

www.yourvintagewatch.com

Try one, you’ll like it!

Thanks for the shout out 🙄 Feel encouraged to PM me instead of going through Etsy

BrianPankow · Sep 30, 2020

Canuck
You can find any information you might need by clicking on this link. @DaveK on the MB. Dave Keefe of Vancouver, Canada, makes these “mystery braid”, one piece leather watch lanyards. Scads of pocket watch collectors on this MB are wearing their collectibles on Dave’s lanyards. His email address:

[email protected]

His website:

www.yourvintagewatch.com

Try one, you’ll like it!

Thank you! I’ll get a couple. I don’t think I can PM as I don’t have 200 posts yet.

Canuck · Sep 30, 2020

BrianPankow
Thank you! I’ll get a couple. I don’t think I can PM as I don’t have 200 posts yet.

I do believe PMs are permitted, even if you don’t have 200 posts. Have you tried a PM?

BrianPankow · Sep 30, 2020

Canuck
I do believe PMs are permitted, even if you don’t have 200 posts. Have you tried a PM?

I did not. Ordered one on Etsy.

BrianPankow · Sep 30, 2020

If anyone decides to check out Ball watches, below is a note on the difference between “Commercial” and “Official” Standard.

DaveK · Sep 30, 2020

Sorry about all that self promotion, back to Illinois pocket watches 🍿

140dave · Sep 30, 2020

Did someone say Illinois? Here’s a handful...

4 of the “7 Jewels” and a Fat Boy for good measure. I have a fairly complete collection of 60hr Bunn Specials.

L-R: 163 TIR, 163 TI, Fat Boy

L-R: Fat Boy (again) 163A TI, 163 TIE

michael22 · Sep 30, 2020

Where does "BUNN" come from?

TexOmega · Sep 30, 2020

michael22
Where does "BUNN" come from?

One of the original founders, John Bunn

TexOmega · Sep 30, 2020

1917

140dave · Sep 30, 2020

Since this isn’t a pocket watch forum there are probably a few that don’t know some of the variants that exist within the Illinois line. I have always been a collector who enjoys the hunt and some of the variants really fit that bill for me when I was actively collecting 60 Hour Illinois Bunn Specials. I’ll show a couple in this thread and give a bit of detail. We will start with the Fat Boy I showed earlier. There are thought to be under 1000 of these produced.

The Bunn Special “Fat Boy” variant:

This variant has a 21 jewel 60 hour movement. It should always be a Type III (TIII) movement and should be specifically from 1928 to be correct for this type.

The movement itself is not what sets this one apart, thousands of 60hr TIII out there, it is the dial. This has an extra bold Arabic font, Arrows-out on the 5 minute markers and most noticeable are the pointed minute markers. Very different from the usual squared off minute markers.

Hand should be the different Sangamo-style blued kite hands as shown above. Lastly, the
Fat Boy came in a factory Model 1 Bunn Special case, 10k yellow gold filled.

So there you have it, The Fat Boy.
Happy Hunting!

Waltesefalcon · Oct 3, 2020

Today's offering is my little Sante Fe Special. It's a 12s model 1 grade 274 that was made in 1920. The interesting thing about this one is that being a 12s it's obviously not a rail road grade watch, even though it is prominently labeled as a Sante Fe Special on both the dial and the movement. The movement does have 21jewels, a going barrel, a double roller, and is adjusted to positions and temperature (I'm not sure how many positions though, it may only be three). I might have passed on this one but I loved the engraving on the back, it reminded me of my granddad who had raised cutting horses.