High-Grade Watches

After the leadership change and subsequent renaming of the Springfield Watch Co, the decision was made to manufacture only higher-grade watches, meaning anything under 15-jewel was out, leaving the factory to concentrate on fully-jeweled watches and eventually becoming the only American watch company to offer 26-jewel watches as regular production grades. This fantastic 16-size original-combination Bunn Special was just thoroughly restored for its next steward, resetting the roller jewel and polishing the balance pivots. All of its jeweling is still present and intact, an increasingly rare thing; even the factory dust band is still there after a century of service. The correct arrows-in dial is snow-white with only a single light hairline at the 9-minute-mark behind a full set of plum spade-and-poker hands. It's housed in an unusual two-tone 25-year Philadelphia case with a yellow-gold frame and white-gold covers that shows a lifetime of service marks on the inside of the caseback, all appearing to be from the same careful watchmaker. It has a new beveled glass crystal and a blank shield. Matching lanyard and display stand included.

The Studebaker Brothers, already famous as automakers, bought the failing Columbus Watch Co in 1903 and moved the whole thing to Indiana, renaming it the South Bend Watch Co. The new company was famous for freezing their watches in ice to demonstrate their accuracy and driving them up and down Main Street in a wagon behind a donkey, which was an interesting marketing strategy. One of their highest 16-size grades after the Polaris was the 227, which came with twenty-one jewels and was adjusted to temperature and five positions. This exceptionally nice example was just restored with a new mainspring and a thorough cleaning, still carrying its original dust band and correct snow-white double-sunk dial with the Gothic signature behind blued hands. The 20-year Bates & Bacon gold-filled case is also in exceptional condition with a beautiful pattern on the rear cover, a blank shield, a sharp crown, and a new glass crystal. Matching lanyard and display stand included.

Hamilton's 941 debuted in 1898 as the hunting version of their open-face workhorse, the railroad-approved 940, though the company made far fewer of them over their twenty-five-year run, producing some 26,000 of the 941 compared to roughly 210,000 of the 940. The 18-size 21-jewel 941 came in three variants: grade unmarked, marked 941, and the motor barrel-equipped, which was the least common. The latter had an additional plate to carry the mainspring arbor, which was not mounted directly to the barrel, allowing for a smoother letdown of the mainspring. This exceptional example was just restored with a thorough cleaning and a new alloy mainspring, and all of its twenty-one original jewels in gold settings are still intact over a century later, which is fairly rare. It fronts a correct and flawless snow-white Arabic double-sunk dial behind nicely blued factory spade hands. The warm brass hunter case is in excellent shape with a blank shield, a blank cuvette, a tight bow, and a sharp crown for easy winding. The crystal is glass and the front cover overextends slightly. Matching lanyard and display stand included.