Dueber watch serial numbers

If there is anything significant to change, maybe a moderator can help, but I don't know if it will be necessary. Dueber Watch Case Manufacturing Co. Other reported examples are also included. The examples are subject to errors of reporting or recording. Exceptions to this are those movement manufacturers such as the Ball Watch Co. Howard Watch Co.

This also applies to the s watches, most of which were factory-cased. The opposite of the above applies to Hampden Watch Co. One type of error may have occurred were a digit appears to be missing from a case serial number whose movement serial number indicates a much later date. The case stampings were not always in high relief and the pictures from which the data was collected were not always the best. This marking is believed to indicate a case furnished in exchange of one which did not live up to the warranted number of years before wearing through to the underlying brass, of otherwise wearing out ahead of time.

Cases showing evidence of another movement having occupied the case prior to the current movement were also not included. Most movement serial number vs. Gilbert, T. Engle and C. It should be kept in mind that, with the exception of most Hamilton and some Waltham serial number vs. Cases, especially Silverine and silver, appear to not always carry the full serial number. In many instances, these just do not apply to dating the case.

A number of cases bear very much higher serial numbers than would seem warranted by the movement serial number, yet appear to not have housed a different movement.

Finally, there are a number of cases whose serial number seems inconsistent with dates of their movements. There are many possible reasons for this. For example, there are internet dealers who are shy of stating this fact and whose pictures are cropped so as not to disclose possible case screw marks. Dueber Watch Case Serial Numbers vs. Thomas CS S. Last edited: Sep 16, Reactions: Rodney Leon. I'll add mine.

Kent, Tom, et al. We probably have enough to at least begin trying to make sense of it all. Kent has noted many of the caveats for this type of research above. An ad in the Aug. The same ad with case s also appears in the Apr.

Same ad also appears in Nov. I haven't tracked down the earliest issue for this ad. Feb 27, 1 0 1 68 Country. This table appears to place the manufacture of the case circa This matches the time-frame for the Waltham movement date of manufacture and provides another data point for your table.

If you collect Hampden watches, you'll appreciate knowing more about the company history. Read on Established by Donald J. Mozart, the company was originally located in Providence, Rhode Island. In , the company changed its name to the Hampden Watch Company. Meanwhile, in Newport, Kentucky, John C. Dueber had established a company that made watch cases called the Dueber Watch Case Manufacturing Company.

In , he bought controlling interest in the Hampden Watch Company in order to protect his business from the Watch Case Trust. In , Dueber moved the company from Massachusetts to Canton, Ohio. The watch company and the case company were housed in separate factories located right next door to each other. Advertisements for the company listed it as the Dueber-Hampden Watch Works, although the two companies were not formally merged together until around The Watch Trust included many different watch making companies.

They formed the trust to restrict trade so that watch movements could not be sold without cases. It was common practise at the time for the watch case to be made by a different company than the movements, as was the case with Dueber's watch case company and Hampden Watch Company. They also made it difficult for jewelers to purchase movements and cases from any company that was not part of the trust. Dueber suffered from this practice and sued the companies involved, claiming that they wanted to form a monopoly and keep his company from competing in the market.

Dueber won the case after several months' deliberation, but in , the Trust was close to forming again. The Sherman Anti-Trust Act played an important role in bringing down the Watch Trust and the government filed suit against many of the companies that were in violation of the anti-trust legislation.

Railroad pocket watches were an important staple for most watch companies. Standards had to be met in order for a watch to be used by railroad personnel. It had to be open faced, keep accurate time and have clear Arabic numerals in black on a white face. In its previous incarnation as the New York Watch Company, Hampden had an 18 size, jewel Railway pocket watch that was one its highest grades.

It remained at the top of the Hampden line after the reorganization. Soon a new model was introduced that used the stem to wind the watch.

It was first made only in a hunting case. A hunting case is one that opens to show the watch and closes to protect it. The same watch was offered open face, but instead of being listed as a Railway grade, it was listed as grade The apparent discrepancy between the case serial number 7,, and whatever date table you may have consulted is probably caused by your using a table that applied to Hampden Watch Co.

Movements which would not in any way apply to Dueber cases. An John C. Dueber 14K tri color gold hinged pocket watch. This watch features a round case with an ornate foliate pattern made from yellow, rose and white gold while including a round garnet gemstone on the center of caseback. Dueber sold the company to Walter Vrettman in Vrettman went bankrupt in and sold all of the company's equipment to Amtorg, a Russian purchasing company.

Nearly 30 boxcars of machinery left Canton in with 21 former Dueber Hampden employees who contracted for one year to teach the Russians the craft of watchmaking. Conflicting information exists about the fate of the Russian enterprise, but Henry Fried, a horology professor at New York University, reported seeing Dueber-Hampden machinery being used in China in Be sure to use the serial number on the movement the works of the watch.