Dating ingersoll pocket watches
If the serial number includes a letter, enter it along with the number when using the lookup feature. Many pocket watch case backs screw off. Others may require a dull wide blade to pry or pop the cover. Be careful not to scratch or damage the movement. Always select the correct manufacturer, which is usually stamped on the watch movement. If the manufacturer is not listed on the site, you may have a "private label" watch or it may not be American-made.
Understand that many companies did not keep accurate or complete records. As a result, information displayed on this site may have inaccuracies.
Ingersoll Watch Company
This is to be expected, and we have included an option to report inaccurate information on the result pages so the database can be continually improved. Independent Ingersoll International J. Goddard Luther Goddard M.
In , Waterbury was acquired by U. Time Corp, which continued to use the Ingersoll name. To learn more about this interesting chapter in American Horology, be sure to read our article on Dollar Watches. Only the higher grade, jeweled Ingersoll watches, like the "Reliance," are really considered to be worth the cost of repair.
The lower grade Ingersoll "Dollar Watches," while an interesting piece of American history, are generally not worth the cost of repair and restoration unless the watch holds significant sentimental value. We do not repair Ingersoll "dollar watches", but will consider accepting higher-grade Ingersoll watches for repair. Note that this table should only be used to date non-jeweled Ingersoll "Dollar" watches.
Higher-grade Ingersoll watches with jeweled-lever movements used their own serial number sequences.
- best finland dating sites.
- Elite Timepieces - Ingersoll Watch Serial Numbers?
- Ingersoll Watch Co. Pocket Watch Serial Number Lookup & Identify?
It seems my particular watch may be the result of "Choice 'D'; all of the above" meaning it's got to be a very late production run evidenced by the metal dial sans "Ingersoll", yet having the earlier-named movement, and to top it off a recurring and possibly untraceable 5 digit serial number. I wonder if this is a salesman's demo piece or some such thing.
How to Find Info About Your Pocket Watch
For some reason we have the later dial and name change with a NOS movement. If the serial numbers do repeat as posited by Summar, that renders the serial ineffective as a dating tool without a line specific chart showing the repeat sequencing. Only then can it be used in conjunction with the dial design change timeframe to narrow down the date of manufacture. Adam, I look forward to any other you may come across.
Yes Jerry did a great job. PW Collector Registered User. Aug 3, I just saw this post and surprised to see it in the European section since these are American manufactured watches. As mentioned previously, these Ingersoll watches cannot be dated using the serial numbers and matching them to the published approximate production dates.
Shown above is an advertisement from showing the new Ingersoll Reliance. The first watch shown, sorry, but I do not have The hands for this one yet has an enamel over metal dial marked, Ingersoll Reliance. The movement is marked Robt. If you used the Ingersoll serial number table it would date this at which is definitely not correct. In post 8, Jess states his has a partial serial number with the last number either 2 or 8. In post 11 by Mat, in photo 3 there appears to be a number under the screw also. I could be wrong though. The second watch shown has only Reliance on the metal dial and the seconds dial is different.
The movement is marked, Ingersoll Watch Co. The serial number is fully visible and is This serial number is , lower than the first watch shown and I would think this movement marked Ingersoll Watch Co. I just thought I would through another twist to this thread. I have one of these with SN , These were made at the former Trenton Watch Co factory after Ingersoll bought it. I have always figured the date on mine to be Mine has the enamel dial like Dave's first pic above.
These are a special size watch and require a special "Reliance" case. Your watch has a much higher serial number than mine but yet has the enamel dial Also of note is that my case says nothing except "Made in the US", but for all appearances looks original Dave, the watch I have is the same as the watch in the left-hand lowest corner of your last post. The case only has the "Made in US" notation but nothing else. Quite the mystery, continued Mat, This is what the case markings should look like.
My case has no markings except the Made in the US notation. Assumption now is that the case is not original, contrary to Tom's post 32 which posited that these Reliance timepieces had a special size case Let's summarize the mysteries surrounding my particular watch: The metal dial showing lack of the Ingersoll name is later in production The metalloid or silver case may or may not be original, depending on the above reference by Tom regarding size and your most recent post showing the manufacturer's mark The factory of production is unknown as the Trenton watches seems to all possess the "Ingersoll" marked porcelain dials What we do know IS: This is a watch possessing a low serial Robert H Ingersoll 7j movement 2.
This watch has the metal dial sans "Ingersoll" name which seems to be dating it later in the production run. The case is metalloid or silver with no markings except made in the US.
Case has screw down crystal and back. I'm packing this watch up and sending to ONE of you to take a look at! There really should be no reason for confusion nor to assume that anything about your watch is not original. First, the serial number is not useful for dating the Ingersoll-Reliance watches, so forget about making sense of that.
You have to date your watch approximately by the features of your particular watch. The metal dial marked only Reliance tells us it was probably late in this period. I am not sure where you got the information that all watches from Trenton had enamel dials; Summar tells us that the transition to the metal dials was probably not at the same time as the move to Waterbury, and he does not say if it was before or after the move.
There is no reason to believe your dial is not original.
The case is just fine and also probably original. Some were gold-filled, like Dave's case in post 35, but most were cheap base metal cases. I suspect that only the gold-filled ones were made by the Illinois Watch Case Co.
A" Your watch appears to be in good original condition and I think it is certainly collectable. I guess there is a point when available information to establish some degree of provenance has to be enough. Determining value or collectibility has been accomplished via this thread so I will continue on toward getting the watch functional. Personally I like the watch very much, which adds some intrinsic value as well, but deciding whether the piece is so rare that wearing it isn't smart versus having a wearable piece was one of my goals. Now to go about getting this watch's balance wheel repaired.
As a novice my other concern is how far I should get into a watch's mechanicals as I don't want to ruin any timepiece, much less one that's quite rare and valuable I was given this watch by a friend because I'm a novice and very interested in pocket watches but looking into it on this forum has shown me that the watch is deserving of more than my current skillset can provide.
I welcome any further direction from here including the appropriate thread within which to continue. This is in response to the postings by Mat In my posting above, with the two Ingersoll Reliance watches I have been searching for correct hands for the one without hands. It is a non-working movement but I was just interested in the hands anyway.