Featured CANADIAN GRAND TRUNK PACIFIC RAILROAD Pocket Watch. Ca. 1915.

"AAAAAAAALL ABOOOAAARRRD!!"

How's this for an auction-house win?

Sadly, the watch is in rather battered condition. If the dial (which is extremely fragile) is not salvageable, I shall ask my watchmaker to replace it with a similar one.

The mechanism itself appears to be sound, and it does run, but it's extremely sluggish. I'm only coaxing it along at the moment so as to relax the tension a bit on the mainspring (the watch was fully-wound when I bought it).

This railroad chronometer was made for the Canadian Grand Trunk Pacific railroad (1914-1920), a very short-lived train-line in Eastern Canada during the WWI-period. That leads me to believe that this watch may be extremely rare.



The back has all the details (and more!) than the front, so if we have to sacrifice the dial, I'm not that worried. Also, it's a window-back! A rather rare feature on antique pocketwatches, so this is really cool!!

It says:

"ADJUSTED HEAT & COLD, SIX POSITIONS"
"NON MAGNETIC"
19 JEWELS.
"GRAND TRUNK PACIFIC SPECIAL".

The case is most likely nickel.

So, there you have it! My latest watch.

 

Nice!

 

Interesting bit of railway history! There was a "Non Magnetic Watch Co" but they are always clearly marked as having Paillard's Patent so I do not think this is one of their watches. I don't recognize the movement so I do not think it is American in origin but rather likely Swiss. The dial would add a lot to the value but that damage is very difficult to fix in an acceptable fashion. Railroad fans will certainly appreciate it regardless!!!

 

What’s wrong with the dial?
Which dial and I don’t see anything.

 

you don't see the watch...front and back?

 

I do but I must not be seeing dial damage.

 

i see a crack running down...or up...from 6:30...where it looks like it took a hit....

 

Ah! Ok.

 

A piece of the enamel is missing on the edge just after the 6 o'clock position.

 

The hairline cracks are actually easy. A simple soak with a denture tab to get the dirt out of the crack and they disappear but a piece of missing enamel is a lot trickier.

 

Done a bit more research on it and it MIGHT be a Swiss-Fake. If it is, I'm not sure if I'll still keep it. I mean I know they're still collectible, but...we'll see.

I'll show it to my watchmaker and get his opinion on whether it's worth restoring.

 

It is certainly Swiss and not near the quality of an American railroad pocket watch but I have no idea what the Canadian standards were at that time. And yes it does have the appearance of a Swiss "fake". I rather think they were trying to fake a Non Magnetic Watch Company watch, some of which were extremely high quality and are very valuable now. It rather confuses me they labeled it for a Railroad of such short duration though.

Please update with your watch repairman's opinion.

 

Heyyyyy,,,,,we have very high standards !!!

Just look at me !!

 

In your image it looks more like it says “HEAT & COLB” rather than “HEAT & COLD“ ....to me anyway!!

 

I saw that. There also seems to be something extra at the end of "position". The font on the 19 and the Railway name does not match the font in jewels either.

I have seen low jeweled watches where unscrupulous individuals have stamped them with a higher jewel count to fool unsuspecting collectors and the more that I look at this I think someone may have taken a Swiss fake Non Magnetic and stamped the Railway stuff and the 19 themselves and printed on the dial to sell this to some unsuspecting Railroad watch collector for an exorbitant sum at some point.

That actually makes the most sense as I couldn't imagine a Swiss fake being made for that short lived rail line at that time. There just wouldn't have been a demand then for a piece from there but there is now and has been for a while.

 

I will get my watchmaker's opinion on it. Depending on what he says, will determine whether I get it restored at all, or if I sell it as-is. It's expensive to get this restored, so I don't wanna do it if it's not going to be worth it.

Fortunately I paid next to nothing for this, as prices for pocketwatches go, but still, I'd like to get something for it.

 

For future reference Shangas you should purchase a copy of the book "Complete Price Guide to Watches" by Cooksey Shugart. An older copy is actually fine. The prices listed are not really the best part of the book. There many pages of plate diagrams in that book that will allow you to identify makes of watches at a glance with a little practice and a veritable wealth of info to help one navigate the world of watches.

 

The definitive way to determine what it is, is to look at the front plate. Swiss fakes do not have jewelling on the front where it cannot be seen.

If it is stem set it is not a RR watch by US standards, they had to be lever set to prevent accidental changing of the time while winding.
It is not classed as a chronometer. It does not appear to have microregulation.
The dial wording appears to be fired enamel, easy to check if it is anything else as it would simply wipe off. If it is fired enamel it pretty well demolishes the idea that it may have been added later.
Many watch movements made after the invention of Invar and other non magnetic materials for the hairspring where laballed non magnetic. They are usually Swiss.

 

The railroad this one is marked for was Canadian. Did they have rigid standards for their timepieces? Maybe this is a Swiss watch manufactured for them if they did not require a lever set.