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View Full Version : Can someone ID this Pinset???


Rip Tombstone
June 1st, 2008, 06:48
I bought this Pinset silver watch last weekend, but I cant find any maker marks on it at all. The watch still works, even with all the dirt and grime.
The escape wheel has the raised up club feet on it, if that makes sense.
The only thing I can find written on the movement is "retard" and "advance".
The arabic numbers around the outside of the dial appear handwritten, with the 55 being the most evident, with the 5s not matching each other.
The case is .80 and is marked with Swiss, and the Swiss .80 bird hallmark.
Can anyone give me an approximate timeframe this watch was made, and who made it?? I plan on cleaning it and replacing the hands and crystal, but wont do much else with it as far as straightening the case.
http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k123/daltonmasterson/Watches/IMG_2105.jpg
http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k123/daltonmasterson/Watches/IMG_2109.jpg

Hartmut Richter
June 1st, 2008, 14:05
Looks like a typical sort of Swiss "Le Locle" bridge style movement from about 1890-1910. The case will be 80% silver (hence the "0.8"). The movement is a cylindre escapement calibre, therefore it has the "club feet" on the escapement wheel. I assume that the whole thing was made from parts which were in turn made not in a specialist factory but rather by people in their homes - alpine farmers tying over the long winter months by drilling rubies, making gearwheels or doing dials and the like in their kitchen and then supplying them to others who put the whole thing together. That's probably why there are no makers marks to be seen anywhere - dial, movement, etc. All in all a pretty proletarian watch of its age - but reliable enough for most people's needs.

Hartmut Richter

Eeeb
June 1st, 2008, 15:41
Looks like a typical sort of Swiss "Le Locle" bridge style movement from about 1890-1910. The case will be 80% silver (hence the "0.8"). The movement is a cylindre escapement calibre, therefore it has the "club feet" on the escapement wheel. I assume that the whole thing was made from parts which were in turn made not in a specialist factory but rather by people in their homes - alpine farmers tying over the long winter months by drilling rubies, making gearwheels or doing dials and the like in their kitchen and then supplying them to others who put the whole thing together. That's probably why there are no makers marks to be seen anywhere - dial, movement, etc. All in all a pretty proletarian watch of its age - but reliable enough for most people's needs.

Hartmut Richter

I had always heard there was a 'cottage industry' component to the Swiss watch industry... Now I've seen an actual movement!

Thanks folks! Very interesting...