Hello Ronnie,
Thank you for sending in this pocket watch to mearto.com for an appraisal. I shall try to help you with that today.
TITLE:
Art Deco era, gent’s, 17size, 14k gold-filled, Pendant wound and lever set, railroad grade, open face pocket watch, Grade Sangamo Special, Model 13, Serial Number 4734013, made by the Illinois Watch Co., Springfield, Illinois, USA, circa 1926
PROVENANCE:
“It belonged to my wife's uncle, and was originally owned by his father when he worked on the railroad.”
DESCRIPTION:
Case: This is a 17 size, two leaf, 14k gold-filled, open face pocket watch with a fluted coin-shaped pendant and chased gilt bow placed at the twelve-position relative to the dial. The back cover is gilt with the circumferential edge embossed in a wave-like pattern. There is a coin-edge design around the barrel of the case and the bezel around the dial is chased, also in a wave like pattern. A single Albert style link watch chain is attached to the pendant bow. The interior of the back cover is inscribed, “Sangamo Special, Wadsworth Quality, 14K Gold Filled, Pat's Pend'g, 8520489”. (The Wadsworth Watch Case Company made the case for Illinois.)
Dial: Triple-sunk, round white dial enameled with large upright black Arabic hours, open bar minute track with triangles and red Arabic markers placed every five minutes. In addition, there are black Arabic markers placed every minute around the periphery of the dial, sunken subsidiary seconds dial @6 and the sunken dial center with the printed name, ‘Illinois’. This is a ‘Montgomery’ dial, also called a ‘Monty’ dial, made specially for use by the railroad companies (see History below). There are solid steel ‘Lozenge’-variant hands.
Movement: This is a damascened nickel ‘bridge-plate’ movement, the Sangamo Special grade, Model 13, size 17, with serial number 4734013, indicating its production in the year 1926 in a run of 1000 such movements made by the Illinois Watch Co. of Springfield, Illinois. The movement was made with 23 jewels, both ruby and sapphire, some placed in raised gold screw settings. The movement is pendant wound and lever set, its bridge-plate with exposed ratchet and crown wheels, two small finger bridges and a faux center wheel bridge, double roller, jeweled motor barrel, gold train and center wheel material, bimetallic balance wheel with Breguet hairspring, adjusted for six positions, temperature and isochronism. This is a fine railway grade movement. The movement is properly signed and marked on the plates, “Sangamo Special, 23 Jewels, Motor barrel, Adjusted Temp and Six positions, Serial # 4734013, Illinois Watch Co., D.R.” (double roller).
CONDITION:
Case – In very good condition with just a couple of scratches to the back cover of the case.
Dial – Good with several fine hairline fractures radiating from the center arbor holding the hands, and with scattered oxidative speckling throughout. (This watch was dropped at some point in the past.)
Movement –Appears original to this case, genuine and considered functional. In very fine condition.
MONTGOMERY DIAL HISTORY:
Dials approved for use on the railroads tended to be simple and readable. The emphasis was on functionality and readability, even under adverse conditions, so ornate and fancy dials with elegant lettering and scenic backgrounds were NOT typically used by real railroaders who preferred bold, black numerals on a white background.
Some dials were specially produced and patented for railroad service. The Montgomery Safety Dial was invented by Henry S. Montgomery, the General Watch and Clock Inspector from 1896 to 1923 for the Santa Fe Railway. The Montgomery Dial, sometimes called a "Monty Dial" by collectors, featured an outer track with individual minutes numbered from 1 to 60. The dial first appeared around 1904, and was used across the entire Santa Fe Railway system to help ensure the safety of Santa Fe crew members and passengers. Santa Fe used mercury-pendulum regulators at all crew change points across the system for crewmen to set their pocket watches, and the Montgomery Safety Dial helped to ensure accurate time readings. A "true" Montgomery dial has the "6" inside the seconds bit, but collectors commonly refer to any dial with the outer 1-60 markers as a Montgomery dial.
WADSWORTH WATCH CASE COMPANY HISTORY:
Born in Birmingham, England in 1845 and emigrating to America in 1857, Henry Wadsworth founded this company in 1889. H.A. Wadsworth & Co was located in Newport, Kentucky from 1889-1892 and then as the Wadsworth Watch Case Company of Newport until 1900 when they moved to Dayton, Kentucky until 1953. They earned a high reputation in the trade with their solid gold and gold-filled cases. They sold cases to the Hamilton, Elgin, Illinois, and Waltham watch manufacturers. In 1953 they became a division of the Elgin National Watch Company of Illinois.
COMPARABLES :
https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/86777430_illinois-sangamo-special-23j-16s-of-pocket-watch-ls (Sold in 2020 for $400)
https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/90692305_illinois-sangamo-special-23rj-18s-of-pocket-watch (Sold in 2020 for $375)
https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/75782266_illinois-gf-open-face-sangamo-special-pocket (Sold for $800 in 2020)
https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/73820100_illinois-open-face-pocket-watch (Sold in 2019 for $700)
https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/40605871_rare-illinois-railroad-pocket-watch-sangamo-4060106 (Sold five years ago in 2015, when such watches bought a higher price, it sold for $1500)
PRICING:
The case and movement are quite good and the watch loses some of its standing at the upper end of value for this particular model because of the cracks in the dial center and dark speckling oxidation. This brings the overall rating of this fine watch to average or slightly above when compared to others of this specific grade railroad watch. The pocket watch database, downloaded with the condition of your watch suggests a fair market value in the $800 range, which might be a tad high in today’s market. My estimate of fair market value in today’s demanding watch market fall into the range of $700-$800, with a retail price about twice that amount.
I hope this helps explain the watch and helps you to understand the importance of this watch in the history of the railroad. Hope you use this heirloom pocket watch and continue to enjoy it.
Thank you for choosing mearto.com for your appraisal.
My best,
David