# Pocket Watches



## Guest (Jan 22, 2007)

Hi all. Started to collect pocket watches, here are three that I got from the watch fair in B'ham on Sunday. They are all fusee ones, one has the name Kay's but there are no maker's names on the others.




























They are all working very well and keep good time for their age.

Rabbit


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## pauluspaolo (Feb 24, 2003)

Cool - I could get into these. I've seen some nice chronograph ones on Ebay. Could the Kays one be something to do with the catalogue firm or that a dumb thing to say? Probably!!!

As mentioned in another thread I've got a J.W.Benson that works well given its age. I've also got a Nero Lemania split second military timer (that's close to a pocket watch in size at least) & that's got a beautiful movement (will try to find a piccie) - it's not much use for telling the time of the day though!

Congrats


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## rhaythorne (Jan 12, 2004)

OK, if we're going to get into pocket watches, I'm going to have to start asking some newbie questions:

Can anyone give me a good definition of the following terms please?

Fusee

Hunter

Half-hunter

I've a rough idea, but I'm not really sure.


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## MarkF (Jul 5, 2003)

I picked up some Omega pocket watches in Poland that had been adapted with fixed lugs for wrist wear. I did not know their value and was "turned over" by a (no longer) close associate.









Anyway, later I was able to identify them from a book I bought, the same book also has a nice "watch terminology" section.

*Fusee*

A Spiral grooved, truncated cone used in some watches to equalise the power of the mainspring.

*Hunter Case*

A pocket watch with a covered face that must be opened to view the watch dial.

Nowt for Half - Hunter, why would you want half a covered dial?


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## hotmog (Feb 4, 2006)

MarkF said:


> I picked up some Omega pocket watches in Poland that had been adapted with fixed lugs for wrist wear. I did not know their value and was "turned over" by a (no longer) close associate.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


*Definitions *

half-hunter

_noun_

1. A watch with a metal case in which a small circular opening or glass allows the time to be read.

Specially designed, presumably, for those who chew their nails and can't open the cover easily. But I agree, I wouldn't want a half-covered dial either.


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## Guest (Jan 23, 2007)

Another interesting thing I found out recently was that the 'bow' or the 'ring' was use in 1563 so the owner could wear it round his neck on a cord.Apparently there is a picture in Windsor castle of Lord Darnley wearing one.

Pocket watches do have a lot of history.

Rabbit


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## rhaythorne (Jan 12, 2004)

Thanks for the definitions, although "fusee" still troubles me a bit









Another term I've seen is "nail set" or maybe "nailset"? Does this mean you have to prise open the case with your nail?









Anyway, I've ordered a new CWC pocket watch today







A nice, traditional military style watch that will be reliable enough to carry around in a pocket... and the lack of radium paint means I wont end up with glow-in-the-dark balls







Although, thinking about it, glow-in-the-dark balls seem like a positive advantage to me!


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## Guest (Jan 23, 2007)

rhaythorne said:


> Thanks for the definitions, although "fusee" still troubles me a bit
> 
> 
> 
> ...


The fusee has a chain or cord hooked to it and the other end is wound round the main spring, as the main spring unwinds it also unwinds on the fusee thus thus making the gear train rotate.

Rabbit


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## Sparky (Nov 2, 2005)

Hi, I'm getting this Services pocketwatch hopefully in the next few days that I bought off the 'bay










Will post some decent pics when it comes through!

Regards

Mark


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## hotmog (Feb 4, 2006)

Sparky said:


> Hi, I'm getting this Services pocketwatch hopefully in the next few days that I bought off the 'bay
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Don't let Mach see that - he'll want it to go with his Despatch Rider!


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## MIKE (Feb 23, 2003)

Nice collection Rabbit 

You must have a lot of pockets in your jacket
















All you need is a 24hr pocket watch and then decide which collection to put it in









Mike


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## Sparky (Nov 2, 2005)

hotmog said:


> Sparky said:
> 
> 
> > Hi, I'm getting this Services pocketwatch hopefully in the next few days that I bought off the 'bay
> ...


Yeah it does look very similare doesn't it !









And no Mach this ones a keeper!

Regards

Mark


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## Boxbrownie (Aug 11, 2005)

rhaythorne said:


> Thanks for the definitions, although "fusee" still troubles me a bit
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I would guess.....because I have one ladies PW that needs a little button pushed in with your nail to adjust the hands for setting the time, that the term refers to this.

Best regards David


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## Tammy (Aug 14, 2008)

nice .

I have brass pocket watch. I want to post it when I get 50posts


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## pg tips (May 16, 2003)

Tammy said:


> nice .
> 
> I have brass pocket watch. I want to post it when I get 50posts


I very much doubt you membership will last long enough


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## Shangas (Jan 27, 2008)

potz said:


> I only got one, this Smiths hunter, t-bar fob and original box.
> 
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> 
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I don't know about the rest of you, but that looks like one cool watch!

What's the thing to the right of the crown? Is that a lid-release button, or a setting-pin?


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## Chascomm (Sep 9, 2005)

Shangas said:


> potz said:
> 
> 
> > I only got one, this Smiths hunter, t-bar fob and original box.
> ...


Based on the position of the catch, I'd say it is a lid-release button. The crown appears to be a push-down-to-set type, which suggests to me that this is a Welsh-built post-war Smiths with a calibre PY pin-lever. In which case this would have to be the flashest PY I've ever seen.


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## Shangas (Jan 27, 2008)

It looks like a very nice watch. Were they considered good quality?


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## Chascomm (Sep 9, 2005)

potz said:


> Yes. It is indeed a lid-release button.
> 
> Thanks for the info on the movement. Any idea what the caliber denomination is?


The calibre is PY. Made by the Anglo-Celtic watch company, Ystradgynlais, from 1948 until about 1980 for both Smiths and British Ingersoll.

Previously it was known as the Ingersoll Crown, made in London from 1905 to 1929. This was of course a British copy of the first stem-wind version of the legendary Ingersoll Yankee 'Dollar Watch'. This design continued to be made in the US right up until Ingersoll became Timex.

It is a simple 3/4 plate 4-wheel, no-jewel movement with pin-lever escapement. Also produced with indirectly-driven centre seconds hand.

Meanwhile in the People's Republic... the PY was copied by the Shanghai Diamond Watch Factory in 1958 and produced until 1970, when they handed the tools over to the Yangzhou watch factory who made it for a few more years. I think it was also made by the Changzhou watch factory (also in Jiangsu Province). With brand names like Red Flag and The East Is Red, not surprisingly these watches were never available for export.


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## Julian Latham (Jul 25, 2005)

Nice watches. Any chance of inner case and movement shots? The forum proved a very effective source of information on the two fusees I have been gifted - I now know their age, more of their likely origins and a whole heap more about hallmarks.

Julian L


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## Dave G (Oct 17, 2008)

rhaythorne said:


> OK, if we're going to get into pocket watches, I'm going to have to start asking some newbie questions:
> 
> Can anyone give me a good definition of the following terms please?
> 
> ...


A Fusee is a chain driven watch..(looks like a miniture bycycle chain)..

A hunter is a watch with a cover over the dial...With a button to release the cover...

A half hunter is also a cover over the dial...But the cover has a small glass inserted into the cover....This reduces the size of how much dial that you can see...You can read the time without lifting the cover.......


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## ValvesRule (May 20, 2009)

Fusee (accent over first e).

The main part of the fusee mechanism is the cone, which is a pulley carrying a spiral groove, and which contains the main rachet (and sometimes maintaining power). The base of the cone - where the diameter is largest - is connected to the mainspring barrel by a fine chain. Its purpose is to automatically control the torque available to drive the watch.

As you wind the watch (or clock), you turn the cone, and the chain is drawn off the barrel, winding up the spring. As the cone becomes full - as the chain reaches the narrow top - it triggers a simple mechanism (stop-work) which stops you winding.

When the spring is fully wound, and the watch running, it is pulling through the chain on the narrow part of the cone. This is narrower than the barrel, so the power is "geared up", and the spring unwinds slowly, while the train runs at the correct speed.

As the spring unwinds, its torque falls. The chain is drawn off regions of the cone progressively (sp?) greater and greater in diameter, reducing the gear ratio.

The torque at the great wheel _would_ rise because of this, but the torque at the spring is falling, so in fact the torque at the great wheel is kept constant.

The shape of the cone is carefully made so that the gear ratio changes at the same rate as the spring torque changes.

The spring should never be completely unwound, even when the watch is stopped. This is to keep the chain in tension, and a second rachet (called the set up, usually underneath the dial) is provided to wind up the spring a little way when the watch can run no further.


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## ValvesRule (May 20, 2009)

> Like this "fusÃ©e"?


Correct.

How did you do that? Paste from Word (or equiv.)?


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## ValvesRule (May 20, 2009)

ValvesRule said:


> ...Paste from Word *(or equiv.)*?


The equivalent being whatever word processor you use on an Apple Macintosh *_cough_light-green-raincoat_cough_*.


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## ValvesRule (May 20, 2009)

> Don't Windoze machines have that?


No. I.B.M. keyboards don't. No A.S.C.I.I. codes beyond 255(?). Just plain characters. No keys for accents.

Note that Windows isn't the machine, it's just the O.S. The machine is I.B.M.

Pasting from word: fusÃ©e

But there is this key here...[/world]


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