chevron_left Vintage timepieces

VIRTUAL POCKET WATCH MUSEUM DAY 48, cal 28 silver

  • link
    Moderator
    8 May 2020, 5:17 p.m.
    link

    As some of you know, I am collecting pocketwatches, IWC only.

    Far from saying that my collection is a museum collection but I am proud to
    have found some nice and rare pieces over time.

    Some of the pocketwatches are common, easy to find on the market, sometimes in
    better condition than mine, but some I have are gems.

    So in these crazy times, as the museum in Schaffhausen is closed, why not open
    one here on the forum.

    As long as the museum is closed, I will post here daily a pocketwatch from my
    collection.

    I hope I don't run out of pieces before the virus is beaten. Fingers crossed
    for all of us.

    I will post them in a random order, with some comments, feel free to join.

    Keep safe all.

    DAY 48 : cal 28, silver

    When looking into the box of oldies, I found this silver cased cal 28 to
    present today.

    I still can remember the joy I had when I could buy it. I was already for a
    long time on the hunt for a cal 28 and when I finally saw one for sale, I
    grabbed it.

    I guess a feeling that others here on the forum experience too.

    Since then, I came acros some other nice cal 28, with gold cases that I was
    fortunate to add to my collection, one of these was shown on day 20, with a
    lot of info on the cal 28.

    You can read this here

    So today a silver case, with an inscription Mi Chronometre on.( half
    chronometer ).

    Dating a cal 28 is not easy, I guess this one is from the mid 1880's.

    The case is not the most beautiful or expensive case, but I like the details
    on the caliber, nice engravings, even under the balance.

    And with blue screws, who doesn;t like these ?

  • link
    Master
    8 May 2020, 5:17 p.m.
    link

    Seems like Tonny really wants me to dive down low, and get deep into "the box
    of oldies" as he calls them.

    Indeed, all things being equal Cal.28 is relativly old. However, since we have
    covered Cal. 28 already somewhat and I am sure that despite these pieces being
    fairly rare, that we will see still on this post watches coming up from the
    mountains of Colorado and the cold north of Scandinavia.

    So, with this in mind I will dig a bit deeper in the box of oldies and present
    today a watch to compliment Tonny, which is of an early generation.

    The Watch

    When this watch first turned up for sale in Vienna Austria, I was taken back
    by the pure clean lines of the case and dial.

    Cased in 18K gold, with some light decoration on the front bezel ring of the
    watch it is quiet elequent.

    The movement appears to be in one and the same condition and quality it was,
    on the day it left the manufactury in Schaffhausen. It sports blued steeled
    screws, as does Tonnys. At first, I indentified it as a Cal.28.

    But based on a movement identification chart I received from Adrian (see here
    below) - it appears to be an earlier Cal. 22

    What strikes me a lot on these watches is the fine work that went in to the
    hands, Look how sheer and thin those hands are on both Tonny's as well as my
    watch.

    The movement bears a serial number of around 61,100 pieces earlier than that
    of Tonny's C.28. So quiet some years prior.

  • link
    Master
    8 May 2020, 7:46 p.m.
    link

    Hi Tonny,

    This is the first watch with the engravement 'Mi Chronometre' that I see.

    Are you sure that it is not 'Demi Chronometre' ?

    The term half chronometer, as is seen in several IWC pocket watches, is a
    fantasy term.

    It does not mean much and it does not refer to an official chronometer
    standard. It was used by several watch brands in watches that fulfilled
    accuracy criteria set by the producer of the watch, but not by an
    observatorium or international standard. It was done for advertising purpose.

    Regards,

    Adrian,

    (alwaysiwc)

  • link
    Moderator
    8 May 2020, 8:17 p.m.
    link

    It says Mi Chronometre, I looked again at the case, no letters were in front
    of the Mi ( not even erased or polished out )

  • link
    Master
    8 May 2020, 8:57 p.m.
    link

    Mark,

    I classified the watch you show as a cal. 22. I did this after a
    classification posted on his website by Frierich Wagener, many years ago. I do
    know that the authors of the Jones book ( Alan Myers and Thomas Koenig) are
    working on a classification for watches produced by F.F. Seeland and L.
    Tschopp. So, it might well be that it is not a cal. '22' but we have to wait
    for their publication.

    Adrian,

    (alwaysiwc)