Just as yesterdays VIRTUAL POCKET WATCH MUSEUM DAY 78 post, Tonny shows
agains today a high quality Seeland three quarter plate movement based pocket
watch.
And in keeping with what I wrote yesterday, in an attempt to not show exactly
the same watch/movements, unless there is something really interesting about
the same watches, I will show a diferent calibre based pocket watch today.
So the day before and yesterday saw Adrian come in to the discussion, and
highligt difference between the different releases of a movement - which in
the new nubering system has seen certain movement being "re-labbeled" (if I
may call it that) - from being just another C.52 to a C.49 or another type
designation.
This was / is the case just yesterday, where Adrian is now picking up on my
"spot the difference" side by side images of the two movements and is already
sharing the knowledge as to what exactly constitutes a C.49 and how it
differs from one release to another.
In parallel with this, we have seen over the lat couple of days Mr. Thomas
Koenig not once but already twice come in an comment on two of Tonnys C.52
decorated timepieces, and has noted that in BOTH CASES the watches in Tonny's
collection, were originally sold by IWC to the Italian Railways, and later
repurposed (decorated) and sold of as a civilian jewelery watch.
The Watch
Todays watch I wish to share with yourselves, was not in exactly the condition
it was was when it left the manufactury, as the dial although original IWC
enamel dial, had been replaced, the rest of the watch and particularly the
watch case was still in it's original form showing the case back engraving
which indicates it was manufactured and produced by Schaffhausen especially
for the Italian Railways.
Clearly, the dial was not an original RM dial - more on that later, but the
case serial number and case RM number engraving were intact
And the archives listed the this watch as part of a 200 pieces order that was
shipped to the Italian Railways.
As you can see the numbering range was from RM 7012 through to RM 7211 for a
total of 200 pieces.
From the archive extract above, we see too that in the old numbering system
Schaffhausen refered to this movement as a Lep. Cal.52 19'ligne.
I guess I will need to wait until Adrian, Thomas or Ralgh (our three wise men)
to confirm of deny exactly which release of this calibre it is.
David Seyffer the non virtual Museum Curator gave me this historical photo
depicting how Schaffhausen would test all 200 watches at the same time, prior
to shipping an order.
This watch has subsequently been redialed with a period and RM correct dial.
I have some other RM watches in my collection, and will probably share more
detail on one of them in a later post.
I trust that Thomas Koenig will also jump in here, and give us the date on
which this watch was sold by Schaffhausen to the Italian Railways.
