Pocket watch grades are something of an enigma. There are no industry-wide standards for determining the grade of a pocket watch based upon the quality of its collective components or upon its performance record. Each manufacturer grades its own watches based upon whatever criteria they choose to use. One might consider that plates and wheels made of a superior metal, a higher jewel count, a higher quality hairspring, a micrometric regulator, and more adjustments would result in a watch with a higher numbered grade. That type of logic does not apply to grades of similar watch movements made by different manufacturers, and it doesn’t always apply to similar movements made by any one individual manufacturer.

Compare the Seth Thomas 12-size Model 22 shown above on the left with its nickel finish, 7 jewels, a plain/simple regulator, non-adjusted, and fitted with a Breguet hairspring, Grade 326 to the Seth Thomas 12-size Bridge Model 23 shown above on the right with its nickel finish , 17 jewels, a micrometric regulator, adjusted to three positions, and fitted with a Breguet hairspring Grade 28. Kind of a head scratcher, but those issues are never the focus of my involvement with the hobby.  I’m fascinated by the diverse history of the named grades and private labels; so the ambiguities around nomenclature and numbered grades don’t bother me at all.