Seth Thomas Private Label & Named Grade Pocket Watches
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Garden City/Liberty/Eagle is a private label in Seth Thomas 18-size Model 6 and Model 7.
Eagle/Garden City/Liberty
1896 Lapp & Flershem Catalog
On page 424 of the 1896 Lapp & Flershem wholesale catalog there is an advertisement for Garden City private label pocket watches manufactured by Seth Thomas for Lapp & Flershem. The Garden City movements’ available options are described for each of the three Item Numbers (No. 5, No. 6, and No. 7) that Lapp & Flershem are advertising.
Item No. 5 is a 6-size stem-wound hunting movement with 7 jewels. It is shown to have a long-stem rose engraved on the top plate.
Item No. 6 is an 18-size stem-wound open-face movement with 7 jewels. It is shown to have an eagle engraved on the top plate.
Item No. 7 is an 18-size stem-wound hunting movement with 7 jewels. It is shown to have an eagle engraved on the top plate.
The advertisement states that ““Garden City” Movements are Lever Set and fit all Regular Pendant or Lever Set Cases”.
Garden City is a private label in Seth Thomas 18-size Model 6 and Model 7, and 6-size hunting Model 15. Garden City was manufactured by Seth Thomas for Lapp & Flershem. One version of the Garden City movements bears the signature “Garden City” and the logo of Lapp & Flershem, an oval with the letters BHA within. “BHA” stands for “Busiest House in America”. The Garden City movement may have an unsigned fancy dial or it may have a “Garden City” signature dial. Other versions of the 18-size Garden City movements bear the engraving of an eagle. Other of the 6-size Garden City movements bear the engraving of a long-stem rose.
Some of the 6-size Garden City movements do not bear the Garden City signature or the engraved long-stem rose. They are signed “Seth Thomas Thomaston, Conn.” on the movement, and they might have a fancy dial with no signature, or they could have a “Garden City” signature dial.
Earle Watch Company
“Earle Watch Company” is a private label within Seth Thomas Model 2, Model 3, and Model 14. Some of the Earle Watch Company dials are signed with an EWC cluster monogram. Others are signed EARLE in all capital letters.
The Earle Watch Company private label pocket watches were manufactured by Seth Thomas for William G. Earle, a Philadelphia jeweler born in 1850, whose store was first located at 13 N. 9th Street and later at 1030 Market Street, from 1881 until his death in 1915. William G. Earle served as a Carrier for the U.S. Postal Service from 1871-1887, prior to becoming a jeweler.
The Earle Watch Company also contracted with Illinois Watch Company to produce its Earle Watch Company pocket watch in an 18-size Railroad Grade with 21 ruby jewels, nickel finish, and micrometric regulator, that was stem wound, lever set, and adjusted. It was Illinois Watch Company Model 6 with a full plate.
Earle Watch Company - Philadelphia, PA.
Among the five Earle private label pocket watches included in this collection, there are four different dial styles as described below:
Serial number 73278, in Model 3, presents with an 18-size "EARLE" signature Arabic dial with ring minute track and red 5-minute marginals.
Serial number 76834, in Model 2, presents with an 18-size "EARLE" private label Arabic dial with ring minute track and red 5-minute marginals.
Serial number 105133, in Model 14, presents with a 6-size "EARLE" private label Roman dial with a ring minute track and red five-minute marginals.
Serial number 505814, in Model 2, presents with an 18-size private label “EWC” Roman dial for Earle Watch Company with a ring minute track and no marginals.
Serial number 543742, in Model 2, presents with an 18-size "EARLE" private label Arabic dial with ring minute track and no marginals.
The postcards below show the area on Market Street between 10th & 11th Streets where Earle Jewelers was located. My best information indicates that they were located near the street clock on the left side of the street shown in the second photograph.
EA 814A – Edgemere – 18-size – Model 13 – Serial# EDGEMERE13A – 7 Jewels - Factory Named Grade Century
Edgemere is a private label in Seth Thomas 18-size Model 8, Model 9, Model 12, Model 13, and 6-size Model 16 and Model 17 manufactured for Sears, Roebuck & Company for sale in their retail catalog.
Edgemere
In the Sears, Roebuck & Company 1901 Fall Catalog No 111M the 6-size 11-Jewel Model 16 Edgemere pocket watch movement manufactured by Seth Thomas debuted. This was the beginning of the Century movements’ being phased out of the Sears, Roebuck & Company catalogs. The 11-Jewel Model 16 Edgemere has a unique appearance among the Seth Thomas Edgemere movements. It is the only one that bears the engraving of Sears, Roebuck & Co. on its top plate and the engraving font is different than the others, and as is frequently the case, quite different from the engraving on the cut displayed in the advertisements. It is a rarely seen version of the Seth Thomas Edgemere private label movements. The 17-jewel Model 17 Edgemere movement should also be recognized as the only 6-size Seth Thomas movement to have been fitted with more than 15 jewels. This movement also bears a unique finish pattern that sets it aside from all other 6-size movements.
A. Eichler is a private label, on dial only, in Seth Thomas 6-size Model 14 and Model 15.
A. Eichler New York
EA 819 – A. Eichler – 6-size – Model 15 – Serial# 134615– 7 Jewels - Grade 5
Empire State Watch Co. is a private label in Seth Thomas 18-size Model 6 and Model 7.
Empire State Watch Co.
Engine Special is a private label trading watch in Seth Thomas 18-size hunting Model 12.
There is frequently confusion and consternation among pocket watch enthusiasts, collectors, historians, and watchmakers around the murky identity of “Trading Watches.” In general, the term “Trading Watch” is applied to inexpensive 7-jewel movements that have their pivots covered with “fake jewels”, and have movement markings declaring jewel counts of 17, 19 or 23 jewels. They were manufactured in a different social era that is difficult to relate to in modern times. Because the specific Trading Watches manufactured by the Seth Thomas Watch Company are all Private Label watches, none of them are signed with the Seth Thomas name. As with other Seth Thomas Private Label pocket watches, identifying the manufacturer requires knowledge of the shapes and configurations of the top plates of the many models of Seth Thomas pocket watches. Use of the Ehrhardt American (EA) Numbered Drawings permits identification of any pocket watch manufactured in America between 1830 and 1990.
Engine Special
Gustave Fehrs is a private label in Seth Thomas 18-size Model 4 on the dial only.
Gustave Adolph Fehrs was an optometrist and jeweler in Manitowoc Wisconsin from the late 1800’s until 1935. His father Gustave Karl Fehrs owned and operated a jewelry store from 1855 until his death in 1898, at which time Gustave Adolph Fehrs continued on in his place. The photograph below shows Manitowoc Wisconsin in approximately the 1920’s.
The three newspaper clippings above are from The Manitowoc Pilot. The advertisement on the left appeared on Thursday July 10, 1890, on page 2. The advertisement in the center appeared on February 26, 1891, on page 2. The article on the right appeared on January 13, 1898, on page 3.
Gustave Fehrs
Seth Thomas Private Label & Named Grade Pocket Watches
~ Browse the collection of Seth Thomas private label and named grade pocket watches alphabetically ~
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