Seth Thomas - Tourist - Travel Timepieces
Shown above are all of the Seth Thomas travel timepieces that used a Seth Thomas pocket watch movement as their time keeping mechanism. On the top left you have the 1896 Companion that contained a Seth Thomas Model 6 movement, and below that we have two cuts of the Traveler that contained the key set Model 4 movement. In the center we have the 1906 Companion that contained a Seth Thomas Model 8 movement. On the top right we have the Tourist No. 16 that contained a 16-size Pendant Set Model 21, and below that we have the Tourist No. 12 that contained the 12-size Pendant Set Model 22.
The Model 6 and Model 8 movements contained in the Companion are the only Seth Thomas pocket watch movements that are pin set. A cut (woodcut engraving) of the Companion’s image is displayed, and all of its unique components, along with its uncasing procedure, are described in the 1904 Seth Thomas Watch Material Catalog. The same cut of the Companion’s image is accompanied by a description of its unique features in the 1913 Seth Thomas Watch Movements Illustrated Price List. The same cut of the Companion’s image is also used by author Tran Duy Ly in his two-volume book, Seth Thomas Clocks & Movements. Publicly available photographic documentation of the Companion and its component parts is extremely limited. Available period advertising related to the Companion only depicts a front exterior aspect of it. Likewise, comprehensive photographic documentation of the Seth Thomas Tourist, and Seth Thomas Traveler is essentially absent from the public domain. I am extremely grateful to be in a position to provide a more complete photographic documentation for two of these special, unique Seth Thomas timepieces, the Companion and the Tourist, to the horological community.
Seth Thomas - Tourist - A Travel Timepiece
Tourist
The Seth Thomas “Tourist” was a folding leather travel timepiece made in two overall versions, one containing a 12-size Seth Thomas Centennial movement and the other containing a 16-size Seth Thomas Centennial movement. Each was contained within a pocket-sized 2 1/2-inch by 3 1/4-inch leather case/stand. Sitting in a pouch within this case/stand, the 12-size Centennial movement was fitted with a traditional pocket watch dial and case. It peeked out from behind through a hole in the leather wall that positioned it in a somewhat vertical orientation. The 16-size movement was fitted with a specialized conversion dial and a case that would grasp the leather stand by screwing the bezel down upon the leather around the hole in the leather wall through which the male threads of the case protruded.
Serial Number 1306649 - 7 Jewels - Factory Named Grade Centennial - Tourist Travel Timepiece
This 1913 Seth Thomas 16-size open-face Model 21 pocket watch was manufactured with a nickel finished 3/4 plate, 7 jewels, and it is non-adjusted. The movement is stem wound and pendant set, with a Breguet hair spring, and plain/simple regulator. Its serial number is 1306649, and its grade is Seth Thomas named grade Centennial. The movement is signed “Seth Thomas Centennial Thomaston, Conn.”.
The movement presents with a special Tourist 16-size Seth Thomas Arabic conversion dial with a hash marks minute track and no marginals, fitted with Seth Thomas blued spade hands 16-size. This dial converts the appearance of the movement to look like an up-side-down open-face movement with the winding stem at the 6:00 o’clock position for use in the Seth Thomas Tourist travel timepiece. Dial feet are placed at approximately 5 minutes, 16 minutes, and 43 minutes; placing the pendant at 6:00 instead of 12:00.
The movement is cased in a 16-size Illinois Watch Case Company Nickel Silver (nickel) pocket watch case with a snap back cover and special screw bezel made specifically for the Seth Thomas Tourist 16 with a special stem to be mounted into a leather case; and special bezel to screw down over and onto the leather carrying case. The serial number is O64671.
Not only did this specimen have its leather case/stand intact; but it arrived with its original box with advertising printed on the lid. I was unable to mechanically remove most of the graffiti that had been placed on the lid; but it was possible through the magic of photo editing to scrub most of it off of the image to reveal what the lid looked like without the graffiti.
Tourist Travel Timepiece
EA 815 – Model 21 - Centennial – 16-size – Serial Number 1306186 – 7 jewels
It is easier to identify which 16-size Centennials were deployed within the ranks of leather-cased Tourist travel timepieces despite their being separated from their leather stand/case. The 16-size Centennials that were used in the Tourist travel timepiece had a conversion dial that placed the winding stem at 6:00 and there is no seconds bit on their dial. They also had a Nickel Silver case, manufactured by Illinois Watch Case Company, that had a snap back cover and a screw bezel. The bezel was slightly larger than the case body and its threads left a small gap in which it could gain a grip on the leather case that it overlapped. Other differences in the specialized watch cases were a squared pendant without any attachment points for a bow and the lack of a bow. No photographs of the 16-size Tourist travel timepiece were publicly available in its leather case/stand until July of 2025 when Seth Thomas Fan Space published them to this website.
The photos above show a Seth Thomas cut for the 16-size Centennial Model 21; the gap in the specialized case where the bezel screws down to grip the leather case/stand; the 16-size Tourist case/stand that allows access to the crown for the watch to be wound and/or set from the 6:00 position; the squared pendant on the specialized case with no attachment points on this pendant for a bow; the snap on back cover for the Tourist 16’s case made by Illinois Watch Case Company.
EA 822 – Model 22 - Centennial – 12-size – Serial Number 3280055 – 7 jewels
Aside from their being fitted with heavy railroad hands, it is not possible to know which 12-size Centennials were deployed within the ranks of the leather-cased Tourist travel timepieces unless they are still paired with the leather Tourist case/stand. Inside the leather case/stand, the 12-size Tourist movements were cased normally like any other 12-size Centennial pocket watch. No photographs of the 12-size Tourist travel timepiece are publicly available in its leather Tourist case/stand. The 12-size watch could readily be removed from the leather case and be used as a standard conventional pocket watch.