Seth Thomas - Traveler - 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 - Traveler - A Travel Timepiece
Traveler
There is also a similar Seth Thomas product named the Traveler in a similar but slightly larger, 3½ inches high, glazed leather-covered metal block case with a nonadjustable leather strap.
It appears that the Traveler incorporated the Seth Thomas Model 4, key wound, and key set movement into its design since there is no visible crown and stem protruding from the case and no pin or other mechanism to facilitate setting as it is depicted in Seth Thomas Clocks and Movements by Tran Duy Ly. Further evidence that the Model 4 was used is the description of the movement as a “one-day lever”, and that the bezel appears to be different from the type used on the Companion possibly to facilitate frequent removal as would be necessary with a key set movement. The Traveler is depicted with a standard, not heavy, Arabic dial and standard spade, not railroad, hands, making it more difficult to see from a distance.
Tran Duy Ly chose to include the Companion and Traveler in the section of his book where he describes Seth Thomas carriage clocks instead of the section on watches where he describes the third Seth Thomas travel timepiece, the Tourist.