Can't seem to find any info on this pocket watch marked New Era - serial number 7545885 - white metal case - running fine. My NEWERA pocket watch has a serial number 0647 on the inside of the case, says Philadelphia Watch Case Co. Silverode, with a crown logo. Trying to date NEW ERA Pocket Watch - any info helpful. The Philadelphia Watch Case Co. Did merge with Keystone in 1904. However, it is likely that the Philadelphia brand continued to be used after the merger. The Philadelphia cases I have seen had serial numbers. This will tell you about all watches in the ranges that begin with the serial number 'H71'. Serial Number: 12???321 s21 This will tell you about all watches that have serial numbers starting with '12', followed by any three numbers and ending in '321'. Case Manufacturer: Unmarked but most likely Philadelphia Watch Case Co. Because the case is marked “Paramount Guaranteed,” a style made by Philadelphia. Stamp: Paramount Guaranteed Case Serial: 3097260. Dec 19, 2009  I think the watch is older than 1925. Philadelphia Watch Case Co was based in Riverside NJ and merged with the Keystone Case Co in 1904. After this the cases continued to be produced with the old trade names, such as the Perfection.

• Philadelphia Watch Case Co
• Watch Case Serial Number Lookup
• Pocket Watch Serial Number Lookup

Philadelphia Watch Case Co

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Accuracy of the Estimates of When Watches Were Made
The Better Way to Determine the Date
Serial Number Data Table

How to Open a Watch Case

While opening a watch isn't rocket science, a watch can be damaged if you try to open it incorrectly. Never use a screwdriver to try to open a case. If you really aren't sure what to do, take it to one of your local jewelers and ask them to show you how to open it. While it is open, make sure you record everything written on the movement of the watch and the watch case. These details can sometimes be important.

A good description of how to open a pocket watch case and background information can be found here, thanks to the work of Kent Singer. Opening wrist watch cases, especially ones made after around 1950, some times requires special tools. Earlier wrist watches are often similar to pocket watches.

Why the Movement and Case Serial Numbers Are Unrelated

In addition, watch cases tended to wear out much quicker than the watch movements. So, the owner would sometimes go through two or three cases over the life time of the watch. Samsung smart view 2.0 download. Obviously, these later cases can't be related to the movement serial number.

Sql anywhere download. Even after the 1920's, when watch companies started selling cased watches, the watch companies still bought the watch cases from outside sources and the serial numbers were still unrelated.

Are Case Serial Numbers Useful For Anything?

For the most part, case serial numbers only server to confuse people about what kind of watch they have. To the best of my knowledge, there are no records from any case manufactures that can make these case serial numbers useful. There are a few minor things you can use case serial numbers for:

1. The case serial number is printed on several parts of the watch case. You can usually tell if you have a complete watch case by seeing if these serial numbers match.

   Sometimes, the watch case companies would mark the bezels with the last few digits of the case number using Roman numerals. Usually the Roman numerals are scratched in by hand. For example, a case with a serial number of 153069 that has a screw on bezel might be marked 'X VI VIIII'. This code is kind of strange since each digit is written as one block of Roman numbers, the 'X' is for zero, not ten, and the 9 might not be written as 'IX'.

2. For Elgin watches, case serial numbers on solid gold watches will usually be only 10% or less of the serial number on the movement. So, if someone is selling a watch as solid gold, and it has a movement serial number of, say, 3,870,123 and it has a case serial number of 1,073,678, a red flag should go up in your mind and you should be even more cautious about the claim. The reverse, however, isn't true, a small serial numbers doesn't mean it is solid gold.
3. Case serial numbers, if they are recorded, can help if the watch is ever stolen. Both the movement and case serial numbers should be written down, since the movement and the case can be easily separated.

All of these are rules of thumb, not absolutes, there are many exceptions, especially for rule 2. Again, for the most part, case serial numbers just serve to confuse people.

What About Numbers Scratched in the Case? 'Jeweler Marks'

There are often small numbers called 'jeweler marks' scratched on the inside of the case.

When a watch was brought in for repair or cleaning, the watchmaker would often, but not always, scratch some kind of code into the back of the case so that can tell if they have repaired a the watch before. Sometimes these scratches would be some form of date code, or maybe just the initials of the watch maker, often just an invoice or repair number. There was no standard across the industry and individual watchmakers may change codes over the years.

Accuracy of the Estimates of When Watches Were Made

The table below with the serial numbers and years has be compiled from many sources and I believe it to be reasonably accurate, However, no table like this can be completely accurate because Elgin didn't produce watches in sequential order. It was very common for groups of watches to be set aside and finished months, years, or sometimes as much as a decade later. After the watch was finished, it might sit in a wholesaler's warehouse or a jewelry shop for months or years.

About the best you can say that the watch was probably not produced or sold as 'new' before the date listed. High volume watches will tend to be closer to the date listed, while expensive, high quality watches will tend to be the ones that have misleading dates. New models of watches may be released before or after these general dates.

Finally, I can find no definitive source of official dates, and there seems to be some disagreement between the various sources that I've found. This is especially true for the earlier years. The raw sources that I created this list from can be found here. (Actually, it looks like I mostly used the first list..)

The Better Way to Determine the Date

I recommend you use the Elgin Online Database to learn approximately what year your watch was made. It is quicker and less error prone.

This page is really only useful as background information on how the Online Database determines the dates.

Serial Number Data Table

Elgin originally started out with just a number, but in the late 1930s they started to use a letter prefix on some of their serial numbers. Even later in the late 1950s, Elgin phased out the use of serial numbers.

If your watch has a letter prefix, you must first replace that letter with the two digit 'millions' value from the following table. For example, H632161 would be converted into 47,632,161 and N7193 would be converted into 48,007,193.

Serial Number Letter Prefix to Millions Digits

Letter	X	C, E, T or Y	L	U	J	V	H	N	F	S	R	P	K	I
Millions Digits	38 or 39	42	43	44	45	46	47	48	49	50	51	52	53	54

Now, find the first serial number that is larger than your watches, and that will be the year that it was produced in.

31,0001867 71,0001868 101,0001869 126,0001870 152,0001871 176,0001872 210,0001873 310,0001874 410,0001875 510,0001876 552,0001877 601,0001878 701,0001879 801,0001880 1,000,0001881 1,440,0001882 1,650,0001883 1,850,0001884 2,000,0001885 2,550,0001886 3,000,0001887 3,550,0001888 4,000,0001889 4,400,0001890 4,890,0001891 5,000,0001892 5,500,0001893 6,000,0001894 6,550,0001895 7,000,0001896 7,550,0001897 8,100,0001898 9,100,0001899 9,350,0001900 9,755,000190110,100,000190211,000,000190312,100,000190412,500,000190513,100,000190613,550,000190714,100,000190815,100,000190916,000,000191017,000,000191117,550,000191218,000,000191318,500,000191419,000,000191520,000,000191621,000,000191722,000,000191823,000,000191924,000,000192025,000,000192126,000,000192227,000,000192328,000,000192429,000,000192530,000,000192632,000,000192733,000,000192833,300,000192933,500,000193033,700,000193134,000,000193235,000,000193335,500,000193436,200,000193537,000,000193637,900,000193738,200,000193839,100,000193940,200,000194041,100,000194142,200,000194242,600,000194343,200,000194444,000,000194545,000,000194646,000,000194747,000,000194848,000,000194950,000,000195052,000,000195153,300,000195254,000,000195354,500,000195455,000,0001955

While I'm not an expert, I believe the information on this page is correct. Please send suggestions and corrections to the webmaster.
This web site runs on 100% Open Source Software. This web page was last changed on 10/04/2002 at 00:41:29.

Main PageSPF email anti-forgeryElgin Watch CompanyNTP scriptsXStarBidwatcher

serial number	The serial number, if given, must be the first option on the line. The special character '?' can be used as wild cards to match any digit. The character '*' can be used to match any number of digits. You can also use '[123]' to match any of the digits 1, 2 or 3. This kind of thing can be real handy when you are looking at a blurry picture on a web site and can only make out some of the digits, and you aren't sure if one of the digits is a 3, or an 8.
grade	Will cause serial number ranges not to belisted. Just the grade information will be displayed. When you are using wild cards in the serial numbers orjust using the other selection options, this option will make theoutput much shorter.
n=	This limits the search to watches with a given name. All 'names' are two or three letter abbreviations, or the special names of '-' or '?'. Valid names are: ADV, AGE, AVR, CHF, HZC, DEX, FT, FGO, FAR, FRY, FR, GB, LDY, LDR, LAF, LED, LE, OGD, OVR, BWR, RYR, TAY, VER, GMW, STD, NWC, INT, CAL, SUN, ATL, ACM, SOL, 149, 150, 181, 270, 274, 280, 333, 348, 349, HUL, DLX, STR, S17, LES, TRN, ELT See the Elgin Names fora longer explanation of these short codes
r=	This limits the search to watches with a given regulator type. Valid regulator types are: f, e, r, o, j, h, d See theWatch Regulatorswebpage for a longer explanation of these short codes
b	This limits the search to watches that have bridge plate movements.
nb	This limits the search to watches that are 'non-bridge' movements. That is, full plate or 3/4 plate layouts.
hc	This limits the search to watches with hunter case movements.
of	This limits the search to watches with open face movements.
cvt	This limits the search to watches with convertible movements.
ss	This limits the search to watches with a sweep second hand.
ns	This limits the search to watches with no second hand.
g	This limits the search to watches with gilded finishes.
n	This limits the search to watches with nickel damaskeening.
t	This limits the search to watches with two-tone damaskeening.
f	This limits the search to watches with flat (matte) nickel finishes.
kw	This limits the search to watches with key wind/key set movements.
l	This limits the search to watches with lever set movements.
p	This limits the search to watches with pendant set movements.
aw	This limits the search to watches with auto-wind movements.
hs	This limits the search to watches with hack setting movements.
gb	This limits the search to watches with going barrels.
mb	This limits the search to watches with motor barrels.
jb	This limits the search to watches with jeweled motor barrels.
See theMainspring Barrelsweb page for a longer explanation of these short codes.
In the following options, the '=' can be replaced with '<', '<='>', or '>='.
g=	This limits the search to watches of a given grade number.
c=	This limits the search to watches in a given class.
s=	This limits the search to watches of a given size.
j=	This limits the search to watches with a given number of jewels.
a=	This limits the search to watches with a given number of adjustments.
m=	This limits the search to a given model within a size.
t=	This limits the search to watches with a given total production count.
u=	This limits the search to watches with a given run size.
y=	This limits the search to watches in a given year.
l=	Sets a limit on the total number of lines of output to create.
v=	This control how verbose the output should be. The larger the number, the more information will be listed. Use v=9 to show all details.

Examples:

Serial Number: 12345
This will tell you about serial number 12345.

Serial Number: H71????
This will tell you about all watches in the ranges that beginwith the serial number 'H71'.

Serial Number: 12???321 s<=12 j>21
This will tell you about all watches that have serial numbersstarting with '12', followed by any three numbers and endingin '321'. The watches must also be 12s or smaller and have morethan 21 jewels. This happens to show two different watches, onea grade 194 and one a grade 190

Serial Number: 1[389]1?2??? n=bwr j=19 s=18
This will end up finding a single run of grade 240 BWRaymonds.

Watch Case Serial Number Lookup

Pocket Watch Serial Number Lookup

While I'm not an expert, I believe the information on this page is correct. Please send suggestions and corrections to the webmaster.
This web site runs on 100% Open Source Software. This web page was last changed on 10/04/2002 at 00:53:11.