Not so for Gruen, being the "orphan child" without a birth certificate because of a rather complicated method of serializing their movements, the records for which have been long lost, and most likely destroyed.Ĭuriously, the process for dating the earliest Gruen wristwatches - from about 1915 to 1935 or so - is probably the easiest because of the limited number of movements that Gruen had available, and the resulting relatively small number of specific models.
GRUEN POCKET WATCH SERIAL NUMBER LOOKUP SERIAL NUMBER
These and other brands have volumes of material and definitive movement serial number listings that allow for precise dating down to the year, and in some instances even the MONTH, in which a given specimen was manufactured. There is precious little information "out there," unlike many other popular brands such Hamilton, Rolex, Omega, Elgin and others.
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If you've collected Gruen watches for any length of time, you know how difficult it is determine - at least with any degree of accuracy - just when a specific model of Gruen was made. Paul Schliessser has an excellent website the provides a history of Dietrich Gruen and the Gruen Watch Co., entitled Gruen: The Art and Mystery of Watchmaking 1874 – 1958.Breakthrough Research Smooths Rough Road for Gruen Wristwatch Collectors Private label watches were contracted for by a large range of companies, from Sears, Roebuck down to the smaller jewelers in the little towns. Some watch manufacturers were more liberal. Special dials were said to cost 25 or 50 cents each. I don't have any exact references for the costs, but I've heard (read?) that, for some companies, if five or more watches were ordered, there was no charge for marking the movements. Just about all the watch companies, including the Swiss firms, would mark both the watch movements and/or the dials in just about any manner for any customer who wished to pay for the service. The Atlas watch sounds like a 'private label,' or 'contract,' watch. To view, go to the Elgin Watch Collectors Site Home Page at, then copy and paste the address in your browser's address bar and click on 'Go'. scans/non_elgin_articles/m_1908_swiss_fake_warning.html A 1908 article, describing one such watch may be seen at: On some, their jewels seem to be larger than on most American watches and they may not all be functional. These watches were imported from the last quarter of the nineteenth century through the end of the American pocket watch era in the 1960’s.
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This too, is in a distinctive (red) lettering style. Many “Swiss Fakes” made to resemble 16-size, American railroad standard watches also have "21 Jewels" on the dial, in an arc over the seconds bit. They frequently have a distinctive lettering style on their plates.
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They are marked with names similar to those of American watches, or with names that sound as though they should be an American watch.
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The North Shore Railroad watch, especially since it doesn't seem to have a serial number, appears to be what is referred to as a “ Swiss Fake.” This is a term used to describe inexpensive watches made to resemble medium-to-high grade American watches.