Latest finds! Bunn Special and Illinois addiction

[bamadadof3]

Finally bought my first Bunn Special. Not a rare one but it came with what I believe is the original #113 metal dial with silver color and Bunn Special model case. It also came with a nice leather carrying case that I can’t find much info on. I like the patina of the dial if you look at the 2 o’clock area you’ll see its dirty from the owner pulling the lever over and over to set the time. It’s missing the case bow which is going to be a pain to fix because I think it was a safety bow.

Also found a very rare 1 of 1000 total made Illinois 801 grade 21 jewel watches. Its’ not real fancy besides the gold plates screws but the dial was really nice on it and the case once I cleaned and polished it turned out fantastic. These pictures are before I cleaned it.

I am quickly deciding that I a really like Illinois movements for some reason. The 801 need a new mainspring and balance staff which I fixed and it is ticking and keeping great time so far. I need to find a gold regulator spring and screw and gold case screws that will fit. The case screws are smaller diameter than the normal case screws.

Sorry about the picture sizes I will do better next time!

What are you working on? Please share your love!

• This topic was modified 2 years ago by Tamas Richard.

[bamadadof3]

Here is the 801 face plus I’m playing with picture sizing.

• This reply was modified 2 years ago by Tamas Richard.

[bamadadof3]

And dial closeup and I figured out the right picture size!

• This reply was modified 2 years ago by Tamas Richard.

[bernie weishapl]

That is a good looking PW. Are you going to get the dial redid or leave it?

[chris mabbott]

Hey Glenn, nice haul buddy..

The Bunn is fine, and totally original from what I can see on the phone..
I’ve also have a Bunn with this type of dial, if I remember correctly the dial model is called The Butler. The center parts should be silvered with the outer register being either painted or paper.
I’ll mention this in just in case but do not attempt to clean this dial, leave it be as it is original to the watch.
If you intend to carry it, what I did was to change the metal dial to a porcelain type. Keep the original dial safely sealed to prevent further age damage..

I’m just wondering if your case had the safety bow? Did you run the serial number?

These bows are difficult to tighten because of their thickness, I usually heat them up a little first..

[bamadadof3]

@Bernie Weishapl wrote:

That is a good looking PW. Are you going to get the dial redid or leave it?

Bernie I am going to tear the watch down and do a good service to it and then see if I can find a nice white montgomery bunn special dial (my personal preference) and put this dial in storage as is. Like Chris said the dial won’t clean and I kinda like the dirty patina around the setting lever. It gives it character for some reason. I can just picture a railroad worker with this watch in the leather belt case pulling it out with his dirty hands and setting it to the satin clock as needed. I normally like to make things look like new but this one might be the exception. I’ll then clean and buff the case after I find out how to fix the bow. I’ve never messed with the safety bows so I’ve got to do some research and see if I can find a replacement bow. The case is a BunnSpecial model 14K gold filled white gold wads worth quality pat’s pending case serial # 7063221. I think the pat’s pending signals a safety bow case but I’m now 100% on that. My understanding on the dial is they are pretty rare but I’ve seen a few of them. I seem to remember reading the silver Bunn dials were a trial color to help see the dials better in the dark. Apparently it didn’t go over or sell as well plus I think some of the RR demanded the dial only be white so I wonder if that cause a problem? I did find a dial ad from that era that showed it sold for an extra $1. Not a bad deal for a metal dial.

I can’t find much info on the leather belt case. I noticed it had the # 16 stamped inside it and it had a makers mark but I can’t make out the letters.

Glenn

[bamadadof3]

@Chris Mabbott wrote:

Hey Glenn, nice haul buddy..

The Bunn is fine, and totally original from what I can see on the phone..
I’ve also have a Bunn with this type of dial, if I remember correctly the dial model is called The Butler. The center parts should be silvered with the outer register being either painted or paper.
I’ll mention this in just in case but do not attempt to clean this dial, leave it be as it is original to the watch.
If you intend to carry it, what I did was to change the metal dial to a porcelain type. Keep the original dial safely sealed to prevent further age damage..

I’m just wondering if your case had the safety bow? Did you run the serial number?

These bows are difficult to tighten because of their thickness, I usually heat them up a little first..

Chris read my post to Bernie about the safety bow. What do you think? Not familiar with running serial numbers on cases? Is this possible?

[chris mabbott]

Glen,

You can search the case database on the NAWCC forum, they have a fairly detailed listing of bunn marked cases.. You might find what you’re looking for there..

The dial, I wouldn’t say rare, nor uncommon, I’ve seen lots of these dials on various grades of watches, including bunns.
Sometimes they were used as an inexpensive replacement dial if the porcelain was cracked. I’m not saying this is the case here, just mentioning the possibility.

I would say that yes, these dials were used on bunn 16s models, I’ve seen others and I have one too. Whether or not they were allowed on all roads has a question mark. It seems that some lines allowed certain configurations (hunter types) While others strictly followed rules.
Now there is the possibility that these dials were used by conductors, bus drivers, trolley drivers etc where it was more flecible, but again, you’d have to scour the dusty volumes to find the info..

Keep in mind also that these movements were sold to the GP, so you could buy the movement, then choose your case, dial etc… So yet another possibility to add to the mix 🙄

Regardless, it’s a nice original piece that will prove to be a good time keeper and a joy to gaze upon Enjoy

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