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Rare 14K Gold 23-Jewel Sangamo Special Railroad Pocket Watch CA1924

Estimated price for orientation: 6 550 $

Category: Modern
Class:











Description
Year of Manufacture: 1920-1929 Movement: Mechanical (Hand-winding)
Brand: Illinois Escapement Type: Lever
MPN: Does Not Apply Case Color: Yellow Gold
Material: Solid Gold Display: Analog
Closure: Open Face Serial Number: 4,558,613
Features: 12-Hour Dial, Arabic Numerals Model: Sangamo Special


Astonishingly Rare 14K 23-Jewel Sangamo Special Open Face 16-Size Railroad Man’s Pocket Watch
U.S./Ill.; Illinois; Man’s; Serial # 4,558,613; Circa: 1924
CASE: The 14K yellow-gold 16-size (45-49MM) No. 1,236,498 open face case is plain and signed “Sangamo Special.”
DIAL: This white porcelain double sunk dial features Arabic numerals, spade hands and is signed “Illinois.”
MOVT: The 23-jewel No. 4,558,613 nickel movement has a lever escapement, 6-positions, bridge-style layout and is signed.
C 3 (The case is in very good condition)
D 2 (The dial is in perfect condition)
M 2 (The movement is in perfect condition)_
R 10 (Rarity on a scale of #1 being very common to #10 being extremely rare)
Expert’s Opinion: We have only offered two of these in original 14K gold-hinged Sangamo cases – this being the second in over 50 years of business. An extremely rare and desirable timepiece - perfect in all aspects!
  AI-179-19
Stem-wind, Lever-Set Movements
Mandatory for all railroad watches after roughly 1908, this kind of pocket watch was set by opening the crystal and bezel and pulling out the setting-lever (most hunter cases have levers accessible without removing the crystal or bezel), which was generally found at either the 10 or 2 o'clock positions on open-faced watches, and at 5:00 on hunting cased watches. Once the lever was pulled out, the crown could be turned to set the time. The lever was then pushed back in and the crystal and bezel were closed over the dial again. This method of time setting on pocket watches was preferred by American and Canadian railroads, as lever setting watches make accidental time changes impossible. After 1908, lever setting was generally required for new watches entering service on American railroads.
Lever Escapement
An escapement is a device in mechanical watches and clocks that transfers energy to the timekeeping element (the "impulse action") and allows the number of its oscillations to be counted (the "locking action"). The impulse action transfers energy to the clock's timekeeping element (usually a pendulum or balance wheel) to replace the energy lost to friction during its cycle and keep the timekeeper oscillating. The escapement is driven by force from a coiled spring or a suspended weight, transmitted through the timepiece's gear train. Each swing of the pendulum or balance wheel releases a tooth of the escapement's escape wheel gear, allowing the clock's gear train to advance or "escape" by a fixed amount. This regular periodic advancement moves the clock's hands forward at a steady rate. At the same time the tooth gives the timekeeping element a push, before another tooth catches on the escapement's pallet, returning the escapement to its "locked" state. The sudden stopping of the escapement's tooth is what generates the characteristic "ticking" sound heard in operating mechanical clocks and watches.
Adjustment
Watch adjustment is the process of correcting those errors in the watch that cause variation in time keeping. These include temperature influences, variation in driving power and position of the watch with respect to mechanism such as pendant up or dial up.
Watches with better calibre movements will have been adjusted at the factory for a number of positions.  The usual array of positions include a subset of the following positions:
1. Dial up   2. Dial down  3. Bow up  4. Bow down (Not required by Railroad) 5. Bow left  6. Bow right
These positional adjustments are intended to insure that the watch is just as realiable and accurate regardless of the position in which it is stored or used. In addition to positional adjustments, the watch may also be adjusted for Temperature(heat/cold).  Temperature affects different elements in different ways.  Heat will cause some metals to expand faster than others, and cold may cause some metals to contract more than others.  A watch that is adjusted to temperatures will usually include some combination of metals that allow the watch to maintain its proper functionality within a larger range of temperatures than one that is not adjusted for temperature. Another type of adjustment is Isoc