Lot 13

IWC / Intern. Watch Co., New York

An extremely rare and early Schaffhausen pocket watch with key winding in its original American 18 K gold case - calibre Jones, pattern B / Greenleaf Romney, produced for the North American market

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Many of the Jones calibres finished after 1872 carried the names Greenleaf or Craig, instead of the "International Watch Company" signature. The signatures Jones chose were inspired by his own name, family background and the early history of the United States. He chose the name of his older brother "C. Greenleaf", his mother’s maiden name "Craig", his place of birth "Romney" as well as names of relatives such as Bradley and Henry Burns. Some say that these persons helped Jones with money to start his business but there is no proof of that.
Aside from their distinctive technical features and names, the watches came with some rather unique attributes, such as what we call today the "F.A. Jones arrow" – an elongated index for fine adjustment. Other than the Swiss watches at the time, movements are not fitted with bridges but with ¾ plates. This construction method was commonly used in the U.S. to lend the pocket watches additional stability and facilitate the production of smaller parts in large batches. The watches differ in type (Lepine or hunter) and winding system (crown or key), number of jewels, balance and escapement elements, wolf-tooth wheel variations and the elaborate finishing of plates and bridges. Today these many variations are referred to as "patterns" and vary in quality and execution. The movements were labelled with the letters B, C, D, E, H, R and S, with "patterns" H and E representing the highest quality levels.