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The Model 14
1890 to 1910
The Model 14 was Seth Thomas's first 6-size ladies watch, introduced to the public around 1890, just five years after pocket watch production began. It was the company's only known design with a male winding stem, which was dropped halfway through the first production run. The M14 was made with a choice of four jewel counts on plate finishes of either gilt or nickel in a lever-set hunter configuration, so open-face dials had no seconds bit. The serial number runs of the Model 14 alternated with those of the Model 15, and the factory appears to have had both the Models 14 and 15 in production at the same time, though it's not clear why since both were 6-size hunter movements.
Grade Assignment
There were three lever-set hunter grades listed in all the known catalogs. The Grade 119 was available in both adjusted and unadjusted variants, and around 1900 the jewel count was raised from 15 to 16.
* The Grades 22, 146, and 125 have all been assigned.
The Models 14 to 19 Run Chart
The serial number runs for the various models alternated with each other up to SN 1000000. Factory records past this point have not been found, so it's not clear which model was being used or if it was more than one. For ease of research the Model 18 is listed on the chart for these runs, since it was the latest of the models.
The Model 14 Patterns
7-jewel gilt unadjusted Grade 46
7-jewel nickel unadjusted Grade 146*
11-jewel nickel unadjusted Grade 122
15-jewel nickel unadjusted Grade 119
15-jewel nickel adjusted Grade 125*
16-jewel nickel unadjusted Grade 119
The Jeweling Discrepancy
The only visual difference other than pattern between the nickel grades was that the 11-jewel Grade 122 had press-fit jewels on the upper plate, whereas the 15 and 16-jewel variants of the Grade 119 had screw-set jewel settings. A recently logged example with screw-set jewel settings clearly has bushings on the pillar plate, for a count of only eleven.
Screw-down settings on a Model 14 were supposed to have meant fifteen jewels, and the factory certainly advertised them as such, so the above example calls into question whether any of them did indeed have a count of fifteen or those with a center jewel really had sixteen.
The Lever Brothers Watches
The British manufacturer Lever Brothers ordered hundreds of private-label Model 14s from Seth Thomas. They were all 7-jewel gilt Grade 46s with matching dials in gold demi-hunter cases, which have a small crystal in the front cover to tell the time without having to open it.
A huge company like Lever Brothers had no reason to retail low-grade watches, and since their pride in their employees was well known it's likely that these were presentation pieces.
Period Ad Cuts
1895
The front cover of the factory trade sheet showing the available models at that time, including the Model 14. Very few ad cuts show the earlier Model 14 instead of the later Models 15 to 19.
1909
Factory trade ad.
Seth Thomas Highlights
The rarest regular-production two-tone pattern of all, made in one block of seventy - and then never again.