The Model 23*

Intricate Seth Thomas watch mechanism with visible gears and screws.

1913 Only

The Model 23 was the only known movement with a bridge design and was offered in four grades, including a 17-jewel Adjusted-3-Position with gold inlay on the plate engravings. It was apparently offered for the first time with the Model 22, and it's bizarre that the company would tool up to manufacture not one, but two 12-size movements when their sales were slumping toward the end of watch production.

* This is an assigned model number

Grade Lookup*

Click on the charts below for more information.

The watches logged in the Serial Number Table are all verified examples.

These charts are for public use and for personal research, not for the Pocket Watch Database to plagiarize.

Model 23 SN Table (pdf)

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Model 23 Run Chart (pdf)

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* Search returns are based on similar verified examples within a few serial numbers using the smallest accepted block of ten watches, which is how many ebauches (unfinished movements) a wooden factory tray could hold. Movements were occasionally pulled from the run for private labels and upgrades, so search returns are sometimes incorrect.

Grade Assignment

Four nickel pendant-set grades with three jewel counts were listed in the 1913 catalog, and all of them came with a micro-regulator. No two-tone examples, contract grades, or private labels have been reported.

Identify Yours

Fancy Dials

The factory offered this notice about dial upgrades, but no example has been reported with anything beyond the standard red/black Arabic dial.

Grade Totals

4,100

Just under 4,100 of the 12-size Model 23 were turned out in all four grades, making it the smallest (and shortest) production amount of any of the known models. Type in your grade designation from the Grade Lookup above for the number of runs and the approximate total produced.

Telling Them Apart

7-jewel

15-jewel

Grade 25

None of the gear train pivots are jeweled, the regulator has a gooseneck adjustment spring, and the jewel count is not marked.

15-jewel

Grade 26

The lower gear train is jeweled in pairs (red arrows), the regulator has a gooseneck spring, and the jewel count is marked.

17-jewel

17-jewel Adjusted

Grade 27

The center wheel is now jeweled (red arrow), the regulator has a gooseneck spring, and the jewel count is marked.

17-jewel Adjusted

Grade 28

The same as a Grade 27 but the pattern is different and the lower plate is marked Adjusted 3 Positions near the balance wheel.

Production Dates

1913 Only

The Model 23 apparently debuted in the 1913 Trade Catalog alongside their other 12-size watch, the Model 22. No prior publication has been found and it was not mentioned in the 1914 supplement, which listed only the three remaining Centennial grades.

Period Ad Cuts

1913

In the Centennial catalog the 21-jewel Maiden Lane was selling for $50, so the $25 price tag on the 17-jewel Adjusted-3-Position Grade 28 as a men's dress watch was considerable. These watches were available in "very thin special" cases.

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