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The Model 3
1888 to 1898
The Model 3 was the successor to the earlier Model 1 with an identical plate layout, though with improvements to the winding pinion, setting mechanism, and mainspring click. The gear train was upgraded to a quick rate of 18,000 BPH instead of 16,200, and the plates were available in nickel, which allowed for plenty of dazzling radial patterns. Since the Model 3 was lever-set some would be considered railroad grade, including the Railway Queen, with jewel counts ranging from 7 all the way up to 21 for its highest grade of all - the rare Henry Molineux.
Grade Assignment
All known grades of the Model 3 have been determined from existing catalog excerpts and period advertisements. Several grades may appear redundant, since a couple of them could be "upgraded" by simply swapping the basic single-sunk dial for a double-sunk. Since it's not possible to know if a dial is original to a given movement, the lower grades have been used in all the search returns.
The catalogs show a clear distinction between gilt and nickel plate finishes, with two-tone and flashed-gilt categorized as nickel.
* The 11-jewel nickel Grade 155 has been assigned.
The Jeweling
The factory seldom jeweled the center wheel on the pillar plate, resulting in a 16-jewel watch that appears to be fully jeweled. The company also produced 17-jewel variants, but without pulling the dial there is no way to visually tell the difference. None of the known advertisements list a 16-jewel Model 3, so it's not clear if there are any grades yet to be found or if it was intentionally misleading advertising. For ease of research the 16- and 17-jewel grades have been combined.
The Confusion
The Grade 170 was defined in every publication as a 15-jewel lever-set nickel Model 3, but if the word "Adjusted" is milled onto its plates that very same watch becomes a Grade 196. Add a center jewel and those two become Grades 190 and 179, respectively, making a total of four grade possibilities. In the middle serial number blocks those four grades alternated with each other at random on consecutive movements.
Adding to the confusion, the two standard 15-jewel adjusted grades - the gilt 101 and the nickel 196 - both had secondary grades. This simply meant a single-sunk or double-sunk dial, creating the Grade 96 or 201.
The Grade 506
The 16 and 17-jewel nickel Grade 506 is Adjusted to Temperature and Position, according to both the plate engravings and the period ads, while the Henry Molineux is simply Adjusted, technically making the 506 a higher grade at the same jewel count.
The Grade 406 is the gilt version of the 506 and was listed in several trade catalogs, but so far a single example has yet to be reported.
The Model 3 Contract Grades
Bismark
Henry Molineux
Railway Queen
Like its Model 2 counterpart, the Model 3 Bismark is also an 11-jewel variant on nickel plates, reported so far between SN 87601 and 87900. It's not known for whom it was made.
Submitted by Nigel H, Australia
Railway Queen
Henry Molineux
Railway Queen
Seth Thomas was one of the companies that complied with Webster Ball's new accuracy standards, making M3 movements under the Ball label using the name Railway Queen.
Henry Molineux
Henry Molineux
Henry Molineux
The Henry Molineux was the firm’s second-highest grade, named for a man born in New Hampshire in 1832 who was a personal friend of Seth E Thomas, Jr, the founder’s grandson.
The Damask Patterns
15-jewel gilt adjusted Grade 101
15-jewel nickel Grade 170
15-jewel nickel Grade 170
15-jewel nickel adjusted Grade 196
15-jewel nickel adjusted Grade 196
15-jewel nickel adjusted Grade 196
16/17-jewel gilt adjusted Grade 79
16/17-jewel nickel adjusted Grade 179
16/17-jewel nickel adjusted Grade 179
16/17-jewel nickel adjusted Grade 179
16/17-jewel nickel adjusted to temperature and position Grade 506
16/17-jewel nickel adjusted to temperature and position Grade 506
The Ball - Seth Thomas Railway Queen
Webb C Ball
Webster Clay Ball was given authority as the Chief Time Inspector in 1891 after the deadly Kipton, Ohio crash, tasked with enforcing strict requirements for railroad timepieces and overseeing thousands of miles of track. Seth Thomas was one of the American companies that complied with Webb Ball's new accuracy standards, making watches under the Ball label using the name Railway Queen, and the movement the company chose to use was the Model 3.
The Serial Numbers
There are three known Model 3 Railway Queens, although there are differences in dials, finishes and patterns. Both of the higher numbers have marked Ball/Cleveland dials and the patented Higginbotham hairspring stud also found on the Henry Molineux grade. No surrounding examples have been reported, so there may be more:
- 77831 - 17 jewels, Adjusted Temp and Position, nickel plates, Railway Queen dial
- 95509 - 17 jewels, Adjusted Temp and Position, two-tone plates, Ball/Cleveland dial
- 95515 - 17 jewels, Adjusted Temp and Position, two-tone plates, Ball/Cleveland dial
For The Plagiarists
Anyone wanting to regurgitate this information on the NAWCC message boards by passing it off as their own erudition should do their own research before "borrowing" someone else's work.
Henry Molineux
1832 - 1900
Henry Molineux was born in New Hampshire around 1832, managing the Pacific Coast interests of the Seth Thomas Clock Company for 30 years until 1883 as an a stockholder, an employer, and a buyer. He was a personal friend of Seth Thomas Jr and served the public trust for many years in California as county treasurer, clerk, and official recorder of Sierra County. In 1881 he was elected supervisor of the 5th ward, and was also president of four San Francisco Banks during his time in the west, dying in Boston in March of 1900 at the age of 68.
The company created a grade in his honor, which was the second-highest named grade that Seth Thomas produced, offered in the Model 3 in two jewel counts.
The Production Totals
Two hundred and fifty of the Model 3 Henry Molineux were produced in three separate blocks, with two blocks of a hundred each in mixed jewel counts beginning at SN 47201 and at SN 54901, followed by a run of fifty starting at SN 99351, also with mixed counts. All were lever-set and were apparently offered in two distinct patterns but with only one plate signature font. No two-tone examples have been reported.
The Model 3 version of the Henry Molineux was advertised with jewel counts of either 17 or 21. The center wheel was left un-jeweled on the lower version, with a pair of cap jewels on just the pallet fork. The 21-jewel variant has a standard fully-jeweled gear train with cap jewels on both the pallet fork and the escape wheel. All known adverts list the Molineux grade as Adjusted with no mention of any positions.
There is one known PL Model 3 that has an identical pattern, jeweling count, and hairspring stud as a standard Molineux grade:
- SN 70522, for Otto Fasoldt from Albany, New York.
Higginbotham's Patent
Charles Higginbotham, Seth Thomas's master watchmaker, invented a unique hairspring stud for the Henry Molineux grade, found on both Models 2 and 3.
Every other 18-size Seth Thomas model utilized a cylindrical hairspring stud, seated in a round hole and held in place by a set screw. This means the stud can be raised or lowered slightly, altering both the beat rate and the beat error.
Higginbotham's new patent addressed this problem by trapping the hairspring stud in place with a bracket (Fig. 3 & 4), which has an edge (I) milled into it to mate with a corresponding notch (J) in the stud (Fig. 5 & 6), preventing it from moving either vertically or rotationally.
For further information visit the Records page.
Period Ad Cuts
1889
1896
Seth Thomas Highlights
The rarest regular-production two-tone pattern of all, made in one block of seventy - and then never again.