Posted 12 years ago
billgasher
(1 item)
I found this watch in a field near an old well in Brook Park Ohio as a child in the early 1970s.
have done a little looking, but never found anything quite like it, True it is from the Hamilton Watch Co. (17 jewels) and, it is a Fahys case, but, under Fahys it has the twin serpants like a doctor's symbol. It also has the very odd name on the front that I really don't know what it is from.
It is engraved on the inside rear with C.F. Scharfenberg.
anyone know anything?
Your watch is a 16 size, grade 974 Hamilton from 1904. The case mark you're describing is found on most Fahys gold filled cases from that era. Millikan and Hickle were most likely jewelers in Athens Ohio around that time and they ordered the watch from Hamilton with their names put on the dial. When you have a watch like that it's called a "private label" watch. Looks like a very nice watch. Does it run?
I am afraid that it is missing the winder, so I don't know if it works, the movement is very clean looking though.
it is missing the hour hand as well. if i remember correctly this was the exact condition that I found it in other than my Mother probably cleaned it up a little.
Here's a reference to Millikan and Hickle from an Ohio state yearboor dated 1912:
http://www.e-yearbook.com/yearbooks/Ohio_University_Athena_Yearbook/1912/Page_335.html
Kevin, the next one's all yours...lol...
Thats pretty interesting, I was reading about Athens Ohio in the early 1900s it was a hotbed of military activity with some unsavory behavior.
Cant find anything about Mr. C.F. Scharfenberger though.
I would return it to his family if I could find them.