All about Gruen

[Mr. Bieser]

Looking forward to it! Most of the dates on the known invoices are stamped on, correct?

This post has been on my mind so not wanting to distract from any of your valuable tangents but I have something I'm wondering about concerning this subject. I get it, you're shooting for later and I'm going in the other timeline direction!
Curios as to the date of these pages and the reference to 1895...
Noted John Cote states in his post the catalogue as "D. Gruen & Sons" but was curious what *your* best guess is at the date of publication. Thanks.
I too posted an ad somewhere the one with the 1895 Guarantee Certificate of 62208 and entitled "Gruen's Precision Watches".
Gruen's Precision Watches is the name of an earlier 1895 Gruen catalogue w/ sm small references mentioned you may find interesting like still in Columbus, Germany, of note an 18 size, etc.
Good work.

[Fred]

Looking forward to it! Most of the dates on the known invoices are stamped on, correct?

Correct. All I've seen seem to be stamped dates.

This post has been on my mind so not wanting to distract from any of your valuable tangents but I have something I'm wondering about concerning this subject. I get it, you're shooting for later and I'm going in the other timeline direction!
Curios as to the date of these pages and the reference to 1895...
Noted John Cote states in his post the catalogue as "D. Gruen & Sons" but was curious what *your* best guess is at the date of publication. Thanks.
I too posted an ad somewhere the one with the 1895 Guarantee Certificate of 62208 and entitled "Gruen's Precision Watches".
Gruen's Precision Watches is the name of an earlier 1895 Gruen catalogue w/ sm small references mentioned you may find interesting like still in Columbus, Germany, of note an 18 size, etc.
Good work.

Very much on topic--and appreciated! I have never seen it tied to a date in post, but I think I recall a mention of 1898 or 1899 for the one I linked pics. Of note there is also a 1900-1902 version floating around somewhere in digital scan. That 1895 original (?) version lines up with the new thin sized model introduction--and special cases by Queen City.

[Mr. Bieser]

Very interesting find.
Yes difficult without size but despite that I thought this one is worth sharing too.

"Maquina "Gruen", Gran Precision, Volante Cronometro, Extra Jewels"
66696.

https://gruen.watch/?product=66696-d-gr ... sion-extra

I've been trying to find a lead to help make sense of this one. But the closest I've found is 66166 engraved 1902
https://mb.nawcc.org/threads/rare-and-h ... ost-482544

In the linked database is also 66652, 66679, 66680, and 66686.


https://gruen.watch/?s=666

[Fred]

A solid proof of later retail offerings of Dresden movements. Related, I believe this is about the timeframe in which our 68,174 was finished/imported.

1911 S. Kind & Sons catalog, p29. Model 8202: 16 size, OF, "finest Gruen Precision mov"
-This particular "D. Gruen & Sons, Precision Watch" logo was never used except on Dresden movements.
-Pricing confirms it: $160 vs. other variants in same case design at $55-$90 (Gruen Swiss 16 Size movements, albeit in 14k).

1911 s kind p29 8202 pricing.JPG (33.06 KiB) Viewed 33 times

This unique descriptor "finest Gruen Precision mov" is used only one other place in the document--8201a. Although the 12 size variant of the 8201 case is not pictured, you can guess: it is the 12 size Dresden movement... still available in Hunter!

[Mr. Bieser]

Nothing new here per se but this clip from JCK 24/11/1894 is interesting and confirms the 18s then 16s development.

[Fred]

...I would guess, 68,174 will turn out to be a 12 size--bc the 12 size seems to have been last produced, with "10X" the last remnant discussed in later parts books. (Edit: this was incorrect--68174 is positively identified as a 16 size, making it cal 5 / 5X)...

Noting that I corrected the post above. We have positively id'd the watch as a 16 size, and based on the features it will the 1st Grade Hunter. This will make it Cal 5 from the catalog, presumably alternately known as 5X.

[Fred]

I’m sure this has been seen—but note Canada was supplied directly by mid-1898. This can explain different movement markings, not confirming to US requirements. Some of these may have been already cased in Germany—financially it would make sense, since us tariffs not applied. The full German movement signatures still leave me wondering if some of these were distributed in Europe through Assmann.