- New York Standard Pocket Watch Serial Numbers
- New Era Watch Serial Numbers
- New York Standard Pocket Watch
New York Standard Pocket Watch. The exact age of this New York Standard pocket watch is unknown, however, what we do know is that the company itself was in operation from 1885 until 1929. 999 Ball Hamilton Railroad Standard 21 Jewels Serial Number B653371 Rare Watch. Antique 1895-1900 New York Standard Pocket Watch For Repair Or Parts. This New York Standard Hunter Case pocket watch is in working order. 141645, 17 size. Selling price: $345 not including buyer's premium (Morphy Auctions - 1/11).
Always input the serial number from the pocket watch movement (the 'guts' of the watch). Never use the serial number from the case or any other part. If the serial number includes a letter, enter it along with the number when using the lookup feature. New York Standard also produced several models of lower-quality pocket watches which were sold under the 'Crown' and 'New Era' names. The New Era models were a step above the 'Dollar Watches' of the time, but were still very inexpensively made mass-produced 7-jewel movements. Checking pages 156-7 of American Pocket Watches Beginning to End.1830-1980, Identification and Price Guide, Roy Ehrhardt & William Meggers, Jr., Heart of America Press, Kansas City, MO, 1987 (commonly referred to as “The Gold Book” (and looking at your picture), New York Standard movement serial number 816441 can be seen to be an 18-size. Vintage New York Standard USA Pocket Watch. The item(s) offered for auction below arrive from: Store Closures, Insurance Claims, Misguided Cargo, Post Office Undeliverable Packages or Unclaimed Merchandise.
Instructions for using our serial number look-up tables
This page contains INSTRUCTIONS for using the serial number look-up tables that are found on many of our watch company history pages. The example below uses information from the American Waltham Watch Company, but that is just an example. You should consult the serial number table for the specific brand of watch movement you are trying to date by selecting a company from the menu on the left.
Not all vintage watches can be dated using the serial number. Some American watch brands did not use a consistent series of serial numbers, but most of the big manufacturers did. Most vintage Swiss pocket watches did NOT have serial numbers and can't be dated by this method.
Can't find YOUR exact serial number in our lookup tables?
Many watch companies made hundreds of thousands of watches, and some companies made millions of watches! It would be impractical to list the individual serial numbers of EVERY watch made... that would make some really long pages! Our serial number tables list RANGES of serial numbers. So to determine when your watch was manufactured, you will need to find where your serial number fits within the range of numbers.
Serial number look-up example:
Let's say you have a Waltham watch with serial number 21,607,210 as shown in the photo below. Note that we're using the serial number from the watch movement, not from the watch case. Looking at the table of Waltham serial numbers (see example below), you can see that number 20,900,000 was made in 1917 and 21,800,000 was made in 1918 (marked in red in the table below). Since your serial number falls between those two numbers, you know that your watch was made in 1917 or 1918.
Not sure which serial number to use?
You must use the serial number from the MOVEMENT of the watch... the working part with the wheels and gears... not the serial number from the watch case. Cases and watches were often made by different companies and each usually has its own serial number. You usually have to take the back off the watch case to see the movement serial number which may appear anywhere on the watch movement.
Use the movement serial number. Do NOT use the case serial number!
This is an example only. Your movement serial number may not be in exactly the same location as the one in the photo, but you are looking for the serial number that is on the watch mechanism itself... not the serial number on the external case.
| Year | S/N |
|---|---|
| 1852 | 50 |
| 1853 | 400 |
| 1854 | 1000 |
| 1855 | 2500 |
| 1856 | 4000 |
| 1857 | 6000 |
| 1858 | 10,000 |
| 1859 | 15,000 |
| 1860 | 20,000 |
| 1861 | 30,000 |
| 1862 | 45,000 |
| 1863 | 65,000 |
| 1864 | 110,000 |
| 1865 | 180,000 |
| 1866 | 260,000 |
| 1867 | 330,000 |
| 1868 | 410,000 |
| 1869 | 460,000 |
| 1870 | 500,000 |
| 1871 | 540,000 |
| 1872 | 590,000 |
| 1873 | 680,000 |
| 1874 | 730,000 |
| 1875 | 810,000 |
| 1876 | 910,000 |
| 1877 | 1,000,000 |
| 1878 | 1,150,000 |
| 1879 | 1,350,000 |
| 1880 | 1,500,000 |
| 1881 | 1,670,000 |
| 1882 | 1,835,000 |
| 1883 | 2,000,000 |
| 1884 | 2,350,000 |
| 1885 | 2,650,000 |
| 1886 | 3,000,000 |
| 1887 | 3,400,000 |
| Year | S/N |
|---|---|
| 1888 | 3,800,000 |
| 1889 | 4,200,000 |
| 1890 | 4,700,000 |
| 1891 | 5,200,000 |
| 1892 | 5,800,000 |
| 1893 | 6,300,000 |
| 1894 | 6,700,000 |
| 1895 | 7,100,000 |
| 1896 | 7,450,000 |
| 1897 | 8,100,000 |
| 1898 | 8,400,000 |
| 1899 | 9,000,000 |
| 1900 | 9,500,000 |
| 1901 | 10,200,000 |
| 1902 | 11,100,000 |
| 1903 | 12,100,000 |
| 1904 | 13,500,000 |
| 1905 | 14,300,000 |
| 1906 | 14,700,000 |
| 1907 | 15,500,000 |
| 1908 | 16,400,000 |
| 1909 | 17,600,000 |
| 1910 | 17,900,000 |
| 1911 | 18,100,000 |
| 1912 | 18,200,000 |
| 1913 | 18,900,000 |
| 1914 | 19,500,000 |
| 1915 | 20,000,000 |
| 1916 | 20,500,000 |
| 1917 | 20,900,000 |
| 1918 | 21,800,000 |
| 1919 | 22,500,000 |
| 1920 | 23,400,000 |
| 1921 | 23,900,000 |
| 1922 | 24,100,000 |
| 1923 | 24,300,000 |
| Year | S/N |
|---|---|
| 1924 | 24,550,000 |
| 1925 | 24,800,000 |
| 1926 | 25,200,000 |
| 1927 | 26,100,000 |
| 1928 | 26,400,000 |
| 1929 | 26,900,000 |
| 1930 | 27,100,000 |
| 1931 | 27,300,000 |
| 1932 | 27,550,000 |
| 1933 | 27,750,000 |
| 1934 | 28,100,000 |
| 1935 | 28,600,000 |
| 1936 | 29,100,000 |
| 1937 | 29,400,000 |
| 1938 | 29,750,000 |
| 1939 | 30,050,000 |
| 1940 | 30,250,000 |
| 1941 | 30,750,000 |
| 1942 | 31,050,000 |
| 1943 | 31,400,000 |
| 1944 | 31,700,000 |
| 1945 | 32,100,000 |
| 1946 | 32,350,000 |
| 1947 | 32,750,000 |
| 1948 | 33,100,000 |
| 1949 | 33,500,000 |
| 1950 | 33,560,000 |
| 1951 | 33,600,000 |
| 1952 | 33,700,000 |
| 1953 | 33,800,000 |
| 1954 | 34,100,000 |
| 1955 | 34,450,000 |
| 1956 | 34,700,000 |
| 1957 | 35,000,000 |
| - | - |
| - | - |
This is an example using the Waltham serial number table. Be sure to use the table that is specific
to YOUR brand of watch when looking up your serial number.
Be sure to use the serial number on the watch movement (the mechanism).
Do not use the serial number from the watch case.
Including Serial Numbers and Production Dates
1885 - 1929
Jersey City, New Jersey
The New York Standard watch company, which also operated as the Crown Watch Company, was first incorporated in 1885 and operated in Jersey City, New Jersey. They should not be confused with the New York Watch Company, which was one of the predecessors of the Hampden Watch company. Although New York Standard made a variety of watches, it was primarily a producer of cheap watches sold under various brand and model names. They produced watches in the following sizes: 18, 16, 12, 6, 0, 3/0 and 10/0 in 7-15 jewels. They are, perhaps, best known for offering a unique, straight line lever 'worm-gear' escapement, patented by R. J. Clay. This led rise to their advertising slogan: 'The watch with a worm in it.'
New York Standard operated from 1885 until 1929 and produced over 8 million watches. Many of their models are quite common, while some are quite rare. Most of their production tended to be of lower-quality watches, and many lower-end models are not highly regarded by collectors.
Repairing New York Standard Watches
Repairing New York Standard watches has become very difficult due to the lack of availability of parts for repair. In many cases it is simply not possible to locate parts and repairs for certain models are no longer practical. For the lower grade New York Standard watches, it's quite possible for the cost of repairs to exceed the 'book value' of the watch.
Crown, New Era and William Penn Pocket Watches
New York Standard also produced several models of lower-quality pocket watches which were sold under the 'Crown' and 'New Era' names. The New Era models were a step above the 'Dollar Watches' of the time, but were still very inexpensively made mass-produced 7-jewel movements. Most feature thin plates, non-compensating balances, and a lower level of finish and materials than were commonly found in many well-known American watch brands. These watches are marked 'New Era, USA' in a variety of styles, and should not be confused with the 'New Era' pocket watch model produced (briefly) by the Lancaster Watch Company, which are marked 'New Era, Lancaster, Pa.'
New York Standard also produced the 'Edgemere' line of watches for Sears Roebuck Company.
Pocket watches marked 'William Penn USA' were also made by New York Standard. These were also inexpensive watches, featured several models with fake winding wheels. The winding and ratchet wheels were purely decorative... completely non-functional as shown in the photo below. This was done purely for the purpose of making the watch appear to be of a higher-quality level than it really was. An interesting piece of horological history, perhaps, but pretty hokey if you ask this watchmaker!
Other New York Standard Watch Company Model Names
In addition to the models already named, New York Standard also produced lower-grade watch models marked with the brand names: Bay State, Crown Watch Co, Eldridge, Excelsior, Gloria, Hamlet, Hercules, Highgrade, Jefferson, LaSalle, Pacific, Remington, Rosemere, Solar, Tribune, Washington, Wilmington Special.
Early New York Standard Watch Ad for Worm-gear Escapement.
By the way... if you see this same graphic on other web sites about NYS watches,
it's because they stole it from us!
New York Standard Watch Company
Total Production: Approx. 10 Million Watches
This table is NOT correct! This is the only published table of NYS Serial Numbers and Production Dates we have found, but we know these numbers to be wildly inaccurate. Serial number information for New York Standard is incomplete and inconclusive. To the best of our knowledge, there are no complete serial number/date records available for New York Standard watches, and it appears that New York Standard did not use a consistent system of sequential numbers to identify their watches. Some watches appear to have a serial number, while others have a number which seems to describe size and model. Some serial numbers bear a prefix of unknown meaning.
New York Standard Pocket Watch Serial Numbers
| Year | S/N |
|---|---|
| 1890 | 600,000 |
| 1895 | 900,000 |
| 1900 | 1,200,000 |
| 1905 | 1,500,000 |
| 1910 | 1,800,000 |
| 1915 | 2,100,000 |
| 1920 | 2,400,000 |
| 1925 | 2,700,000 |
| 1930 | 3,000,000 |
Be sure to use the serial number on the movement (the works) of the watch. Do not use the serial number from the watch case.
New Era Watch Serial Numbers
Can’t find your serial number in the table? Click here for an explanation and example of how to use our serial number tables.
New York Standard Pocket Watch
Need help finding the serial number on your watch? Click here for instructions on how to identify and open most common case types.