Maiden Lane is highest quality factory named grade manufactured by the Seth Thomas Watch Company. It was only manufactured in their 18-size open-face Model 5. Movements in the Maiden Lane factory named grade were manufactured with 17, 21, 24, or 25 jewels, and they were adjusted to either five or six positions.

Maiden Lane (Factory Named Grade)

EA 810 – Maiden Lane – 18-size – Model 5 – Serial Number 208824 – 21 Jewels - Named Grade Maiden Lane

A. C. Becken Jewelers Wholesale Catalog

This is page 10 from the 1896 A.C. B, Jewelers’ Wholesale Price List, Chicago Ill.

On the top row, left to right, you can see an 18-size Model 2 with nickel finish, 20 ruby jewels, Henry Molineux grade movement; an 18-size Model 3 with nickel finish, 17 jewels at grade 506; and an 18-size Model 3 with nickel finish, 17 jewels at grade 180.

On the second row, left to right, you can see an 18-size Model 3 with nickel finish, 15 jewels at grade 152; an 18-size Model 2 with gilt finish, 7 jewels at grade 34; and an 18-size Model 5 with 21 ruby jewels at Maiden Lane grade.

On the bottom row, left to right, you can see a 6-size Model 14 with nickel finish, 15 jewels, at grade 119; a 6-size Model 14 with nickel finish, 11 jewels at grade 122; and a 6-size Model 14 with gilt finish, 7 jewels at grade 46.

EA 819 – Mail Pouch – 6-size – Model 15 – Serial Number 159790 – 7 Jewels - Grade 5

Mail Pouch is a private label in Seth Thomas 6-size Model 15.

The Mail Pouch Tobacco Company offered premium products that could be obtained by redeeming product purchase vouchers. The premium products included cutlery, safes, jewelry, watches, clocks, lamps, brass bedsteads, musical instruments, silver-plated ware, fishing rods and reels, traveling bags, furniture, desks, and many other items. Based on the context and documentation, it is plausible that this private label pocket watch was offered as a premium for purchasing Mail Pouch Tobacco products.

Below you can see a Catalogue of Mail Pouch Tobacco Premiums. Based upon the merchandise offered within; I estimate this catalogue to have been issued around 1905. On page 13 below there is an advertisement at the top of the page for American-made Mail Pouch Watches. The 6-size Seth Thomas Mail Pouch pocket watch illustrated above on Seth Thomas Fan Space is not shown or described in this Mail Pouch advertisement; but a working relationship between the Mail Pouch Tobacco Company and the Seth Thomas Clock Company is demonstrated in the advertising on Page 30 and 31 where a 1905 Three-column Seth Thomas Sheffield Adamantine Mantel Clock and a 12-inch oak Seth Thomas Office Clock No. 6 are advertised. This catalog may have been issued after the Seth Thomas Clock Company stopped manufacturing pocket watches for the Mail Pouch Tobacco Company. It just seems too coincidental that Seth Thomas could have produced this Mail Pouch private label pocket watch for another company while the Mail Pouch Tobacco Company was selling the same product and selling Seth Thomas Clocks all at the same time.

Mail Pouch Premium Clocks
p. 30, Item 404 — Clock, parlor mantel, elaborate design, 8 day. 1750 vouchers. The woodcut corresponds to the Seth Thomas “Sheffield” Adamantine mantel clock (1905).
p. 31, Item 405 — Clock, for store, fine oak case, 8 days, pendulum, 12 inch dial. 1400 vouchers. The illustration and 12" dial specification match the Seth Thomas Office No. 6 (12").
These two consecutive listings show that Mail Pouch Tobacco Co. was sourcing Seth Thomas clocks for its premium program. In the same booklet (p. 13), Mail Pouch offered “Gentleman’s American Open Face” seven-jewel watches. The presence of multiple Seth Thomas clock models alongside those watch offerings strengthens the attribution that Mail Pouch–branded pocket watches could also have been supplied by Seth Thomas, consistent with my example (1899 Seth Thomas movement with Mail Pouch branding).

Open-Face vs. Hunting-Case Note.
The c.1905 Mail Pouch Tobacco Premiums Catalogue page reproduced here offers open-face watches (items 117–120, 902–903). My example is a hunting-case Seth Thomas Model 15 6-size Mail Pouch pocket watch using an 1899 movement. Premiums programs were frequently revised; other Mail Pouch catalogue printings very likely offered hunting-case options—or permitted an HC upgrade for additional vouchers—using the same American seven-jewel grade. This aligns with common practice in which brand programs purchased U.S. movements (Seth Thomas) and cased them through jobbers (e.g., Keystone/Dueber/Crescent) for specific mailings or later runs.

This advertisement appeared in The Weskansan on Saturday July 18, 1896, on page 3. The advertisement specifically prints “The ‘Mail Pouch’ Watches are made by a leading American Watch Company…” with only the words “Mail Pouch” in quotation marks indicating that the movement was marketed under the ‘Mail Pouch’ designation” tightening the description of the watch even more closely with the Seth Thomas Mail Pouch private label which carries a dial signature, “Mail Pouch”, only.

Mail Pouch

EA 818 – Marshall & Bragg Rutland, VT. – 18-size – Model 14 – Serial Number 137851 – 15 Jewels - Grade 119

Marshall & Bragg Rutland, VT. is a private label in Seth Thomas 18-size Model 3 and Model 5, and Seth Thomas 6-size Model 14.

Marshall & Bragg were jewelers who formed a partnership and established their own store in August of 1892 in the Dunn & Cramton Block of Rutland Vermont. Mr. Marshall had worked as jeweler at Marshall Brothers for twenty years, and Mr. Bragg had worked there for twelve years.

The postcard photographs below show the Center Street and Merchants’ Row business districts in Rutland Vermont during the period that Marshall & Bragg operated their business there.

Marshall & Bragg Rutland, VT.

EA 807 – Marshall & Bragg Rutland, VT. – 18-size – Model 3 – Serial Number 517460 – 7 Jewels - Grade 33

These advertisements and article appeared in The Rutland Daily Herald. The article on the left appeared on Tuesday August 2, 1892, on page 4. The top advertisement appeared on Tuesday November 29, 1892, on page 4. The bottom advertisement appeared on Wednesday December 28, 1898, on page 4.

Metropolitan is a private label in Seth Thomas 18-size Model 5.

Metropolitan Springfield, Mass.

EA 810 – Metropolitan – 18-size – Model 5 – Serial Number 205763 – 11 Jewels - Grade 159

A. Michaal is a private label in Seth Thomas 18-size Model 3. An advertisement in the December 2, 1898 edition of the Green Bay Gazette states that A. Michaal is a manufacturing jeweler at 216 N. Washington Street in Green Bay Wisconsin. The postcards below show the area around N. Washington Street in Green Bay Wisconsin during the time that A. Michaal was a jeweler there.

A. Michaal Green Bay, Wis.

EA 807 – A. Michaal Green Bay, Wis. – 18-size – Model 3 – Serial Number 10903 – 11 Jewels - Grade 55

This advertisement appeared in the Green Bay Press Gazette on Monday December 5, 1898, on page 5.

EA 806 – Henry Molineux – 18-size – Model 2 – Serial Number 55039 – 17 Jewels - Named Grade Henry Molineux

Henry Molineux is a Factory Named Grade in Seth Thomas 18-size hunting Model 2 and Seth Thomas 18-size open-face Model 3.

Henry Molineux (Factory Named Grade)

EA 806 – Henry Molineux – 18-size – Model 2 – Serial Number 55034 – 17 Jewels - Named Grade Henry Molineux

Monarch Watch Co. is private label manufactured in six grades of Seth Thomas Model 5 for Roger, Thurman Company of 5 South Wabash Avenue Chicago Illinois U.S.A. Monarch Watch Co. movements were also manufactured by Illinois Watch Co for Roger, Thurman Company. [*24] There is solid evidence that Monarch Watch Co. movements were also manufactured by New England Watch Company, American Waltham Watch Company, and Swiss manufacturers.

This page appeared in the 1978 Price Indicator by Roy Ehrhardt.

The image at the top-center appeared in Trade Marks by Roy Ehrhardt. The bottom-left image appeared in Lanark Gazette on Wednesday February 22, 1914, on page 1. The bottom-right image appeared in Lanark Gazette on Wednesday April 22, 1914, on page 8.

Monarch Watch Co.

EA 810 – Monarch Watch Co. – 18-size – Model 5 – Serial Number 307366 – 7 Jewels - Grade 47

EA 811 – Montgomery Ward – 618-size – Model 6 – Serial Number 605689 – 11 Jewels Grade 106

EA 812 – Montgomery Ward – 618-size – Model 7 – Serial Number 583350 – 11 Jewels Grade 107

EA 811A – Montgomery Ward – 618-size – Model 8 – Serial Number 2533256 – 11 Jewels Grade 106

EA 811A – Montgomery Ward – 618-size – Model 8 – Serial Number 715597 – 11 Jewels Grade 106

EA 812A – Montgomery Ward – 618-size – Model 9 – Serial Number 702963 – 11 Jewels Grade 107

Montgomery Ward “20th Century” is a private label in Seth Thomas Model 6, Model 7, Model 8, and Model 9 manufactured for Montgomery Ward & Company for sale in their retail catalog.

Montgomery Ward Co. Chicago 20th Century

EA 811 – Montgomery Ward – 618-size – Model 6 – Serial Number 604869 – 11 Jewels Grade 106

The 1901 Spring and Summer Montgomery Ward Catalog No. 69 contained advertisements for two product lines that Seth Thomas produced pocket watch movements for. According to the Identification and Price Guide to Pocket Watches by Roy Ehrhardt and W.F. (Bill) Meggers, Seth Thomas provided Model 8 and Model 9 Movements for both the Lakeside and the 20th Century pocket watches sold by Montgomery Ward. Seth Thomas had also previously produced the 20th Century pocket watches in their Model 6 and Model 7.

Morck Bros. Warren, PA.

EA 807 – Morck Bros. Warren, PA. – 18-size – Model 3 – Serial Number 17756– 11 Jewels

Morck Bros. Warren, PA. is a private label in Seth Thomas Model 3 and Model 5.

In the 1880’s Frederick “Fritz” Morck and Augustus Morck, shown below, were the Morck Brothers Jewelers with their store located at 324 Water Street in Warren Pennsylvania. They also served as opticians for the community and sold eyeglasses.

Sometime later Dr. Augustus Mork moved to Oil City Pennsylvania to open his Mork Optical Company at 7½ First National Bank Building while Frederick “Fritz” Morck remained a jeweler at Morck & Kirberger Jewelers. The Morck Brothers’ mothers’ maiden name was Kirberger; so he appears to have partnered with a cousin to continue the business. The bottom two photographs below are of the business district around Water Street in Warren Pennsylvania from the turn of the century. 324 Water Street is now a home in a largely single-family residential area.

This advertisement appeared in The Evening Democrat on Monday July 31, 1893, on page 3.

EA 810 – The Motorman – 18-size – Model 5 – Serial Number XXXXXX – 16 Jewels - Grade 169

The Motorman is a private label in Seth Thomas 18-size hunting Model 2 and Seth Thomas 18-size open-face Model 5.

The Motorman (Not in STFS Collection)

EA 806 – The Motorman – 18-size – Model 2 – Serial Number XXXXXX – 17 Jewels

Olympia Special is a private label in Seth Thomas 18-size open-face Model 5 manufactured for Lapp & Flershem for sale in their wholesale catalog.

Olympia Special

EA 810 – Olympia Special –18-size – Model 5 – Serial Number 223586 – 21 Jewels - Grade 260

Olympia Special is a private label in Seth Thomas 18-size open-face Model 5. Olympia Special was manufactured by Seth Thomas for Lapp & Flershem.