can anyone guess who "fathered" current day switching art?

[Jon]

Yep, it began with an early AMERICAN company!

Can't answer the general question, but I came across this, in an article by Eugene Fuller, in an article I was reading today, in the Nawcc 1977 bulletin, on Robert Roskell:


(speaking in the third person, in reference to himself) Fuller writes of the purchase of a Roskell watch the turned out to be quite rusted out and therefore seriously damaged (sold to him, it seems under the seller's cheerful prediction that all it needed was a 'good cleaning'):

"The Roskell had been one of his very first foreigh watch purchases...Eventually luck prevailed and a Roskell movement very close in serial number turned up on a watch list. The two turned out to be compatible in all respects and the resulting marriage produced a half-way decent running Robert Roskell rack-lever watch."

No sense of having done anything the least bit objectionable--on any level--no qualifications, no sense that what he had was not, in fact, a "Robert Roskell watch."`

Described, as I say, in a Bulletin Article, Feb. 1977, vol. 19, no. 1 (186), page 35.

Even if the movements were close in number--etc--Roskell certainly did not attempt to create interchangeable parts--and one might be left to wonder what, if any, reworking of gears, pivot sizes, etc, might have been necessary to join the two movements into a working model.

Moreover, Roskell made nowhere near the number of watches of the large American companies, so each is presumably more historically significant.

So perhaps the art of watch collecting has made some forward progress, or raising awareness about the propriety of switches...

Mo

[sangamo]

here is where i wrote about a switch some time ago......


http://nawcc-mb.infopop.cc/groupee/f...461#1046049461

[steadyhands]

- one needs to login???

[kirxklox]

Howard or Waltham Watch Cos, probably Howard as to the first Machine made interchangable parts.

Hello,

Howards take first place here. One renigrade from 174 even attended a 149 meeting with his Howard collection which from my point of view was much much better than the average, but it too had its share of switches according to other Howard experts at that neeting some years ago.

Phil

[Jon]

Good memory Phil--Visser once cheerfully attended one of our meetings to show off his collection (since mostly sold). Reportedly he sold because he needed the money to build a spec house; however, it is not known his position on this Howard case and movement musical chairs games he has played at the feet of the 800 pound gorilla. I suspect he got in too deep or became annoyed with the HOWARD NONSENSE that routinely takes place in certain collector circles.

I have noticed that many current day collectors come and go routinely--possibly due to the price structures of some of these "favorite" series and the investiment issue.
Still, no one has correctly guessed the father of current day switching practices!

[Jon]

hint: he is no longer a collector and hailed from Ohio (current BIG trouble spot!)

[Robert Smothers]

How about Web C Ball??....Robert

[Jon]

Flautie