Vintage Gruen: The caliber database » Caliber 740 (Premo, WSC, Guild)

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Re: Caliber 740 (Premo, WSC, Guild) - 17J & 19J variants [message #12135 is a reply to message #12130]

Sun, 09 February 2020 05:05

Case
Messages: 1178
Registered: May 2019
Location: Cincinnati

Gruen Authority

Checked US patent 833489, and the expiration date is listed as 10/16/1923. So my above statement was incorrect—and I’ve found an example 749 from my records to show the patent stamp remains through at least the WSC days. May mean my Guild one above is later 1923 (orphaned, so no case ref.)

WSC 740 example: front plate stamped with sn 936549 & US Pat 833489. Case is Wadsworth House # Line, Referee, not Gruen signed but stamped “740”. I read case #4775606.

Other non-Gruen signed Referees I’ve also noted stamped “750”. So the Referee cases were original issue.

Not sure that it was an overorder of 740 cases, but rather an indicator of what the case stamped caliber meant at the time. The “740” case stamp seems to the base/original model, like the “153” stamp on early Cartouche models, denoting the spec for the movement & crystal size to fit the case design but not necessarily the actual caliber used. The early 835 cartouches all were 153-stamped cases, and some continued to be stamped 153 even after 835 case stamps come into play (close study may show a slight difference in crystal sizes/shapes).

“740” stamped in the case may have just remained the case spec reference for early semi-thin cases that were 17L, open face, and had the same crystal size as the original 740. Would explain why so many 75X semis from the early 20s have 740 case stamps.

My two caveats:
1) I'm wrong many times a day --just ask my wife!
2) Always seeking to learn more

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[Message index]

		Caliber 740 (Premo, WSC, Guild) - 17J & 19J variants By: Case on Fri, 07 February 2020 05:20
		Re: Caliber 740 (Premo, WSC, Guild) - 17J & 19J variants By: Case on Fri, 07 February 2020 05:44
		Re: Caliber 740 (Premo, WSC, Guild) - 17J & 19J variants By: Barney Green on Fri, 07 February 2020 16:49
		Re: Caliber 740 (Premo, WSC, Guild) - 17J & 19J variants By: Case on Fri, 07 February 2020 21:46
		Re: Caliber 740 (Premo, WSC, Guild) - 17J & 19J variants By: Barney Green on Fri, 07 February 2020 22:51
		Re: Caliber 740 (Premo, WSC, Guild) - 17J & 19J variants By: Case on Sat, 08 February 2020 11:14
		Re: Caliber 740 (Premo, WSC, Guild) - 17J & 19J variants By: Barney Green on Sat, 08 February 2020 15:05
		Re: Caliber 740 (Premo, WSC, Guild) - 17J & 19J variants By: thesnark17 on Sat, 08 February 2020 17:29
		Re: Caliber 740 (Premo, WSC, Guild) - 17J & 19J variants By: Barney Green on Sat, 08 February 2020 17:48
		Re: Caliber 740 (Premo, WSC, Guild) - 17J & 19J variants By: Case on Sun, 09 February 2020 05:05
		Re: Caliber 740 (Premo, WSC, Guild) - 17J & 19J variants By: thesnark17 on Sun, 09 February 2020 15:18

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