| Re: The caliber 98 / 99 / 997 [message #15485 is a reply to message #7886] |
Tue, 14 September 2021 03:07   |
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Case
Messages: 1178
Registered: May 2019
Location: Cincinnati
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Gruen Authority |
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Picking up the thread after 4 (or 8!) years. It’s puzzled me since I joined—how can you differentiate a 98 from a 99? Once caliber stamps were added, all of the family—including the 997–were always stamped “98”.
I did find there was a sub-seconds version (1926 catalog lists an alternate 4th wheel with seconds pivot). But of which caliber(s)?
Thojil’s comment on “different setting gear” stuck in the back of my mind. So I dug through all I could. All my 1920s cases marked for a caliber say “99,” and they all look the same—and identical to 997 besides the capped escapement.
But there was ONE case marked “98”, the earliest. Maybe 1913 or 14. Here’s what I found—almost visually identical to my later 99s except for one thing:
Basically, I’m proposing that the 98 supplier upgraded in the 1910s to a beefier cog winding wheel (maybe other changes not recognizable), making what Gruen called internally the caliber 99. The 997 came later, some say 1917—I’ll say 1920, but it again follows the upgraded winding wheel (99). Hence, the caliber number 997.
I considered that the 98 could be a missing hunter config or refer to the subsecond version. The first is more possible, given what we see in 1920s stamps like 825 vs 826, but no hunter has surfaced.
Thoughts? Anyone else with a “98” marked case?
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