| Author | Message | ||
     Christian Roovers Unregistered guest Rating: N/A |
I own a vintage 14kt solid gold JLC watch, cal. 478/C, 15 jewel movement. The number on the movement is hardly legible. Please see enclosed pics. Can anyone help to identify the production date more accurately? Many thanks in advance!   | ||
| GregB Unregistered guest Rating: N/A |
The movement serial is hard to read in your picture, but it looks like a 1.8 million number. That would place production at approximately 1968. Greg | ||
| GregB Unregistered guest Rating: N/A |
I just re-read your post title and saw that you were expecting 1948 or 1958... am I seeing the 1.8 million serial on your watch wrong? 1948 would have a serial number a little over 500,000, so that clearly isn't right... too many digits in your serial. 1958 would be roughly 1.2 million. I can make out the digits on your watch from the pix. Greg | ||
| Christian Roovers Unregistered guest Rating: N/A |
Thanks so much for your clarification. To complicate matters: the outside back of the case bears 2 inscriptions; the first the initials "H.K" at the centre, the second in a half-circle at the bottom, reading "GALCO 1958". See picture. Does this mean anything to you? Regards, Christian R.  | ||
| GregB Unregistered guest Rating: N/A |
Sounds like a presentation engraving. Galco would probably be the company where the recipient worked and "H.K." would be the recipient's initials. Normally these engravings will also reference a number of years worked, but this engraving doesn't. In this instance, the "1958" would normally indicate the year presented. If your serial number is a 1.2 million number, this would be about right. However, if the company didn't follow convention and the 1958 indicates the year of employment and the person was given the watch as a 10-year employment presentation (in 1968), then the 1.8 million serial would be correct. If you look at the movement again with a 10x jeweler's loupe, you should be able to see the serial number clearly enough to solve the mystery. Greg | ||
| norman barton Unregistered guest Rating: N/A |
looking for value on a 18 kt. jaeger le coultre, calibre 426 ladies watch | ||
| Christian Roovers Unregistered guest Rating: N/A |
For GregB: Dear Greg, I followed tour advice and asked a reputable watchmaker to inspect the movement of my JLC. The movement number reads without any doubt: 1268170. This ties in with a 1957 / 1958 production year and makes the inscription on the back (Galco 1958) plausible. According to the watchmaker the case number on the inside, viz, 734963, could support the 1957 date. Does this mean anything to you? Regards, Christian Roovers | ||
| GregB Unregistered guest Rating: N/A |
Christian, To the best of my knowledge, no reference exists which ties case numbers to a production date. The movement serial number is what is commonly used to dat production. The presentation engraving agrees, so I think you have your date about as close as you'll get. The watch was probably delivered from the factory in late 1957/early 1958 and purchased from the retailer in 1958. Greg |