John Whitfield Bunn was one of the two brothers behind the Illinois Watch Company. A friend and financier of Abraham Lincoln, the founder’s elaborate signature appears on the company’s most famous pocket watch: the Bunn Special. Additionally, the Illinois Watch Company was once one of the great American railroad watch manufacturers. Pocket watches like this Illinois Grade Bunn Special Model 6, manufactured in 1906, represent the pinnacle of the Ilinois Watch Company’s railroad grade timepieces.

Less than 100,000 of this model were produced, placing this timepiece comfortably within the realm of rare watches. Its size 18 movement is housed in a salesman’s display case allowing for easy viewing of the movement and to display the highly popular fish scale damaskeen pattern on the movement.

Meanwhile, the dial is yet another exciting feature of this watch. It is a double sunk Montgomery dial with a distinctive “Old English” Arabic numeral font. Aside from their popularity and ease of reading time, the Montgomery dial is historically and horologically significant in relation to the famous jeweler Webb C. Ball. Montgomery and Ball were often in conflict with each other over the design of the Montgomery design and its use as a railroad grade dial. In the end despite Ball’s efforts to restrict the Montgomery dial, Montgomery managed to prevail at least on a limited scale, enough that the dial saw use on the railroads, but at a level that keeps railroad grade watches featuring the dial, deep in rare territory.

If you’re a fan of Montgomery dials, vintage watches, and railroad-grade timepieces this watch is a must-have. It displays beautifully along with the salesman display case to show off the movement in action.