Welcome
Seth Thomas made more pattern variants than any other American factory during their 29-year output of pocket watch production from 1885 to 1914, especially in the 18-size Model 5, where the pattern could change on consecutive movements.
On the Seth Thomas Research website you'll find hundreds of photos detailing all of the known models, patterns, and variants from both the regular production runs as well as the prototypical ones. We'll try to figure out everything there is to know about these century-old mechanical works of art because so little is known about them, and none of the men who designed and built them aren't here to tell us.
This is is the oldest, most accurate, most comprehensive, most informative and least confusing online resource for vintage Seth Thomas pocket watches, which is a strange but apparently necessary thing to say, given that there used to be just this one website.
There are very few surviving records of the pocket watch aspect of the Seth Thomas Clock Company, thanks to a bad flood in 1955 at the factory location of Thomaston, Connecticut. The only way to know anything about these timepieces is to log all surviving examples, document what has been learned, and make it public for anyone who has an interest in them. Please consider sending photos of any watches in your collection or contributing to the cost of this free repository.
Quick Reference
The Private Labels
The Private Labels
The Private Labels
Check to see if your great-grandfather was a jeweler, retailer, or store owner.
How They Work
The Private Labels
The Private Labels
Learn what went into your Seth Thomas, from dials and cases to factory patents.
Go Back In Time
The Private Labels
Go Back In Time
Find out about the man who started it all, including the timeline of the factory.
Plagiarism
This website has been plagiarized several times by those too lazy to do their own research, most notably by Nathan Moore, the rich owner of the PW Database. One can't help but notice how the PWBD's totals seem to mirror the totals on this site soon after it's been updated.
Attached are numbers for the Seth Thomas two-tone Grade 36 Model 8 so far according to logged examples, along with Nathan Moore's number, which appear strangely identical. Considering that there are no surviving records, where could have Nathan gotten his totals, if not from this site?
Seth Thomas Research
The total of 33,150 two-tone Grade 36s (pictured here) is a red herring, a deliberately wrong number put there to see if he would "borrow" it.
PW Database
And Nathan Moore did just that, inventing a similar total of 33,300. The real total of two-tone Grade 36s is thousands of numbers away.
Pocket Watch Restoration
Your antique watch can be restored! Have it looking great again and running like it just left the factory.