three letter code on balance cock

[robdavidson]

Anyone know what the three letter code on many balance cocks is  -  eg. EZR or COW are recent and common... just wondering

[watchweasol]

Hello  an introduction before asking questions would be nice.

Do you have any pictures of the watches with the inscriptions to give members an idea of what they are looking at.

[robdavidson]

Sorry, introduction launched.

The convenient three I have are EXA on an Eterna, LXA on a Nassau, and EZR in an Enicar... although I see COW quite a bit... I do have several Crotons/Nivadas though...

[JohnR725]

the code is the US import code. It's a way of identifying who actually imported the watch. I have a link that will tell you what the codes mean

 

http://www.ranfft.de/uhr/info-uscode-e.html

 

[watchweasol]

Brilliant,    John    a hole in one. 

[LittleWatchShop]

And just like that...a whole new world of knowledge blossoms.

[robdavidson]

so would it follow then that movements without a 3 letter code were probably not imported into the US by a manufacturer...

[dadistic]

Depends on the timeframe. 

Best info I found was that the codes were required from approx. the mid '30's to the mid 60's.

Cheers!

[JohnR725]

4 hours ago, robdavidson said:

so would it follow then that movements without a 3 letter code were probably not imported into the US by a manufacturer...

yes if you look at watches that were not imported into the US you will not see the codes

2 hours ago, dadistic said:

Best info I found was that the codes were required from approx. the mid '30's to the mid 60's

the time span of years that you have reminded me of something the missing piece to the story.

the years you have correspond to when tariffs existed to protect the American watch industry. To understand this am attaching a couple of PDFs the older one breaks things down with all sorts of interesting statistical data. So basically you have a tax on imported watches and every single enhancement improvements or anything increases the price. This was basically very good for the watch companies because it limits competition and very bad for the consumer because it makes watches expensive. Then in the 60s it was decided that this was no longer needed to protect what was left to the American watch industry and they were dropped.

ICP-Watches-Clocks-2012-Final.pdf pub169 Tariff Watch 196.pdf

[GuyMontag]

If I remember correctly the reason the tariffs were first introduced in 1930 was because some watch companies were selling watches that claimed to have adjustments that were not in fact present and claiming more jewels than were present, for a price less than watches that did in fact have those adjustments and jewels. So consumers were being duped and getting less than what they paid for, which put the entire watch industry in a bad light.  The import duty made it non-financially viable to claim adjustments that were not in fact present.   So, in theory, the move was to protect the consumers trust in the watch industry, while also lining Uncle Sam's pocket with some sweet import duties. 

 

Google Books has a fascinating transcript of a 1955 congressional committee that was investigating how some watch companies were gaming the system to avoid paying the import duties, which the government claimed had cost them around $250 million b/w 1930 and 1955. Various heads of the American watch companies testified with some really interesting background on their company operations. JFK was one of those present during the testimony. If anyone is interested you can download a PDF here.