$ echo $DISPLAY
:0
$ ~/bin/emacs -Q -f server-start &
[1] 10024
$ jobs -l
[1]+ 10024 Running                 ~/bin/emacs -Q -f server-start &
$ ~/bin/emacsclient --eval '(list (emacs-pid) (length (frame-list)))'
(10024 1)
$ ############## W32 GUI frame was created as expected for a cygw32 build
$
$ ~/bin/emacsclient -nc new-file-1
$ ~/bin/emacsclient --eval '(list (emacs-pid) (length (frame-list)))'
(10024 1)
$ ############## incorrect behavior:
$ #   new-file-1 replaces *scratch* in the existing frame/window
$ ############## expected behavior:
$ #   new-file-1 should appear in a newly-created frame per
$ #   emacsclient's documentation:
$ emacsclient --help | grep -A1 -- -c
-c, --create-frame      Create a new frame instead of trying to
                        use the current Emacs frame
$
$ ############## open another new file, this time with DISPLAY unset:
$ env -u DISPLAY ~/bin/emacsclient -nc new-file-2
$ ~/bin/emacsclient --eval '(list (emacs-pid) (length (frame-list)))'
(10024 2)
$ ############## new-file-2 appears in a newly created frame as expected
$
$ ############## version information:
$ uname -a
CYGWIN_NT-6.1-WOW64 myhost 1.7.25(0.270/5/3) 2013-08-31 20:39 i686 Cygwin
$ git remote -v
origin  git://git.savannah.gnu.org/emacs.git (fetch)
origin  git://git.savannah.gnu.org/emacs.git (push)
$ git log | head -5
commit 8242d7ac11b16015cbc1f6de3780d6df87d2d72e
Author: Tassilo Horn <tsdh@gnu.org>
Date:   Thu Sep 26 21:05:50 2013 +0200

    * doc-view.el (doc-view-reset-zoom-level): New command.


In GNU Emacs 24.3.50.1 (i686-pc-cygwin)
of 2013-09-26 on myhost
Windowing system distributor `Microsoft Corp.', version 6.1.7601
Configured using:
`configure --with-w32 --prefix=/home/josh'

Important settings:
  value of $LC_CTYPE: en_US.UTF-8
  value of $LANG: en_US.UTF-8
  locale-coding-system: utf-8-unix
  default enable-multibyte-characters: t

Major mode: Fundamental

Minor modes in effect:
  tooltip-mode: t
  mouse-wheel-mode: t
  tool-bar-mode: t
  menu-bar-mode: t
  file-name-shadow-mode: t
  global-font-lock-mode: t
  font-lock-mode: t
  blink-cursor-mode: t
  auto-composition-mode: t
  auto-encryption-mode: t
  auto-compression-mode: t
  line-number-mode: t
  transient-mark-mode: t

Recent input:
M-: ( e m a c s - p i d ) <return> M-: <up> ( l i s
t SPC C-e S-SPC ( l e n g t h SPC ( f r a m e - l i
s t ) ) <return> M-: <up> C-e ) ( <backspace> <return>
<down-mouse-1> <mouse-1> C-x C-c <down-mouse-1> <mouse-1>
M-x r e p o r t - e m a c s - b u g <return>

Recent messages:
For information about GNU Emacs and the GNU system, type C-h C-a.
10024 (#o23450, #x2728)
(New file) [2 times]
read--expression: End of file during parsing
(10024 2)
(No files need saving)

Load-path shadows:
None found.

Features:
(shadow sort gnus-util mail-extr emacsbug message format-spec rfc822 mml
easymenu mml-sec mm-decode mm-bodies mm-encode mail-parse rfc2231
mailabbrev gmm-utils mailheader sendmail rfc2047 rfc2045 ietf-drums
mm-util mail-prsvr mail-utils vc-git pp server time-date tooltip
ediff-hook vc-hooks lisp-float-type mwheel w32-common-fns disp-table
w32-win w32-vars tool-bar dnd fontset image regexp-opt fringe
tabulated-list newcomment lisp-mode prog-mode register page menu-bar
rfn-eshadow timer select scroll-bar mouse jit-lock font-lock syntax
facemenu font-core frame cham georgian utf-8-lang misc-lang vietnamese
tibetan thai tai-viet lao korean japanese hebrew greek romanian slovak
czech european ethiopic indian cyrillic chinese case-table epa-hook
jka-cmpr-hook help simple abbrev minibuffer nadvice loaddefs button
faces cus-face macroexp files text-properties overlay sha1 md5 base64
format env code-pages mule custom widget hashtable-print-readable
backquote make-network-process gfilenotify w32 multi-tty emacs)