Waltham Watch

[Barry G]

Howdy!

The fact that the winding stem is at the bottom indicates that the watch was either an automobile clock [designed to fit into the dashboard of a car] or a travel clock [designed to fit into a carrying case, whether wooden or leather].

The serial number of the watch dates it to about 1919, and the Waltham Serial Number and Grade list shows it to be an "8 Day" watch with 7 jewels.

I have seen many Waltham pocket watches with fancy painted dials, but never one of their 8 Day watches. Of course, I haven't seen all that many 8 Day watches, so that doesn't really mean much I'm afraid.

Regards,

Barry

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My Online Pocket Watch Collection (http://www.ultranet.com/~barry/watches.htm)

[Tom McIntyre]

To extend Barry's comments a bit, these movements were also used in Waltham's "Boudoir Clocks" that were housed in fancy carved wood cases and a variety of other styles. Generally the dials on these clocks were oversized up to 10 inches tall by 6 inches wide (maybe even bigger).

They also appear in an interesting format where the dial appears both on the front and the back to be used as a desk clock.


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Tom McIntyre
Tommy the JOAT's Web (http://www.mcintyre.com/McIntyre)

[Jerry Treiman]

I have a 37-size 8-day Waltham from around 1927 with a painted face, but mine is wound and set from the back. The oval dial (2-1/4" wide and 3" tall) looks like a yellow celluloid-like material with a silver chapter ring for the numbers. The numbers are luminous (as are the hands). A forest scene with water and mountains is somewhat crudely painted within the chapter ring and I have always held a suspicion that the painting was not original to the clock. The nicest part of this boudoir clock is a brass easel-style case with champleve enamel.
My other 8-day easel clock has an oval brass dial (6" wide by 8" tall). This one winds at the bottom and is in a wooden case.
Can you provide more info on your dial?

[JTibbetts]

Jerry .. The dial is round and 2-1/4" diameter. It has a round gold chapter ring (just shy of 1/4" wide) with black painted numbers. The ring lays over the scene but doesn't quite extend to the outer border of scene. About 1/4" of scene extends out beyond the ring. Neither the numbers or hands are luminous.

The scene sounds similar to yours. There's a birch tree on the left foreground and as you look "in the distance" .. it's predominately water and a small piece of land with a couple small trees on the right and kind of a hazy looking mountain (or more like a rolling hill) on the left.

The "Waltham" and "8 days" is painted on the scene as well. (Waltham on top and 8 days on the bottom.)

It's quite heavy and I don't know metals well but looks like brass to me. If you unscrew the brass (?) rimmed glass cover .. the material that the scene is painted on looks like ivory. (It seems that it must've been difficult to cut as the edges are somewhat jagged though you can't see that unless you take the glass off.)

Came to me through my grandparents (deceased so I can't ask them about it) who both worked at the factory when they were young. My father believes that it is in it's original condition with the exception of the missing wooden box that it was "mounted" in.

[JTibbetts]

The information provided on this board has been very helpful. Didn't know how much information the s/n's could give when I posted the information on the first watch.

I have a second (pendant) watch as well that I'd love to get info on if one of you would be kind enough to look it up.

This one says "American Waltham Watch" with a s/n of 7739686.

Thanks very much .. I promise - these are only two I have. Won't bug you anymore.

[Barry G]

A serial number of 7739686 would date the watch to about 1896 or so, and is listed as being a 0 size [a small ladies watch], Model 1891 [named after the first year of production], "Seaside" Grade with 11 jewels.

This is a fairly common ladies pendant watch, perhaps slightly higher quality than most which only had 7 jewels. Basically, they were meant as jewelry and not as accurate timepieces although, being a Waltham, they were, of course, still well made. It's just that they didn't have many jewels and typically weren't adjusted to compensate for positional errors. Quite often they came in gorgeously ornate gold cases which are worth more than the watches themselves.

Regards,

Barry

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My Online Pocket Watch Collection (http://www.ultranet.com/~barry/watches.htm)

[JTibbetts]

Thanks Barry. You are correct .. it is in an ornate gold casing that says C.W.C. Co. - followed by a "tracemark" number. Has a long heavy gold chain with a fancy adjustment do-hicky that has a stone of some kind and cameo on it.

Really appreciate your help. Thanks again.



[This message has been edited by JTibbetts (edited 09-17-2000).]

[JTibbetts]

Sorry Richard .. I may not have been very clear. The watch itself is not wooden. I think it's brass - it's very heavy for it's size. The wooden part I referred to that's missing is a box that it was presumably "mounted" in that stood upright to display it. (And perhaps the "box" was not necessarily intended to be upright but they just had it that way.)

Trying to jog my father's memory to get a better picture of how he remembers it displayed and what that box might have looked like.

[Tom McIntyre]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Patrick:
www.oldwatch.com/walthamdate. (http://www.oldwatch.com/walthamdate.) Regards.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

This is a broken link this evening. I also cannot find any references to it on the commercial site at oldwatch.com. http://www.nawcc.org/ubb/confused.gif



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Tom McIntyre
Tommy the JOAT's Web (http://www.mcintyre.com/McIntyre)

[Barry G]

Try adding "html" at the end of the link. Like thus:
www.oldwatch.com/walthamdate.html (http://www.oldwatch.com/walthamdate.html)

Barry

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My Online Pocket Watch Collection (http://www.ultranet.com/~barry/watches.htm)