Would like help identifying Walth p-w [Archive] - National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors Message Board

RonC

04-15-2006, 06:36 AM

Hello,
I have a 15-jewel Waltham that I would like to obtain information on, such as date of manufacture and anything else that is available.
On the movement, the #s are 19181089, on the ring outside the movement are the #s 65752. On the inner case (I think it's called a hunter case), it says Fahys (or is it Tahys?) Bristol followed by the #s 8765752.

Thanks,
Ron

RonC

04-15-2006, 06:36 AM

Hello,
I have a 15-jewel Waltham that I would like to obtain information on, such as date of manufacture and anything else that is available.
On the movement, the #s are 19181089, on the ring outside the movement are the #s 65752. On the inner case (I think it's called a hunter case), it says Fahys (or is it Tahys?) Bristol followed by the #s 8765752.

Thanks,
Ron

Wes

04-15-2006, 08:09 AM

The following is from the Waltham Production Date Table (http://www.pocketwatchsite.com/walthamserials.html):
SN 19181089 was made around 1913.

The model number and other information can be found using the Waltham Database (http://www.nawcc-info.org/WalthamDB/walsernum.htm).

RonC

04-15-2006, 09:48 AM

Thanks, Wes!

Ron

Kent

04-15-2006, 10:20 AM

Ron:

By using the information on the links that Wes posted, you can see that your watch is a 12-size, grade No. 220 movement. You can view a brief catalog description of the grade No. 220 and see where it fit into Waltham's line on page W5 of the 1917 Oskamp-Nolting Catalog at:
www.elginwatches.com/scans/sales_catalogs/1917_Oskamp-Nolting/m_index.html

To view, go to the Elgin Watch Collectors Site Home Page at elginwatches.com, then copy and paste the address in your browser's address bar and click on 'Go'.

The ring outside of the movement is the center ring of the case and it carries the last five digits of the case serial number. Your case was made by Joseph Fahys & Co. The book, "History of the American Watch Case," Warren H. Niebling, Whitmore Publishing, Philadelphia, PA, 1971 (available on loan by mail to members from the NAWCC Library & Research Center (http://www.nawcc.org/Library/library.htm)), has the following to say about Joseph Fahys & Co. (which includes additional Notes in Blue by Michael Harrold): Joseph Fahys came to the United States in 1848 and opened a shop in New York City in 1857. In 1861 he built another factory in Carlstadt, NJ and ran it under the name of Foutenbach & Sons (Or, the Fortenback case company in Carlstadt was organized and built entirely by the Fortenbach family, although Fahys may have been their distributor) until 1878 when it was re-named under Joseph Fahys. In 1882, operations moved to Sag Harbor, NY, which is a former whaling port on Long Island (and where Fahys' wife was from). See Sag Harbor In Its Industrial Heyday: The Watchcase Factory (http://www.sagharboronline.com/history_files/hist04.htm).

Fahys seemed to have only made gold-filled, silver and Oresilver (nickel) cases from the late 1880's and up to 1910 (where my research drops off). However, starting in the mid-1890s, Joseph Fahys & Co. is listed (in ads) as the General Agent for the Brooklyn Watch Case Co., a manufacturer of solid gold cases, of which, Fahys was one of the original directors upon its inception in 1873. It is difficult to tell how actively involved he was, or was not, with the company. Fahys brought the Brooklyn Watch Case Co. to Sag Harbor in the late 1890s. At sometime leading up to the turn of the century, ownership of Brooklyn passed to Fahys. The company went out of business during the Great Depression. Interestingly, according to "Fahys of Sag Harbor, New York, Part 1," John H. Wilterding, Jr., NAWCC Bulletin, No. 332 (June 2001), pp. 316-24, in 1937 the Bulova Watch Co. leased part of the Fahys Sag Harbor factory building. Bulova made watch cases there until the plant was closed in 1980.

The Bristol (http://photos8.flickr.com/10795433_f431009350_o.jpg) grade was a gold-filled, 25-year case. The Bristol grade was formerly a Brooklyn Watch Case Co. (which was controlled by Fahys) grade which was moved to Fahys in about 1907, possibly to maintain the Brooklyn line of cases as solid gold only.

Good luck,