Waltham pocketwatch

[Renee]

I have a waltham pocketwatch. We have been looking for information about it. When we take off the back there is no serial number that is obvious. There is a Patent number. It says Waltham watch co. swiss unadjusted and 25 jewels, the patent number is 2.478.865 and it has the letters wxo. Under the movement part is has a W in a kind of circle and the number 431. This all the markings that can be seen on the back of the movement. On the face it says Waltham (in script) with the number 25 under it and the words incabloc and antimagnetic. Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks,
Renee :smile:

[Renee]

I have a waltham pocketwatch. We have been looking for information about it. When we take off the back there is no serial number that is obvious. There is a Patent number. It says Waltham watch co. swiss unadjusted and 25 jewels, the patent number is 2.478.865 and it has the letters wxo. Under the movement part is has a W in a kind of circle and the number 431. This all the markings that can be seen on the back of the movement. On the face it says Waltham (in script) with the number 25 under it and the words incabloc and antimagnetic. Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks,
Renee :smile:

[Kent]

Hi Renee:

Welcome to the NAWCC Pocket Watch Message Board!

The 1950s-1960s era Swiss watches bearing the Waltham name get asked about from time to time. They were not made by the watch company we know as Waltham, but were maketed after watch production ceased in Waltham, MA, legitimately using the Waltham name. You can read more about it in an old ref::Earlier Post On This Message Board and old ref::Another Earlier Post.

[doug sinclair]

Renee,

The Waltham Watch Co. of Waltham, Mass., folded about 50 years ago as a manufacturer of watches. The rights to market watches with the Waltham name on them were sold, and have been sold yet again, numerous times over the ensuing years to a number of brokers and importers who do not manufacture watches. Depending on the volume in sales that these owners of the name have produced, they either broker these watches themselves, or contract with brokers to assemble these watches from "off the shelf" components, with a dial company printing the Waltham name on an anonymous generic dial. Your watch is one of these I suspect. Without a picture it is not possible to judge the age of your watch, but it is a modern one. Likely a plated base metal case and a painted dial. Swiss watch movement designers and manufacturers often sell the rights to manufacture their movements to other companies. The wxo likely identifies the actual manufacturer of the movement in the watch. But it doesn't likely identify the actual originator of the movement design. You describe an "M in a circle". That could be the symbol for the actual movement design company, and the number 431 the actual model number, but I don't recognize it.

[Kent]

Here's old ref::One More discussion on the subject.

[Renee]

Thanks for the information. It is just as we suspected, but it is good to know. Kent the last link you gave "hit the nail on the head". Thanks alot.
Renee