American Watch Co, looking to ID

[rehgarde]

Hello everyone,

I just received my great-grandfathers watch and am interested in knowing more about it.

The face says "AMERICAN WATCH Co"

Inside the back cover it says "AM.WATCH CO.WALTHAM,MASS." in a semi-circle, and then it says "WARRANTED" "COIN-SILVER" "79205"

Any help would be appreciated, THANKS!

Brandon G
Fairhaven, MA

[Tom McIntyre]

You will need to open the inner back cover and see what it engraved there on the movement. All that can be told so far is that it is an 18 size keywind watch in a coin silver case.

[rehgarde]

Thanks,

It has the following engraved:

Waltham Watch Co in script

WALTHAM, MASS. in italic block

Fogg's patent

592008


Thanks again,
Brandon G.
Fairhaven, MA

[Tom McIntyre]

You have an 1857 model, 15 jewel, Waltham Watch Co. grade made in 1872 in January or February in a group of 1,000 watches.

I think this was Waltham's (acutally the American Watch Company) second highest grade of the 1857 model at the time it was made. The Appleton Tracy grade was a higher grade watch.

Waltham made about 55,000 of this model and grade between 1865 and 1878.

[rehgarde]

Thank you for that information. My husband is really happy to learn more about the watch.

One last set of questions, it appears not to be working although we don't want to force it by winding too much. Can a watch this old be made to work? What type of person would we look for to repair a watch like this? We are on the south coast.

I was wondering if it would be better to be stored/displayed in working order vs. just leaving it broken. (That is, if it CAN be repaired.) I think it is our goal to get a display box for it and put as much of its history with it as possible.

Thanks so much.

Stephanie G. (wife of Brandon G.)
Fairhaven, MA

[rehgarde]

So sorry about the emoticons in my previous message. They were NOT intentional.

[Kent]

Stephanie:

Check out What You Need To Know About Watch Repair at Wayne Schlitt's Elgin Website:
www.midwestcs.com/elgin/help/watch_repair.html
To view, go to the Elgin Watch Collectors Site Home Page at elginwatches.org, then copy and paste the address in your browser's address bar and click on 'Go'.

Good luck,

[rehgarde]

Wow, that website answered it all! Thanks Kent!

Thanks for all your help everyone.

Stephanie