Waltham 17 Jewel Full Plate - Canadian Time Service

[harold]

I own a Waltham pocket watch Serial # 7,711,884 which is signed as folows " Made for Canadian Railway Time Service ". Is there any way of telling how many of those were made? Would they have been made for the Canadian Pacific or Canadian Railway company specifically? One or the other?

[harold]

I own a Waltham pocket watch Serial # 7,711,884 which is signed as folows " Made for Canadian Railway Time Service ". Is there any way of telling how many of those were made? Would they have been made for the Canadian Pacific or Canadian Railway company specifically? One or the other?

[Kent]

harold:

These were made by Waltham for sale in Canada, intended for use by railroad employes. They weren't sold to the railroads, but they were sold retail to individuals. Earlier ones, such as yours, were built as parts of runs of well-known Waltham grades. For example, yours - serial number 7,711,884 - comes from a run of Crescent St. grade watches. Later ones were built in small runs entirely of "Canadian Railway Time Service" grade watches. Although they were made in both 18-size and 16-size, all were 17-jewel watches. As the rules changed in during the first decade of the 20th century, the watches stopped being made as pendant-set and only lever-set "Canadian Railway Time Service" grade watches were built.

These were written about in "Waltham's Canadian Railroad Watches," Iain G.M. Cleator, A. Ron D'Altroy and Les Hesketh, NAWCC Bulletin, No. 244, October 1986, pp. 355-9. (Available to members on loan by mail from the NAWCC Library). If you can locate it, another article on the subject is "Railroad Pocket Watches in Canada," Fred Angus, Canadian Rail, No. 343, August, 1980, pp.228-48. Both articles estimate production at under 3,000 of all of the varieties of the "Canadian Railway Time Service" grade watches, with the earlier article estimating less. As more time goes by, additional watches turn up from outside of the previously know serial number ranges.

Kent

That guy down in Georgia :smile:

[harold]

Kent
Thank you.