Elaine:
Welcome to the NAWCC Pocket Watch esage Board!
The American Waltham Watch Co. (Waltham, MA) had its origins in the 1850's. It was the first successful company in America to manufacture watches in mass production using machinery to make identical (or at least, near identical) parts. Over the next hundred years or so of its existence, its output of jeweled watches (over 34 million) was only exceeded by one other company, the National Watch Co. at Elgin, IL. Commonly referred to as "Waltham," the company made a full line of watches ranging from modest, affordable watches to some of the finest watches made in this country.
You can find out some basic facts about your Waltham watch by entering the serial number on the movement (the "works") in the field on the
NAWCC Information Storage - Waltham Serial Number Data Base (don't use any commas). There is also a
Glossary of the terms provided by the serial number lookup. Should the date not be listed there, this
Waltham Production Date chart is a means for determining the approximate production date.
Having looked your watch up at the above website (using 11783953 as the movement serial number), it can be seen to be, as Jon said, an 18-size watch. It is a 15-jewel, grade No. 820, built in about 1903.
Catalog Information for some Waltham watches can be seen online in scans from the catalogs listed below. Check the 1903 Oy Co. catalog to where your watch movement fit in the Waltham line.
1887 (Updated to 1889) S.F. Myers Catalog at:
www.elginwatches.com/scans/sales_catalogs/1887_S_F_Myers/m_index.html
1896 Marshall Field Jewelry Catalog at:
www.elginwatches.com/scans/sales_catalogs/1896_Marshall_Field/m_index.html
1903 Oy Company Catalog at:
www.elginwatches.com/scans/sales_catalogs/1903_Oy_Company/m_index.html
1917 Oskamp-Nolting Catalog at:
www.elginwatches.com/scans/sales_catalogs/1917_Oskamp-Nolting/m_index.html
1926 Waltham Sales Catalog at:
www.elginwatches.com/scans/sales_catalogs/1926_Waltham/m_index.html
To view these catalogs, 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'.
Only a small percentage of American watches (or Swiss watches for the North American market) were cased at the factories prior to the mid-1920's. Most watch companies just made movements (the "works") in industry standard sizes. The case companies made cases in those same sizes. The practice at that time was to go to a jeweler, select the quality of the movement and then pick out the desired style and quality of case. The jeweler would then fit the movement to the case in a matter of moments.
Or, watches were sold by mail-order. Large outfits such as Sears, Roebuck & Co., Montgomery Ward, or T. Eaton (in Canada), would offer the movements in a variety of cases of different design and quality in their catalogs. Smaller mail-order retailers would case the watches, typically in a 20-year gold filled case and offer it only that way, with the buyer not having a choice of cases.
However, the markings inside of your case indicate that it is a 3-oz. sterling silver case made by the Crescent Watch Case Co. According to "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):
From page 48:
The Chicago Watch Case Co. started in Chicago in 1882, manufacturing gold cases, mostly 10K. Around 1885, the firm moved to Brooklyn, NY, where, after a reorganization, it was renamed as the Crescent Watch Case Co. All production was sold through the Waltham Co. agents, Robbins & Appleton. The distinctive Crescent Watch Case Co. trade mark can be seen in a
old ref::1901 Crescent Ad.
In 1904 the Crescent Watch Case Co. was merged with the
Philadelphia Watch Case Co., Bates and Bacon and the Keystone Watch Case Co.
From page 7:
"... After a series of mergers in 1904 the name became the Keystone Watch Case Co., Riverside, N.J."
Regardless of the company's name, the cases continued to be stamped with the previous, well-known trade names.
Prior to the 1904 merger that resulted in the Crescent Watch Case Co. becoming part of the Keystone Watch Case Co., Crescent had bought up several other watch case companies that had made silver cases (among others), thus expanding their capacity (see link, below).
Good luck,
