Friday Waltham Scan (Photograph)

[mikeh]

Just received this one today. Looks like typical Riverside finish but the train wheels appear to be gold. It's 17j PS OF. The grey book just says Assorted Special.

Maybe a private label that someone decided to keep private?

 

[Jerry Treiman]

Mike - is it a trick of the light or do I see a recessed-hub escape wheel on this? It also looks like the chamfering of the star wheel is suited to a higher grade watch (as is the gold train). What does the dial look like?

This falls into the 14th run of assorted specials and is the first example from this run that I have seen. A brief review of my research on these assorted runs can be seen on the Pocket Horology Chapter (174) web site --> click here

 

[mikeh]

Jerry,

It sure looks like it. Sorry about the picture quality - all I have is a flash right now.

 

[mikeh]

Oops! The dial is a typical DS Arabic - the type with the bolder minute marks.

 

[Jerry Treiman]

Now that I have had a chance to check my records I find that I do have a couple other watches that have been reported to me from this group of 350 movements. These are two different private-label 18-size 1892 models reported. One is for N.Gamse, New York and the other is for Geo.W.Beall, Lindsay. I do not have pictures of these or information on the jewel count.

 

[Bill Tapp]

I have seen several of these watches over the years. They were purchased as parts by a horological school and finished by the students, and then submitted to the Bureau of Standards for a certificate. The students could get a dial with their signature although most I’ve seen have a Waltham marked dials. I talked to one Denver watch maker, William Eich, who carried his watch, and was able to buy the watch finished another Denver watch maker named Jesse Hanson. I would be somewhat surprised if your watch isn’t 19 jewel as all the others I’ve had apart have the jeweled barrel.

 

[Bill Tapp]

Here is a quick scan of the Jesse Hanson watch which is 7 numbers earlier than Mike's.

 

[Jerry Treiman]

Bill - this is some great information! Do you know the serial numbers of any other examples? I wonder if it was a discrete block of movements that Waltham provided to the horological school or just a random grab of unfinished movements.

 

[mikeh]

Bill,

Thank you very much for the information. It makes the watch infinitely more interesting to me. And I have no doubt that you're correct about the jewelled barrel.

 

[Bill Tapp]

Jerry,
It's been 35 years since I've seen William Eich's watch and 20 since I've worked on any but mine. That being said, I believe they were all in the same group of numbers. At the very least all were listed as assorted specials.

Bill

 

[Tom McIntyre]

This is a bit off topic, but this watch was found in Fred McIntyre's effects and is a similar example from Elgin.

 

[Kent]

Tom:

I can't quite read the serial number, would ou please tell us what it is?

Thanks,

 

[Tom McIntyre]

The serial number is 19210041. Here is the page on the watch.

 

[Kent]

Tom:

"Here is the page on the watch." ?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?.?. (D*mn Emoticons - I had to go back and edit this to get rid of them)

I see that Wayne was aware of this watch - did he get the data from you, or did he catch it on eBay before you bought it?

 

[Tom McIntyre]

I wish the links had better highlighting on this message board. The link to the page is under the word "here" above. It also tells how I got the watch.

 

[Kent]

*Sigh*

I've found out that you can make the Link Bold, but you can't change the color or underline it.