Hi Folks,

I had mentioned this Waltham Broadway, Model 1877, 7j key wind hunter some months ago but the pictures were not too good. Here's a better attempt.

I purchased the watch on eBay. At the time, I didn't know if the dollar coins were genuine. The original dial had a number of hairlines but the watch appeared to be in decent shape.

When I received it, there was a glaring problem that I hadn't noticed. The dial cover with glass was missing however it was in better shape than I expected. No dings or dents.

I located a NOS dial for it. I'm curious why Waltham did not see fit to label the dial with their name.

As for the missing flip up dial cover, William Fassler fitted a NOS one he had and it's absolutely perfect. William White fitted a heavier crystal which does not interfere with the case closing and latching.

Paul Davis made it run like new. Just sitting around, it loses maybe 15 seconds a week. If I carry it, it's around 2 minutes a week.

Unfortunately, I don't know if the case originally came with the watch, or the dollar coins were added later. I never run across any pictures of an identical watch. There is nothing on the case which I can identify as to the manufacturer. On the inside cuvette, there's a 'K', followed by a 75 and a 2 with what appears to be an overstruck 4, and followed by what looks to be an upside down 1.

The case color looks to be 14K and the case is finished in coin edge.

The front coin is an 1882 Morgan silver dollar with a San Francisco mint mark. The rear coin is an 1877 US trade dollar with a San Francisco mint mark. Trade dollars were only minted for 1873 - 1878. I'm thinking the 1882 dollar was chosen for when the watch was purchased - manufactured in 1881, and the 1877 dollar was chosen for the model number.

The antitheft device is quite large, about the size of a small acorn - much bigger then the two Nelco's I have. I've been unable to find the manufacturer.

Mort

Watch, chain & keys

Dial

Bezel open

Front

Front closeup

Front inside

Back

Back inside

Cuvette

Edge

Case markings - on the cuvette

Movement

Antitheft

Very Nice one!

That's a beautiful piece of Americana ! You have a right to be proud.

regards,
bb

I like the antitheft device , that alone has some value ,nice watch

Mort,

That thing is truly massive. I remember this being here for a new crystal and for these large key set watches where the bezel must be opened and closed each time the time is set, I try to use 0.9mm glass instead of the much thinner 0.4mm that I normally use on 16s and smaller hunting cases. It's many times stronger and there is usually enough room under the cover of these big cases to accommodate the thicker glass. I have a question though. What the heck is an anti-theft device and how does it work? Do the 4 spikes come out and impale the thief's fingers when he/she tries to yank the watch away from the owner? Can these spikes be treated with a toxic poison that will cause instant debilitating illness/coma/death? Someone please educate me on this strange and medieval looking device because I've never seen one and I'm very curious.

The watch looks great!

William

Hi William,

Yes, sir. That's a fine crystal.

I guess pocket watches were a prime target back in the day. The antitheft device resides in your pocket with the 4 prongs retracted. When someone pulls on the chain, the prongs come out and snags in your pocket. You have to grab the watch and pull it out of your pocket instead. Sometimes a prong will alert you as it catches on your skin if you try to use the chain. It's a bit painful. Ask me how I know.

The smaller Nelco device shows up on eBay a couple of times a year. I've got a couple for my smaller watches. This larger one shows up very infrequently. I wish I knew who made it.

Mort,

Now I understand. Quite a clever solution! Thanks for explaining.

William

P.S. Be careful with that thing!

Very nice, Morton.

Excellent photographs Mort.
Can you tell how the coins are mounted?
Thanks
Mike

Hi Mike,

The pictures were taken with a new camera that I got a lead on while browsing another clock forum. It's an Olympus TG-5. I've always had problems taking close up pictures with my other cameras. They all required additional lighting which resulted in glare. This camera works extremely well under normal lighting. It's macro mode is called by them as microscope mode. One of the microscope modes is Focus Stacking where when a picture is taken, it takes a number of images, automatically shifting the focus of each image. The images are then stacked into a composite image, resulting in a large depth of field. All of this seems to happen in about the same amount of time as a regular picture.

Back to the coins.

As far as I can tell, an extremely precise hole was cut in each cover. It appears, perhaps, that silver solder was used on the rim of the hole. Then the coins were placed in the hole while the case was heated. There was no damage to the coin edges and the soldering is almost not visible.

Purely conjecture on my part.

That is one fine pocket watch