Last night, a friend showed me an 83 Waltham with the Santa Fe Route marking on the movement. I looked up the serial number and found that it was a Crescent St. grade, 17 jewels and a hunting model. The dial matches one shown in the book Railroad Timekeeping, which came from the 1996 seminar in Rockford. (See item 30, page 12) My friend's dial is the same dial, but puts the word Waltham under the 12, and lacks the words Santa Fe Route. Any thoughts on these watches and dials?

Jerry,

It is my belief that these 83 model SF Routes should have a similarly marked dial. There are at least a couple dial variations which include the railroad style in single sunk and a more standard double sunk version. All seem to have the same "SF Route" logo below the 12. If I remember correctly, some (but not all) of the dials are also marked Waltham in an arc above the seconds bit.

I have also seen a couple of these watches with dials marked "Santa Fe Railway System, Standard Dial". These may also be original.

Having said all this, I have also seen a couple examples with the dial you describe. I know at least one of these that was added by the seller as a close approximation to the original.

Hope this helps.

Lindell,

I can definately see the motivation for someone splitting up a dial and movement in an attempt to create two rare watches, but most dial collectors I know are also watch collectors and wouldnt think of splitting up an original matched set (i.e. Santa Fe Route movement and dial).

I would think that most of these watches with missing dials are the result of someone replacing a damaged dial in an attempt to "upgrade" the watch. In the past I have seen many of these type of movements without the correct dial, but only a handful of the dials on other movements.

Rhett