I inherited my great grandfather's retirement pocket watch. He worked for the San Francisco Municipal Railway back in the 1900 - 1910's and retired as the #2 conductor.
The watch is quite heavy and is yellow metal or gold. It is an open face "Waltham". Inside it is engraved with the following: on the case it has, "CWC Co." with a crescent moon and star and the word "trademark". then a little below that it has "Warranted Crescent 25 years". The number on the case is 2036079.
On the watch mechanism the serial number is 16196943. It has the name "J Q Hatch & Co., San Fran., Cal."
From somethings I've read JQ Hatch was a jeweler/watchmaker in SF around 1900-1910. But I just don't understand how Waltham, Crescent and Hatch all work together in this one watch. And when, where and how it was put together.
Anyone with any thoughts. I'm a new member and just thought I might get alittle help.
Sincerely,
Walter
PS: I will try and submit a photo, but my computer skills are not all that sophisticated.
Posts: 9 | Location: San Francisco, California in the USA | Registered: May 17, 2013
Please check the serial # from movement one more time looks to be wrong. your watch is what we call private label was made by Waltham for the SF jeweler And Welcome to best place for watch talk on earth.
Posts: 4395 | Location: Arizona in the USA | Registered: July 23, 2011
The number I am looking at is next to the largest gear of the entire watch mechanism and is along the outer edge. It is the same number as before, 16196943. The other inscribed items I forgot to include were... "17 jewels" and "adjusted".
Walter
Posts: 9 | Location: San Francisco, California in the USA | Registered: May 17, 2013
the case is gold filled ,made by the Crescent Watch Case Co. or is the Crescent model by someone else, and "gold filled" means that it is guaranteed not to wear through to the brass base in 25 years of average use.
Posts: 1746 | Location: Aylmer, Ontario in Canada | Registered: December 15, 2009
Walter, those J.Q. Hatch Walthams are a nice Railroad grade 16s model 1908.They are usually marked No. 1047.I've asked about these before, there is some info on here if you search this section for "J.Q. Hatch".That's a really nice watch to have!Hope this helps...Ted.
Posts: 1323 | Location: Lebanon, Connecticut USA | Registered: March 28, 2008
Here's the only clue I come up with on this serial number:Waltham Grade: Assorted Spec Total Runs 30 Total Produced 12,190 Start Year 1907 End Year 1919
Walter, I forgot to mention, what you have is what's known as a "private label" Waltham watch.J.Q. Hatch contracted with Waltham to have these watches specially made with his name on the movement.These are either a Crescent St. or No. 645 (standard Waltham railroad watches), but with the Hatch markings.Most American,and some Swiss,watch companies did private label watches for jewelers and supply houses back in those days.The Waltham ser. number list lists those as specials, with no name or how many made,so there's no real way to know how many of those Hatch-marked watches were made.You have a real keeper,that's for sure.....Ted.
Posts: 1323 | Location: Lebanon, Connecticut USA | Registered: March 28, 2008