I got this a few years ago and I have not seen another waltham that is trasitional are they rare? this is a P.S. Bartlett 18 size,15 jewel,model 1883,lever set and you can stem wind it or key wind it that what a transitional watch is,serial no 4629180 made around 1890 I have seen other brands that were transitional but never a waltham and they are not listed in the book some of you call the bible.Thanks for any help.On the key that came with it there is a kind of a fob with the owner's name and marked tiffany did they sell waltham watches out of there store?And it in a Fahys coin hunter case.

The Hawkins report claimes 4500 Key Wind model 1883 were made, and the waltham book shows this as part of a 1500 piece Key Wind run.

It could well be that Waltham revised some of those to Pendant Winding, Lever-Setting watches, or it may have a commercilly availabel conversion. The commercial conversion would make it very desirable indeed. To find out what is going on would necessitate lifting the dial.

David what is the harkins report I never heard of it before.

as below;

Thanks David for the info.

Mike,
I don't believe Waltham made any transition watches. There was an after market item called Abbott's Stem wind attachment. This converted a key wind to a stem wind. Like Dave said, you would have to pull the dial to be sure.
Brian C.

Hi Brian
Did the Abbotts stem wind attachment have a lever?
Mike

Hi Brian
I found this on the web.
http://barrygoldberg.net/watch43.htm

Mike,
Here are two sites that combined have a lot of information on early Walthams.

http://www.awco.org/

http://www.plads.com/m57/