Every so often, you buy something with your heart, rather than your head.

At the World-Wide Traders Mart, before the National, I came across a simply gorgeous large Elgin Hunter. The case was beautiful and I couldn't find a flaw. The hands were cat-house fancy but the dial was the star.... dark blue with gold numerals.

The seller, with whom I've done business before, refused to consider an offer. He said that the "Ohara" dial and the pristine condition would command his price.

He let me take the watch to a few of my friends, who took one look at the dial and agreed... instantly recognizing it, again, as an "Ohara."

So I bought it and, on further inspection, I've yet to find any signficant faults. It is strikingly beautiful and I don't regret the purchase.

I ordinarily collect Hamilton and Illinois; mostly RR grade. I don't know a lot about fancy dials and nothing about "Ohara" except that everyone makes a big deal about it?

What's the story?

Why the big deal?

1) Beauty
2) American Pride
3) A lost art

They made some of the most BEAUTIFUL dials, especially in the earlier days. And it has been written that only one out of scores of these that came "out of the oven" was good enough for resale.

Jeff Hess

Peter,

Can you please post a picture of the Ohara dial. I have never seen one before.

Thanks,
-Steve

I do have a photo but.... it does not have the bezel off and, therefore, doesn't give the best view. Anyone who has broken an Elgin HC crystal can understand why I don't remove them except at the "shop" and, even then with a great deal of care and trepidation!

Here's a shot of the case on that Ohara Dial Elgin. It's easy to fall in love.

Peter,
Welcome to IHC 185!

Ve r - y pretty! Thanks for showing! Maybe there will be others who can give more info regarding Ohara dials. Others?

Wow Peter! That dial is beautiful.

I also bought a deep blue dial Elgin at National. My photo looks a bit different due to lighting. In person, it looks more like your photo. Notice the radians that are accentuated here by the light. In the flesh, they are very subtle. Would this also be an Ohara dial?

The watch it is on is an 18s adjusted 17j with a serial number in the 49 millions.

Ron

Are those Elgins O'Hara??

Jeff

Nice dial Lindell!

Frankly I have no idea Jeff. I'd like to know as this is a new aspect for me. I bought the watch because it was a bit different than most of the RRs I have.

Lindell: That is indeed a beautiful dial and I enjoyed the discussion about it in the older post.

Are O'Hara dials marked the the back?

Thanks,
Ron

Hi Peter,
There is an article mentioning Daniel O'Hara (in part) at;
http://www.antiquorum.com/vox/june_2002/poniz/poniz.htm
Some of the other parts of the web page are quite interesting and it shows a few O'Hara dial examples.

"Daniel O’Hara (1855-1912) is largely responsible for raising the quality of American watch dials.
O’Hara was trained as a casemaker, working for the Dueber Case Company and later as a foreman for the Waltham Case Department, where he operated for 10 years. In 1890, O’Hara joined Edward Weatherbee, who had a small dial-making operation in Waltham, Massachusetts. Together, they secured a few Swiss “painting machines” and began to experiment with new techniques.

The new company was named Waltham Watch Dial Co.

In 1893, Weatherbee left Waltham Watch Dial Co. to become the superintendent of the dial department of the Trenton Watch Company. O’Hara would later change the company name to O’Hara Dial Co., becoming one of the most important manufacturers of special and unusual dials.

In May of 1893 American Jeweler wrote that O’Hara Dial Co. makes watch dials underglazed for all of the factories in the country.
They continued: “The secret name dial, where the name or words are printed so small that they are not visible to the naked eye has created quite a furor in the trade”. And so, the American “secret signature” was born. Breguet had been first, but others, in this case the Americans, followed his lead.
In the June 1895 issue of American Jeweler, O’Hara wrote an article entitled “The Manufacture of Watch Dials”. After a technical description, O’Hara explained how his company sent dials to France, Germany and Japan, noting that his firm “had complete departments for production of dials by a number of special processes”. After 1893, he developed a wide variety of dials, many of which had never been seen before. His business card advertised “manufacture and decoration of all kinds of dials, society, club and lodge buttons”.

O’Hara continued to make dials for 20 years, focusing on unusual patterns and techniques. By 1898, his work force had been reduced by 75% following competition from a newly established watch dial company in Sag Harbor on Long Island which specialized in making hand painted dials

Few of his dials have survived today. The collection presented here by Antiquorum includes some of the most elaborate O’Hara and Sag Harbor dials known to exist.
For a long time, American watches were neglected by international collectors, primarily because of the lack of quality American timepieces outside the United States. Favre-Perret and O’Hara may have boasted of the exportation of American watches, however in reality their talk was centered on singular incidents and was by no means a trend.

Regards, Barry Parker

When I was checking on the O'Hara link, I noticed that there was a colour pic of what I call a camping dial, on the Antiquorum site.

The central scene on that colour pic differs in small details to the black and white copy I had seen in a brochure. However, the actual dial may have been in colour and the pic photocopied in b&w.

These differences in detail would be proof that they were hand painted individually and not decals.

I had seen this black and white copy of this dial years ago and was quite fascinated by the hand painting on the centre dial sink at the time, so I decided to have a go at painting one myself on an old Elgin signed centre, just to see what I could come up with.

This was the black and white copy I had to work from;



This is what I painted;



Compared to the original at a similar scale;


(I know I missed a few details here and there, but I didn't spend more than twenty minutes on it)

Apparently, this is a Sag Harbor dial and not an O'Hara.

Sag Harbor is probably an even rarer dial painting company ?

Regards, Barry Parker

Wow! Thanks for the articles. But, now I really don't know if my watch is an Ohara and I am seriously beginning to doubt it. At the IWW Mart, where I spotted the watch, I took it around to a few people. Everyone looked at the dial, noted that it was gorgeous and proclaimed it an "Ohara."

But we really lack the kind of documentation and price guides, in this area, that we sometimes rely upon in others. And... I've learned NOT to take off bezels, on HC watches, at home at all. I don't do that until I have them at the "shop" and can devote my full attention and efforts. There are some crystals, especially Elgins, that are nearly impossible to replace if broken.

As I said, this purchase was one of love rather than practicality. Whatever that watch and dial are... they are a joy to behold.

Just for your peace of mind, there are no "impossible" crystals. I have access to two collections, each of which has over 100,000 crystals and over 20,000 sorted by size.

Thanks for the offer, Tom. I'll be certain to take you up on it, someday.

I am quite fond of beautiful dials. As far as I can determine by my research, these appear to be all O'haras:
Number 1

Number 2

Number 3

Number 4---wish I took better pictures

Number 5

Number 6

Number 7

Number 8

Number 9

Number 10

Number 11

This is the last of my 1883 Walthams. These are hard to find and I believe I am fortunate to have them. I hope you enjoy them.

Mark,

Very nice assortment of BEAUTIFUL dials.
Thanks for showing them!

Mark S.,
Fabulous dials! I'm glad you shared them with us. I too, love those beautiful colored dials! Now you've got me wondering if I have any O'Hara dials sitting on top of any of my pocket watches.

Does anyone know what exactly to look for in identifying an O'Hara dial? (without removing dial). Where might the invisable- to- the -naked eye- O'Hara signature be located on the dial?

The only way to know for sure is to check the signature on the back.

I only have one O'Hara dial and it is not fancy. It's just an ordinary single sunk indicator dial.

I will dig around and see if I can find a picture of the back.

This is my only O'Hara -- on a 12-size Waltham from about 1904. Without an O'Hara mark on the front or back I do not know how one could be certain.

This is one signed on the front that showed up on eBay about a year and a half ago (auction ended early).

Thanks for posting the back view Jerry. Mine looks like yours except that the indicator dial cuts out part of the stamp.

wonder who made this one...