A friend at work brought in a couple of pocket watches and asked me if I could tell him anything about them. One was a 12 size 19 jewel Illinois which was no problem but the othe other was a Waltham which I know very little about. I told him I would ask the experts here and see what I could find out. It appears to be an 18 size and all the movement says is "American Waltham Watch Co." and the serial number is 317613. It appearred to be a hunter in an open face case and it was stem wind and lever set.

Looking at the gold book it appeared to be a model 1883 because it had that star shaped piece on the balance cock. Is the serial number enough to determine what it is?

Steve

Steve

According to this site it is a model 1857, any chance you mistyped the serial number, it shows it as a key wind.

http://www.nawcc-info.org/WalthamDB/LookupSN.asp

Any chance of photos?

Tom

Steve, did it look anything like my mdl. 1883...?

It is an 18s, 17j....

Regards,
Jerry

Movement, it's a swingout....

Tom,

I did miss a digit...it was on the other side of the fold. The number should be 3176131. Does that help?

Jerry it looks similar to yours but font is a little different and no jewel markings and no safety pinion markings and no adjusted marking.

Steve

Steve
The data base shows it as a 18s model 1883 grade 5, 13 jewels, stem wind, lever set from 1887

Tom

Tom,

I went to that link and it is Model 1883 Hunter 13 jewels made in 1887. My friend had no idea it was that old. It belonged to his grandfather.

Thanks,

Steve

Steve, You can regale your friend with the news that their watch is a rare Hunter Case adjusted 13 Jewel model with the jewels 8 - 13 in three pairs that honestly lower running friction for the 4th, and escape wheels plus the pallet lever/fork assembly.

It is my opinion that it deserves recognition as a 1 star rare model 1883. While the price guide fails to see it that way, less than 7,000 "honest" 13 Jewel movments (grade #5) were made of Hunter and Open faced cased versions of this watch.

My s/n3176661 is a "kissing cousin" to your friend's as an Open face version made in it's own 500 piece run sequentially after your friend's watch was produced

Dave,

That looks exactly like my friends watch. I see yours is marked with the "Safety Pinion" and I may have missed that. I will be sure to pass on the good news. Thank you all for your help in unravelling this mystery (to me anyway).

Steve