Catchy subject title eh .. ?

lookie here , and yes im showing the off because im proud to own it but i also have a few questions ... was this made so as to make it railroad approved ? or did they run out of hunting cases lol ... anyone have anything else like this , id like to hear about it or see them . are these pretty rare ?
and aint that a handsome choo choo ?

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Nice dial Pete!

I've seen this same style of conversion dial before for the 18 size Vanguard and Crescent St. grades but this might be the first 845 I've seen.

If I remember correctly the Vanguard and Crescent St. dials I've seen have been marked with the jewel count as well as the grade name in the circle at the 9 O'clock position.

Thanks for showing!

Fred

fred , any idea why they did the hunting case mvt in the open case ?

I really don't know ... I might guess perhaps to move along some unsold HC movements?

The conversion dial was not unique to Waltham though, and other companies (Hamilton, Illinois, and Rockford come to mind) made various HC to OF or OF to HC conversion dials. But I've always especially liked the style of these model 92 Waltham conversion dials with the circle opposite the seconds-bit containing the grade (and sometimes jewel count) markings.

There are also conversion dials for some companies that rather than rotating the orientation of the numbers instead simply eliminated the seconds-bit. One that comes to mind is the high grade 12 size Illinois hunters such as the A. Lincoln or grade 410 ... these turn up fairly often cased in open-face case and with metal dials without seconds-bits.

Fred

Pete Beautiful watch ,,dial case and movement all look great..

Pete,
FANTASTIC COMBINATION!!

I bet that someone just wanted a watch that represented all THEY wanted, and they got a pretty great combination in my book.

Looks Great. I like this one a lot!
Congratulations on a wonderful find!!!

Pete, I think Fred is right about the conversion dial being introduced as a way to move unsold hunter movements by making them "legal" for railroad time service.

Having the winding stem at 12 o'clock was a railroad requirement, and that's what these dials did for a hunter movement when it was put into an open-face case. You just have to get used to having the seconds bit at 3 o'clock.

Adding the circular cartouche with the maker's name and grade of the watch at 9 o'clock balances the design of the dial and also makes for a very cool-looking watch.

thanks for the input , i knew they didnt run out of hunting case watches , but it was funny to say it that way .

do you fellas think they made alot of them ?
should definately be rarer in this variation one would think , thus more desirable

of course the book of watches has no reference to them that i have seen

Hi Pete -

I don't think a lot were made, and I think it would be fair to say as a whole this style dial with the grade marking is at least somewhat scarce. Also the 845 may well be scarcer than the other grade markings on this style dial (I don't think I've seen another for an 845), but I haven't studied these long enough or closely enough to say this in much confidence.

I definitely think these dials should bring a decent premium over the common typical dials normally found on these grades, and watches with these dials are what I was referring to with the 7th line ("Conversion dials ...") in my Waltham 1892 model request in our WANTED TO BUY forum ...

1892 Model Walthams wanted

Fred

fred , as always i enjoy your input , thanks for the help and kind remarks ...

have a great holiday season, and merry christmas !