I have an Waltham with a serial # 20024957. It has raised jewel caps. Does any one have any info on the movement.

Gene,I tried to look up your Waltham in my Ehrhardt Waltham book, but there's no info, just says "assorted specials".Nothing about grade, size,jewels or adjustment.Is it a 16S?

I also looked it up online and came up with the same. Roger [Odd]

Well it sure looks special. Here are some photos. 16sz

Marked 17 jewel made expressly for Weber Bros, St Cloud Minn. Adjusted

Marked Hamline on the dial

It has a rounded spoke center wheel. and a steel escapement wheel

These 550 Serial Numbers are very likely assigned to a marketing push to make "special" Dealer named watches to enhance sales of the newly upgraded Model 1908. What better incentive than to give some of the more popular Dealers a "special watch" in their own store name to show to prospective buyers.

As for the Weber Bros., St. Cloud, by 1910 St. Cloud was a main hub between Minneapolis/St. Paul (and lines from Chicago) that connected to James J. Hill's Great Northern routes west to Seattle and North to connect with CPR in Winnipeg. There is absolutely no doubt that Weber was an important part of keeping all of that "on time".

That would make this a very singular and collectible watch.

This came In for a repair from a dealer I guess I'll try to buy

I guess what makes this special is that Waltham did not offer private labeling very often. At the lease I have not seen any before.
Does any one else have examples of private label walthams.

Looking in the Waltham book by Ehrhardt, he lists a few pages of private label Walthams & has photos of a few.

Tom

I have one that is a private label. The interesting thing about this is that the name on the dial is printed or painted on top of existing Waltham logo.

The movement on the other hand is only marked with the private name.

I can't quite figure out what it says, but I think it is G H Willoby.

Regards, Krister

Kirster, it is George H. Willoby. He was born about April 1855 in New Hampshire & had a store in Franklin Ma.

This is from the 1899 city directory for Franklin.

Tom

Tom do you have any info on the Weber brothers in St Cloud.

Eugene, I will search some more this evening after work but it looks like the two brothers were probably;
Weber, William S. born 1878 in MN
Weber, John P. born 1880 in MN died 1953

They were both brothers and lived in St. Cloud, they were both listed as jewelers in the census in St. Cloud. Also William was listed in 1900 as a music teacher. At some point it looks like the business was called Weber's Jewelry & Music. Later John was listed as an optician.

I am not sure if this is what the Hamline on the dial refers to but this is a Minnesota connection;

Hamline University

Hamline was named in honor of Leonidas Lent Hamline, a bishop of the Methodist Church whose interest in the frontier led him to donate $25,000 toward the building of an institution of higher learning in what was then the territory of Minnesota.

Tom, you did it again! (And I don't mean spelling my name wrong. ) Thank you very much.

Regards, Krister

Sorry about that Krister, spelling has never been my thing. Today I left a note for a coworker & I signed it Tim, that is pretty bad when you misspell your own name!

Tom/Tim

That is almost as bad as calling your spouse by the wrong name! I hope you don't think I was offended by the mistake because it could happen to the best. (It has happened to me even. )
Regards, Krister

Thanks Tom I was hoping they where railroad watch inspectors.

Eugene
I was hoping for the same thing, I know we will never know who all the watch inspectors were, I am now up to over 1500 in my research. As more and more old newspapers & magazines get up loaded onto the web we will find more and more. I thought I had hit an end then last week I found about 100 more names.

Doing this research I found that some jewelers advertised that they were watch inspectors as their main selling point, then others I find only mentioned in a passing note or even in a wedding announcement. I have even found them listed in ads in high school year books.

I think short of actually going to the city where the jeweler was located and doing some on the ground investigation as long as there was some sort of railroad in the town or street car transportation or mining, we might not ever be able to say for certain if someone was or was not an inspector.

Tom

Well I did get to purchase the Weber brother watch today. I guess I get it up and running in a few days. I will post photos when It is done. If there is intress is this watch I might be persuades in putting it up for sale.