Our earliest Model 1857 yet. We are pretty excited to have it. It is #5928. It has it's original AT&Co case and dial and is in running order. Can't wait for a little slow time to work on it!

Dial...

Case needs a trip to see Leon for the front hinge and a little inner lip work but it is not in too bad of order.

And it still has enough engraving to be interesting...

Nice pre-Civil War-era watch, Robert --
I have not ever seen a dial with the words Appleton Tracy & Co. Such dials (and watches) can't be common, and are certainly early in Waltham's formation.
At one point, according to Mike Harrold's American Watchmaking, A Technical History, the future Waltham company was for a short time called Appleton Tracy & Co. --- not long after Royal Robbins purchased the Boston Watch Co. at auction.
So, your timepiece is not at all the same as a Waltham pocket watch containing an A.T. & Co grade movement. May I ask how you came by that? Auction, referral, pawn shop?

kh

Thanks for showing it!

This watch is indeed pre Waltham when the company was called Appleton Tracy & Co. Between Boston Watch Co and this watch they were also known as Howard, Dennison & Davis. I believe serial number 5001 was the first watch produced by the Appleton Tracy and Co conglomeration. This watch was made in 1857.

There is a very informative piece on the early days of Waltham that can be found at http://www.pricelessads.com/m57/monograph/main.pdf.

It came from an auction. It was found in a box of family keepsakes when an elderly woman in upper New York state passed recently.

Very nice early Appleton Tracy! Would that be 15 Jewels?Nice to find a watch that old and still all original, and running!!!Regards, Ted.

We are expecting to find 16 jewels. It also has a gold balance and a diamond endstone.

The early key winds are the ones that "talk" to me and this will be a grand one when it is done. The plates are very dirty but not a scratch to be seen. The hairlines in the dial will lighten up enough to not be noticeable. It has mismatched hands, although the hard to find one is there, and one wrong screw but everything looks good that I can see now.

I will post follow up pictures in about 6 mo. I am not in a hurry on this one and I want to have a little work done on the case that is outside my skill range.

I would imagine that back in the days this watch was sold, it would have been easy enough to break off a hand while setting it. Winding them up is easy, but setting 'em takes a little practice.

Thank you also for giving us the monograph link. Quite a research effort.

kh