Does anyone know anything about this Waltham dial? It is an 18s open face dial.

Thanks,
Harry

Harry,I don't anything about it other than I like it!Was it on a movement? My guess is someone in
the mining industry owned it.
Regards
Roger

Harry, here is a result image from Jones & Horan 2007.

The same dial on Waltham #5622110 sold at Live Auctioneers Sept. 2014 for $200.

Yes Roger it was on a Waltham 11 jewel parts movement.

Boy Lorne I would love to have that case that dial is in. I guess the $10 I have in the dial and parts movement is a pretty good deal then.

I also see it was an 11 jewel movement also.

Just a guess,
It might have something to do with San Francisco or Alaska in the gold rush days. Sort of a private label, but the Waltham throws me off. Perhaps Waltham sold them to the prospectors who succeeded.

Harry, if you have access to, United States Horological Trademark Index, Kurtis Meyers, 2004, apparently there is a reference to Waltham and the gold pick.

I have one of those cases, the sail on the sailboat is even gold but it doesn't have the smoke coming out of the stack and is worn some..

Here is a better shot of the case from J&H.

I don't have access to that Trademark book but I have a friend that has that book. I will ask him about it. Yea Lorne I have 4 like yours and I am always looking for a good deal on another one. Mine do not have the gold sail though. I Like the J&H case because of the excellent condition.

Patrick it may but there was mining all over the US but it could represent that. I don't think it had anything to do with the railroad industry. One because of the crossed picks and two because both examples shown here were both 11 jewel models. Lots of industries relied on pocket watches back in the day.

This may be a little late,but on page 111 of the Trademark of Jewelers and Kindred Trade book,it is shown as a trademark of Waltham.No info on what it means that I can find.Norm

Thank you Norman. Maybe we will figure out what it is someday.

Looking at the dial we can be fairly certain it has to do with mining or geology. Those are definitely mining pick axes that are crossed. From the 1890's mining in the States was a very large industry that employed up to nearly 700,000 miners in it's heyday. Coal ran this country and it's industries up until gas & oil started sharing some of that spotlight.

Perhaps it is the symbol of The United Mine Workers of America [UMW/UMWA]. Here is some history on that great organization;

The UMWA was founded in Columbus, Ohio in 1890 by the merger of Knights of Labor Trade Assembly No. 135 and the National Progressive Union of Miners and Mine Laborers. The constitution adopted by the delegates to the first UMWA convention barred discrimination based on race, religion or national origin. The UMWA founding fathers clearly recognized the destructive power of discrimination at a time when racism and ethnic discrimination were accepted facts in some parts of American culture. The delegates also called for miners to obtain a fair share of the wealth they created "fully compatible with the dangers of our calling." The delegates pledged "to use all honorable means to maintain peace between ourselves and employers; adjusting all differences, as far as possible, by arbitration and conciliation, that strikes may become unnecessary."

Throughout its history, the UMWA has provided leadership to the American labor movement. Among the great UMWA leaders were John L. Lewis, Phil Murray, Bill Green, William B. Wilson, John Mitchell and Mother Jones.

UMWA history is full of legendary and often tragic names. The Molly Maguires; the Lattimer Massacre and the Ludlow Massacre; Matewan and the Battle of Blair Mountain; Paint Creek, Cabin Creek and Buffalo Creek; and Bloody Harlan are some of many legendary stories that have been handed down in the oral history of mining families.

Despite the threat of physical harm and economic ruin, miners have constantly struggled against great odds to achieve their goals: the eight-hour day in 1898, collective bargaining rights in 1933, health and retirement benefits in 1946, and health and safety protections in 1969. The UMWA was weakened by internal factionalism in the 1920s and lost members. Oil was replacing coal as the nation's main energy source and the industry was threatened. The number of coal miners nationwide fell from a peak of 694,000 in 1919 to 602,000 in 1929, and fell sharply to 454,000 in 1939 and 170,000 in 1959.

The UMWA was an influential member of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and was the driving force behind the creation of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO). Organizers from the UMWA fanned out across the country in the 1933 to organize all coal miners after passage of the National Industrial Recovery Act. The law granted workers the right to form unions and bargain collectively with their employers. After organizing the nations coal fields, the miners turned their attention to the mass production industries, such as steel and automobiles, and helped those workers organize. Through the CIO, nearly 4 new million workers were organized in less than two years.

The UMWA was an early pioneer of health and retirement benefits. In 1946, in a contract between the UMWA and the federal government, a multi-employer UMWA Welfare and Retirement Fund was created. The UMWA Fund would change permanently health care delivery in the coal fields of the nation. The UMWA Fund built eight hospitals in Appalachia, established numerous clinics and recruited young doctors to practice in rural coal field areas. A 1977 Presidential Commission found that the UMWA Fund had allowed miners to succeed "in obtaining for themselves a quality of health care comparable to that of many sectors of the industrial population."

The UMWA has also been a leader in the field of worker health and safety. Since its beginning, the UMWA has pushed for technical and statutory advances to protect "life, health and limb." Because of the dust created in coal mines, the UMWA was forced to become expert in occupational lung diseases such as silicosis and pneumoconiosis. In 1969, the UMWA convinced Congress to enact the landmark Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act. That law changed a number of mining practices to protect miners' safety and provided compensation for miners suffering from black lung disease. Perhaps most important, it was the first time that Congress mandated the elimination of a man-made occupational disease. Despite reductions in coal mine dust concentrations, after 25 years this mandate still has not been fulfilled--coal miners still suffer from black lung.

Today, the UMWA continues its primary role of speaking out on behalf of American coal miners. But it also has taken on an active international role by working to end apartheid in South Africa and by helping workers in the former Soviet Union and developing nations form democratic labor unions.

regards,
bb

Thank you Buster you never cease to amaze me. You bring to mind that gold and silver were just two of the many commodities that were mined in this country. The time frame fits the time of the parts movement that came with this dial, the early 1890's.

Thanks for taking the time to share this with us,
Harry