Another oddity here:

Serial #B205230

This looks to be original 16S 17J Ball-Waltham
2X Signed "Official Rail Road Standard"
Gold Seal on movement.

But it is PENDANT SET

Case is not original but is a Ball Model Loaner Type.

Any one have any info on this, how many were made, etc.?

Not to imply that yours might not be original Tom, it just got me to thinking. The Walthams could be changed from lever set to pendant set I believe by just adding a pin in the bottom of the stem.

Again I am not positive on that or not just what I recall reading, on yours can you tell if the top plate under the dial has a notch cut for a lever?

Thanks
Tom

Tom;

It does have a notch...so it may be a convert then? Did they even make any pendant set variations, or just conversions?

That's why I posted this here, and also why I joined this group...I appreciate the insight on this and other watches...and will never stop learning all about this fascinating hobby of ours!

Hi Tom

We will have to wait for a Ball expert to join in, I am not an expert at anything watches. I don't know if they made pendant set ones or not, I would have a feeling yours might have been converted since it has the lever notch.

Again this is all just guess work on my part.

I look forward to hearing from the experts.

Tom

According to Ehrhardt & Meggers, Tom's watch was part of a mixed run of 1700 watches numbered B204301-B20600 produced in 1904.

In Ehrhardt's shorthand, the run is designated as 16S-17JONBL-A-OS, which means 16-size, 17 jewels, open-face, nickel plates, Ball-Walthan, lever set, adjusted, Official Standard.

All that would appear to check out, except it has apparently been converted to pendant-set.

I recently received B134881 as a pendant set 17J movement. It had been (nicely) re-cased, long ago. It is the only movement that I have from that run (Run 4, consisting of 400 movements) but I have three movements from the previous run (Run 3, consisting of 300 movements). All of my Run 3 movements are lever set.

As a 17J movement, B134881 would have ceased to be acceptable for RR service at a relatively early stage of its life so I decided that it must have been converted to pendant setting for other use. Therefore, I have converted B134881 back to lever setting.

As to 16s Ball-Waltham movements being originally pendant set, the first run of 400 movements (dating from 1899) were so arranged. The 16s movement numbering commences at B060701 (Waltham 9060701). There do not seem to be many of these 400 first run movements in existence. As pendant set movements, they would not have been attractive for cascading to Loaner status which saved many a 17J ORRS Ball-Waltham movement.

As Lindell has shown us above, his number B060713 exists - and so does B060706. Finding a correct Keystone antique bow case without a lever cut for B060706 was about as lucky as finding the movement. Those Design 1 dials and the correct early thin nut brown hands are not particularly easy to find, either.

At the beginning, it took Ball several years to settle into a regular pattern of 16s watch production. There had been a comparable process of evolution for 18s Ball movement and watch production, some years earlier. Although Ball-Waltham movements from the first run were marked "Sapphire Pallets", movements from Runs 3 and 4 were not.

The Ball-Waltham movements of the early runs (to Run 5 of 1901) were marked "Ball & Co" and the cases did not have a "Ball Model" marking. The latter was introduced for Run 6 when the movement inscription became "Ball Watch Co". For some years the "Ball Model" marking was placed below the case maker's inscription but with the introduction of the "20th Century Ball" (at about Run 29 of 1904) the "Ball Model" case inscription was placed above the case maker's inscription. By then Ball had things pretty well sorted out.

JBS