An early Ehrhardt crown set watch based on a Waltham idea.

The watch is by William Ehrhardt for "The London Manufacturing Goldsmiths Co Ltd of Nottingham" and signed by them and dated from the hallmarks to 1895.

It is an early (for an English Watch) crown negative, pull to set, movement when most English keyless watches were pin set.

It is laid out as an English Lever with a Swiss style club tooth escape wheel and lever, again this was an early adoption by Ehrhardt as a half way house to the full Swiss Lever.

Two Tone Waltham 1892 Royal

A rare and very attractive size 18 1892-Royal Two Tone from 1896/7 just finished restoration. It is pendant set and the Swiss Lever movement has 17 Jewels and a Breguet sprung cut compensating balance with single roller.

Probably as much that is known about the production history of this  grade and model is on this specialist site so I will not repeat it here.

Waltham 1892 Vanguard, 21J, 1903

Another nice Railroad Grade Waltham 1892 Vanguard, this one with 21 ruby and diamond Jewels is from 1903 and has a Canadian railroad dial. It is in a quite rare 14 carat Filled Gold case by Fahys that was guaranteed to "wear permanently" that was only made between 1902 and c 1904.

Waltham 1892-Vanguard, 23J Railroad Watch, 1908.

Jewels are Ruby, Diamond and probably sapphire for the pallet jewels, full railroad grade with a good case. The dial is a "Montgomery", made in three pieces and with the number 6 printed in... full as it should be, these dials are valuable in themselves, one in this condition is currently on the market for $150 + carriage and import charges.

These 1892 watches are selling like hot cakes with 5 going to repeat customers in the last couple of weeks. And with this quality it is easy to see why.

Waltham Size 18 1883-American Waltham Watch Co, 16J c1898

 

This watch was a bit of a puzzle, it is listed in the Waltham "Grey book" - a list of production runs - as being a 17 Jewel "Appleton Tracy" which it clearly is not, I a...m grateful (again) to John S for his expert help which solved the mystery.

By the late 1890's the 1883 model Railroad grade watches had been superseded by the (expensive!) 1892 model and with changing tastes the size 16 1888 and 1899 models were becoming popular. Waltham therefore produced this "Closeout Special" and used up a block of serial numbers allocated to the Appleton Tracy grade. The movement is essentially an 1883-820 or 825 but with 16 jewels rather than 15 or 17 but with cosmetic enhancements to give the appearance of a Railroad grade Waltham at a more modest price. On this occasion a top grade case in 14 carat Filled Gold was also used to produce something special.

 

Three of the best

 

From left to right.

Waltham 1892-Crescent St, 1904, Size 18, 21 jewels and adjusted to heat, cold, isochronism and 5 positions, lever set and a true US Railroad watch.

Waltham 1908-Vanguard, 1913, Size 16, 23 jewels (Ruby plus a diamond end stones), adjusted to heat, cold, isochronism and 5 positions, lever set and another true US Railroad watch.

Waltham 1892-Vanguard, 1900, Size 18, 21 Jewels (mainly ruby), adjusted to heat, cold, isochronism and 5 positions, pendant set and with roman numerals on the face so not a true railroad watch, but close. In a filled gold case.

Waltham Size 18's, Good, Better, Best:

1892 Crescent St 1904

from left to right:

1883-Sterling 7J, Negative set, 1908
1883-820, 15J, Negative set, 1917
1892-Crescent St, 21J, Lever set, 1904

The Crescent St should have larger hands but otherwise is a full spec US Railroad watch.

Waltham 1883-1 Hunter

Here is one for those who like the Waltham 1883, Hunters and BIG watches.

Its a standard leaver set size 18 1883-1, but the case! It's in coin silver by Dueber and weighs in at 108 grams without the movement (but including the case springs), it's 2.2" / 5.7 cm in diameter excluding the pendant and 0.8" / 1.97cm thick. A serious watch

Coin Silver: US Silver standards were a mess when this watch was made with no legal definitions until 1906 but most cases stamped “Coin Silver” are between 0.892 and 0.930 pure as used in US coinage which was frequently melted down for watch cases, as English currency was for English cases