Anatomy of an 1899-Vanguard part 2.

Waltham 1899-Vanguard, 23J, 1904/5

Waltham 1899-Vanguard, 23J, 1904/5

The Vanguard in the previous post ran stronger and stronger as the oil circulated and things settled down, in fact is was running too strongly and was reaching the point where the balance could swing too far and, particularly if knocked at just the wrong time the impulse jewel could have broken. So a  steel spring has replaced the alloy (which is stronger for its size) and all is now well.

The watch has metal dial which although not perfect is in remarkably good condition for is age - whilst they do not hairline like ceramic dials they can get very shabby.

The case is Filled Gold by Bates & Bacon, owned by Philadelphia Watch Case Co when this case was made.

Now for the next watch, an Omega this time I think.

Anatomy of an 1899-Vanguard

Face or "Bottom" plate

This is one of a series of posts illustrating the main grades of Waltham size 16 watches, primarily the 1899 & 1908 models. It is not practical to put a huge number of photographs into each post or to illustrate each of the  grades to be covered with more than a couple of pictures so I have taken detailed photographs as I worked on this 23 jewel 1899 Vanguard Railroad grade movement to show what is inside.

Although this is a very high grade watch all of the 1899 & 1908 movements are of the same basic configuration. Click on the image for a much larger picture.

There is not much to say about the bottom plate except to point out the damascening even where you can't see it. Top centre is the winding / setting mechanism controlled by the Lever on the other side.


Mainspring assembly: This grade of watch has jewels to the mainspring arbour, they are housed in in the top of the barrel (shown centre bottom) through which the two part arbor ("axel") passes. The barrel is top left and the spring fits inside it with the geared lid or top, naturally, on top. The whole is kept together by the little screw thingy bottom right going through the barrel and into the other part of the arbour. On lower grade watches the arbor is in one piece and the barrel and top are not secured together directly but held together by the plates of the movement.

Next we have the part of the frame holding the main top jewels plus the bridge that holds the lever pallet. On this high grade movement the jewel settings are gold and the three larger ones are set using screws rather than pressed.

The lever pallet and escape wheel both have cap jewels (bottom left and on the pallet bridge - but they don't show up very well). The engraving on this model has been highlighted with a gold wash.


Having been cleaned the movement is now ready to go back together and the main wheels are "planted" into the face plate, the mainspring barrel has been placed early to show how it fits in.

Note the steel escape wheel on the Swiss lever escapement ( the lowest in the picture). The centre wheel is gold whilst the other wheels are brass.






It takes a little fiddling about, particularly with the escape wheel with its end jewels making for a very shallow hole to get the pivot into but soon we end up with the movement basically back together and the lever pallet can be put in which is another fiddly job.









Almost there now and its time to fit the balance. The Vanguard has gold balance screws which gives a heavier balance and better timekeeping but requiring a stronger hairspring.

The double roller can be seen in the centre on the "axel", the main benefit of the double roller is improved timekeeping when being subjected to the normal bumps it will take whilst being worn.

A second advantage (later not usually taken) is that the roller can be made in two parts one of Bronze and the other steel which allows the impulse jewel (just visible at the bottom of the light brown disk) to be set into the bronze without glue - which is not practical in steel - whilst the rest be the stronger metal needed there.

Why the Blank Faces?

Have you ever wondered why so many pocket watches do not have a makers or retailers name on the face? Well wonder no more.   

A Waltham 1899-620 with a bespoke 3 piece dial by Fattorini
the name was incorporated into the dial during manufacture
an expensive option and not common. This is from 1903, later
the Waltham name would probably have been included or a
Waltham dial used with the Fattorini name applied later.

In England (but not normally in America) it was the custom for the retailer, not the maker, to sign a watch, probably harking back to when watches were finished locally. The maker might sign the watch under the dial (e.g. Rotherham) or not at all (most others), an analysis I carried out of watches from three important Coventry makers showed 70% were not overtly signed by the maker. Most Swiss makers conformed to this custom at least into the 1930s although they may have had their own "English" brand, such as Revue signing their movements "Vertex".

American makers almost always signed there movements and faces (despite the dials being sourced in UK for from Switzerland) although a retailer might then add their name with a transfer print or commission their own dial as did Fattorini in the example shown here.

Names were applied to watch faces in two main ways, the expensive and best method was to have the name applied along with the numbers, chapter ring etc. during the manufacture of the ceramic face, this meant the name would be permanent but this was really only practical for relatively high volumes or for expensive watches and brands.

LWC watch for Fattorini

Alternatively the name could be painted on or more likely applied by a transfer print process which was much cheaper. The problem is that these are non-permanent solutions and the name would flake off and when it got too bad the owner or restorer would remove the rest.   

That is probably what happened to this recently restored watch by The Lancashire Watch Company for Fattorini & Sons, dating from 1911, although the movement is not signed the silver case has the Fattorini hallmarks so we can be sure that it was one of “their” watches and it would surely have had their name on the face.

The Waltham S16, 1899-620/625 & 1908-620/625

1899-620 Hunter 1902

This is one of a series of posts illustrating the main grades of Waltham size 16 watches, primarily the 1899 & 1908 models. Note that specifications did change over time, the description below being typical.

The 1899 and 1908 versions are essentially the same and so can be treated together.


1908-620 Open Face 1918

This was probably the best value watch in the range in terms of price performance, in todays terms the movement without a case cost $297, certainly a big premium on the 7 jewel -610 which was $187 (and the Traveler the Gilt version) but it was $79 cheaper than the 625 which was the same except for two extra jewels which would not have made a significant difference to the performance.

The nickel movement has 15 Jewels, a Swiss lever escapement with a Breguet Sprung cut compensating balance with micro adjuster. It is unadjusted and has a single roller. Hunter and open faced versions were produced, all are pendant set. There were a few 17 jewel versions made but I have never seen one in UK.

The difference in movement layout illustrated by the two examples is down to the difference between a Hunter and an Open Faced design to get the winder at 3 o'clock.


The 1899-625 & 1908-625


1899-625 Hunter from 1903

The -625 is the same as the - 620 but with the addition of 2 jewels for a total of 17.

The Waltham S16, Riverside Maximus

1899-Riverside Maximus c1903 Courtesy of John Scott

This is one of a series of posts illustrating the main grades of Waltham size 16 watches, primarily the 1899 & 1908 models. Note that specifications did change over time, the description below being typical.

The Maximus grade was reserved for some of the most prestigious watches made by Waltham, although technically the size 16 open faced lever set versions  exceeded the requirements to be a Railroad grade watch, being very similar to the best Vanguards, they were not marketed as such and had enhanced cosmetics. They were also available in open face and hunter configurations and both were available as Lever or Pendant set.

The face of the same watch. Courtesy of John Scott

The movement is in damascened nickel and is adjusted to temperature, isochronism and five positions. The Swiss lever escapement with steel escape wheel has a double roller and a Breguet sprung cut compensating balance with micro adjuster. The train, jewel mounts and balance screws are in gold and it has 23 diamond, fine ruby and sapphire jewels.

The example shown is a Pendant Set 1899 model Riverside Maximus dating from approximately 1903. It is in hunter configuration and in a filled gold half-hunter case.

Three Completed S16 Waltham Watches.

The three movements shown below are now back in their cases.

On the left is the Pendant set 17J 1899-Riverside from 1900/01. The Three piece dial (see previous post) is signed by Fattorini & Sons  Watch & Chronometer Manufacturers, Bradford, Fattotini are still in business as makers of insignia, medals and trophies (they made the FA cup among others), their dials come up on occasion buy rarely do you see these nice three piece dials on a size 16 Waltham.

The middle watch is a railroad grade 21 Jewel 1908-Crescent St, it has an uncommon (for a lever set watch) hinged front so it is more convenient and quicker to set than a watch with a screw on bezel. The three piece dial is a US railroad approved type.

On the right is a 23J 1908 Vanguard from 1935/6 and shortly after this one was made the movement was changed loosing the nice screw set jewels in their gold mounts (see this post below), the dial is typical of these later watches.

Watch Face Construction

An item for potential watch anorak's (or watch buyers).

Since the middle of the 19th Century pocket watch faces were usually ceramic (not porcelain!) with a few made in various metals and  "Dollar" watches often having a paper dial stuck onto the movement. Here are three examples from Waltham watches, you may need to click the image to see the detail.

The first two are "Normal" dials with the secondary dial recessed slightly for affect and to give the second hand a little more room under the hour hand, the third dial, on the right, has a lower section in the centre as well as having the recessed secondary dial which looks very good. Now lets look at the backs:

Now we can more easily see that the two on the left are made differently, the first had the recess simply pressed into the surface of the enamel whilst the higher quality middle dial has a separately made subsidiary dial fixed into the main dial which gives a much more pleasing effect in "real life". The right hand dial takes this a stage further and has a third recessed section in the centre of the face and on this example it is again a separately manufactured piece.

On older watches you can also get dials with no recess and lower quality dials can be found with two recessed sections can be made from one or two pieces but this does not give such a crisp finish..

The number of pieces matters!