Waltham Pocket Watches

Waltham pocket watches are so-called because they are made in a place called Waltham, Massachusetts between 1851 and 1957. These watches have been around for a very long time and it is one of the top collectible items of pocket watch connoisseurs around the world. A Waltham pocket watch can cost a thousand dollars. As with any other antiques, the value of a Waltham pocket watch increases as it gets older. Waltham pocket watches are costly, so it is crucial to be able to tell a genuine Waltham from a fake before spending money on them.

A Waltham pocket watch is very different form a Fusee pocket watch or any other watch for that matter. There are three basic types of Waltham pocket watches, the hunting case pocket, an open face pocket and a sidewinder pocket. The hunting case pocket has a cover that encloses the entire face of the watch, the open face pocket has no cover and the sidewinder has no cover over the face but it winds at the 3 o’clock position, hence the name.

A genuine Waltham has an identifying mark at the back which will say A.W.W.Co. and the movement will have the words Waltham, Mass. Walthams without these marks are most probably fakes or cheap replicas. It is very important to write the serial number of the watch so it can be searched on the Internet database. Oldwatch.com is a very good site when it comes to checking the serial number of most antique watches. There are other websites which can be used for reference.

For Waltham watches which have covers, look for “AWco”. This mark on the cover means that the watch cover was also made by Waltham. If you see a different marking, a “K” with numbers, it means that the case is made of gold and the numbers indicate how many carats the gold is. A watch which has been adjusted would say so on the movement on the back of the watch. Adjusted Walthams have more value because they have been adjusted to keep time in different conditions.