Wristwatches · Wristwatch
Saunders' Waltham Watch Depot Silver Trench Watch, circa 1917
- Maker / attribution
- Waltham (maker)
- Date
- c. 1917
- Historical period
- Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)
- Country of origin
- United States
- Object type
- Wristwatch
- Materials / technique
- silver
- Stock no.
- vws4199
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, Vintage Watch Specialist (vws4199)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Saunders' Waltham Watch Depot Silver Trench Watch c.1917 (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by Vintage Watch Specialist (dealer), United Kingdom (stock number vws4199), this is a wristwatch by Waltham, made in United States, dated c. 1917. The Atlas places it in the Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking period (1900 – 1945) of its Wristwatches collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: silver. The record is illustrated with 6 photographs.
Assembled from the source record's structured fields. Dates and attributions are given as the source states them; where a field is missing the Atlas leaves it blank rather than estimating.
Catalogue description
Dealer description — Vintage Watch Specialist
American Waltham was one of the world's foremost watch manufacturers during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, supplying highly accurate movements that were retailed worldwide. This example was sold through Saunders' Waltham Watch Depot at 3 Southampton Row, London, a respected jeweller and authorised Waltham retailer. Dating to around 1917, it represents the transition from pocket watches to the practical wristwatches worn during the First World War. What's on Offer Offered here is a charming silver trench-style wristwatch dating to around 1917, featuring an American Waltham movement retailed by Saunders' Waltham Watch Depot in London. The crisp white enamel dial is beautifully preserved with bold Roman numerals, elegant blued steel hands and a recessed subsidiary seconds register. Its silver case has developed an attractive, honest patina over more than a century, while the mechanical movement remains visible beneath the hinged caseback. Finished with a black leather strap, this is an authentic early wristwatch that perfectly captures the pioneering years of military-inspired timekeeping. Presented in very good vintage condition, the silver case displays the gentle wear and patina expected of a watch that is well over a century old. The white enamel dial remains exceptionally clean, complemented by crisp black Roman numerals, blued steel hands and a well-preserved subsidiary seconds register. The hinged caseback opens to reveal the Waltham movement, while the watch is paired with a later black leather strap, making it ready to wear or display
Historical context
Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)
The wristwatch displaces the pocket watch; waterproof cases, self-winding and grand complications.
The wristwatch overtook the pocket watch. Military use in the First World War, aviation, water-resistant cases (1926), automatic winding (1923–31), rectangular Art Deco designs and early chronographs and calendars defined the period.
Read the period in the timelineMore wristwatches from this periodEarlier: Industrial Revolution
Atlas type guide
Military, pilot and travel watches
The wristwatch owes much of its adoption by men to warfare and aviation. Wristlets — small pocket watches soldered with lugs and worn on a strap — were used in colonial campaigns and became standard equipment in the First World War, with protective grilles over the crystal ('shrapnel guards'). Louis Cartier's Santos (1904), designed for the aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont, is often cited as an early purpose-made pilot's watch.
In the Second World War governments specified watches in detail: the German B-Uhr observation watches, the American A-11, and the British 'W.W.W.' (the 'Dirty Dozen' set of 1945). After the war, jet travel brought GMT and world-time watches, which show two or more time zones at once — Louis Cottier's world-time mechanism and the Rolex GMT-Master (1955) are examples.
What to look for
- Military markings on the case back: broad arrow, issue numbers, 'W.W.W.', 'A.T.P.'
- High-legibility black dials with luminous Arabic numerals; oversized crowns for gloved hands.
- 24-hour hands and rotating 24-hour bezels or city rings on GMT/world-time watches.
- Wire lugs on early wristlets converted from pocket watches.
Dating clues
- Wire-lug wristlets: c. 1900–1925.
- Military specifications of the Second World War: 1939–1945.
- GMT and world-time wristwatches: mainly after 1950.
General guidance written by the Atlas editors about this kind of object. It is not a statement about this particular piece; for that, rely on the source record above and on physical examination.
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