Pocket Watches · Pocket watch
Waltham silver centre seconds chronograph lever pocket watch, hallmarked Birmingham 1888
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- 1888 (hallmarked Birmingham)
- Historical period
- Industrial Revolution (1850 – 1900)
- Country of origin
- England
- Object type
- Pocket watch
- Materials / technique
- silver
- Dimensions
- Diameter 56 mm
- Auction house
- Gardiner Houlgate (auction house), Corsham
- Lot
- Sale 7, lot 208
- Credit line
- Auction lot record: lot 208, The Watch Auction, Gardiner Houlgate (24th February 2021)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Waltham silver centre seconds chronograph lever pocket watch, Birmingham 1888, the gilt half plate lever set movement with compensated balance and regulator signed A.W.Co. Waltham. Mass, no. 3162319 a (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by Gardiner Houlgate (auction house), Corsham (lot Sale 7, lot 208), this is a pocket watch, made in England, dated 1888 (hallmarked Birmingham). The Atlas places it in the Industrial Revolution period (1850 – 1900) of its Pocket Watches collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: silver. Recorded dimensions: Diameter 56 mm. The record is illustrated with 1 photograph.
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
Lot description — Gardiner Houlgate
Waltham silver centre seconds chronograph lever pocket watch, Birmingham 1888, the gilt half plate lever set movement with compensated balance and regulator signed A.W.Co. Waltham. Mass, no. 3162319 and inscribed Pat. Sept. 28.80. Eng. Pat. No. 3224., the dial with Roman numerals, minute track and outer 25/300 scale, gilt hands, blued steel centre chronograph seconds, with gold hinges and engraved cartouche to the reverse, case maker A.B (Waltham Watch Company), 56mm (at fault) - ** Described and illustrated in the book Pocket Watches by Alan Shenton, pg. 307
Historical context
Industrial Revolution (1850 – 1900)
American interchangeable-parts manufacture; railroad time standards; Swiss and German factory systems.
Machine production with interchangeable parts, pioneered by Waltham (1850s) and adopted by Elgin, Longines, Omega and others, made reliable lever watches widely affordable. Keyless winding became standard, railroad watch standards were introduced (1890s), and Swiss and American industries competed globally.
Read the period in the timelineMore pocket watches from this periodEarlier: Precision & Scientific Horology
Atlas type guide
Chronographs and split-seconds watches
A chronograph is a watch with an additional seconds hand that can be started, stopped and returned to zero independently of the timekeeping. Louis Moinet built an early example in 1816 and Nicolas Rieussec a recording 'chronographe' in 1821; Adolphe Nicole's heart-shaped reset cam (patented 1862) made the modern return-to-zero possible. Split-seconds (rattrapante) chronographs add a second hand that can be stopped for intermediate times; flyback chronographs restart instantly.
Chronographs were essential tools for doctors (pulsometer scales), artillery (telemeter), engineers and sport. In wristwatches, Valjoux, Venus, Lemania and later the automatic chronographs of 1969 (Zenith El Primero, the Chronomatic Calibre 11 group and Seiko 6139) are milestones.
What to look for
- Push-pieces on the case band or a single button in the crown (monopusher).
- Subsidiary registers for minutes and hours; tachymeter, telemeter or pulsometer scales.
- Column wheel versus cam control visible in the movement.
- Calibre markings of specialist makers (Valjoux, Lemania, Venus, Landeron).
Dating clues
- Pocket chronographs with heart cam reset: after 1862.
- Wrist chronographs: from c. 1910; two-button designs from the 1930s.
- Automatic chronographs: from 1969.
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.
Read next:Flyback chronographChronograph
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