1904 Solid Gold Waltham Trench

1904 Solid Gold Waltham Trench

Creator: American Waltham Watch Co.
Case Material: Gold, 9k Gold
Strap Material: Leather
Case Shape: Round
Movement: Manual Wind
Case Dimensions: Height: 0.4 in (10 mm) Width: 1.23 in (31 mm) Diameter: 1.23 in (31 mm)
Style: Art Deco
Place of Origin: United Kingdom
Period: 1900-1909
Date of Manufacture: 1904
Condition: Good Repaired: Comprehensive mechanical cleaning. Replacements made: NOS Crystal New Open End Watch Band. Polished. Wear consistent with age and use.

What an incredible offering. How about an English Waltham Trench Watch with a rare shadow box military dial from the famous Dennison watch case manufacturing company.
Examine this case very carefully: It is a solid gold, 9 karat Case by the House of Dennison, the premier English case manufacturer of their time. This a rare yellow gold case, many were silver, nickel and other metals.
This 1905 treasure has been restored. Waltham only made 500 of this high caliber movement in 1905, this is a very low production.
Movement: The movement is a rare 17 Jewel model 1900 Riverside grade, Os with a nickel finish that is sparkling with a patented regulator.
How about a little history lesson on British hallmarks, these hallmarks can reveal a lot about a watch?
Let?s review the Hallmarks
375 That is British Stamp for 9 karat solid gold, this happens to be yellow gold
Anchor: The assay office of Birmingham England
The dial is stunning, it is a classic military shadow box The dial is porcelain which was common back the turn of last century.
What is unique about English Waltham WW1. In the early days of wrist watches in the UK American watch manufacturers could not sell finished / assembled watches. There were large tariffs and taxes levied on watched imported to the UK, this was done to protect British watch companies. Movements were set to the UK and British case companies supplied the cases. Dennison was one of the premier manufacturers. They supplied cases to Rolex, Omega, Longines, Mappin, and many others. This case style is highly coveted by collectors for it build quality, design and name, Dennison! Thery were legendary during their day
History about Trench Watches
What is a ?Trench Watch? ?
They were created using 3/0 and 0 size pocket watch movements and installing into watch cases that were meant to worn on the wrist. The watch movement companies would send their movements to independent jewelers, who in turn would select the cases (as described below) to house the movement.
So the ordering process might go like this. A customer walks into a jeweler, with the help of the jeweler, the customer selects a 15 jeweled movement, then they go on to the case selection. The jeweler may recommend a higher end case manufactures like Depollier, and then it is the style of case as many manufactures had several different styles. Once a complete selection was made, the jeweler put it together and delivered the watch. That is how many Trench Watches (wrist watches) were born in the early 1900's.
The movements often came from women pocket watches because the wristwatch as we know was just being discovered. It is not uncommon to see various movements used in different cases, with various years. Remember the wristwatch was just being developed.
They often have some of the following characteristics:
Fixed or Wire Lug: No traditional spring bar attachment as found in today?s watches.
Case Manufactures: There were many case manufacturers that made cases for Trench Watches. Some of the more well know were: Dennison (English Manufacturer) Illinois (not affiliated with the Illinois Watch Company) J Depollier and Sons, Wadsworth, Fahys, Philadelphia, Fortune and many more
WW1 was 1914 to 1918, that is the time frame of many Trench Watches.
One of my favorite trench watch cases from WWI were made by J. Depollier & Son and the English case maker Dennision.. These cases had high quality manufacturing details that made them some of the best of their day Dennison cases were available in Nickel, Sterling Silver, 9K Gold, 14k Solid Gold, 18k Solid Gold.
This movement was made in 1917. The ALD case company was considered on of the best watch case manufactures in the watch world. This case is no exception. This case has a marvelous personalization.
The solid gold case is an oversized Trench Watch case relative to many others. It measures as follows:
31.5MM wide, without the crown, 35MM with the beautiful brass colored pumpkin crown
The watch band is a brand new black Leather 16MM opened ended band "Oily Leather" with a yellow tang buckle
This is what I gave done:
New Crystal
Comprehensive mechanical service
New watch band
Case hand polished with gentle cleaning cream
This is an American Watch company who partnered with the ALD (Dennsion) watch case company to supply watch cases for their movements in the UK. ALD already had a great reputation for high quality, now they were partnering with Waltham to bring England an alternative their watches. It was marriage between Dennsion and Waltham that lasted for many years
American Waltham Watch Co.
Grade: Riverside
Manufacturer:Waltham

Manufacturer Location:Waltham, Massachusetts
Movement Serial Number:14010166
Grade:Riverside
Model:1900

Estimated Production Year:1904

Run Quantity:500
Grade/Model Run: 21 of 44
Grade/Model Total Production:16,700
Size:0s
Jewels:17 Jewel
Movement Configuration:Hunting
Regulator:Patent
Hairspring:Breguet
Please use the pictures as part of the description, ask as many questions as you would like. I am happy to send more pictures of add clarity that you may need
As you can tell from some of my reviews, I am invested in my customers; you are much more than a transaction. Please keep in mind that I put every watch through a 48 hour mild stress test before I ship, that way I know 100% that it is operational. In rare cases that a complication occurs, I will keep you informed.
Condition Report: See Description