Today I have my Waltham Model 1892 pocket watch. This came from my grandfather who I think got it from his father, although it may have originally been owned by an uncle. I believe the original owner worked on a railroad, hence the very basic appearance of this watch. I believe the case material is called Silveroid, which is a mix "of 45% nickel, 54% copper and 1% manganese." I'm also under the assumption the dial is porcelain over metal. There's a small chip at the edge that reveals the layers, but otherwise the dial is in very good condition. The serial number dates this to 1907 or 1908, and as far as I know the leather lanyard is just as old. I actually carried this around and used it for a while when I was in high school (around 17 years ago) but I realized recently that it is no longer working. I will probably take it to my watchmaker to service soon. I've always been amazed at the decoration on the movement in this watch compared to the very plain exterior. I don't know much about pocket watches, far less than I know about wristwatches, so this site was very helpful. The movement on this is marked "Appleton, Tracy & Co." but I'm still unsure what that means, or who Appleton, Tracy & Co. were. This watch is very interesting to me as a piece of American history as well as a family heirloom.
Today I have my other pocket watch, a Waltham Model 1894. Based on the serial number this one was made in 1932 or 1933. This was originally owned by my great-uncle and was another watch given to me by my grandfather. Unfortunately, like Friday's watch, this one has stopped working sometime in the last 15-20 years. The gold-filled case is still attractive, as is the dial (which could use a cleaning) but it will need servicing before it keeps time again. This watch has a 12s movement which is considerably smaller than Friday's 18s. It's another nice pocket watch with some family history, and it probably deserves to be made functional again.
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