Hi everyone! Here is a nice Waltham 100 my husband bought recently. It worked properly about a week and then, all of a sudden : nothing! Ok, we have to get it serviced. But the funny thing is… the inside! What on earth is this? I have learnt a lot about Waltham, the story about the 100 jewels, the possibility that « unadjusted » mention is just a trick for the customs ( or not…) but THIS…. I know nothing about watches, my husband knows nothing about watches… but we are ( I hope!) not complete idiots… And THAT doesn’t look correct, am I wrong? The inside mentioning BOTH indications :100 jewels AND 65 jewels. My guess is that at some point of its life, the watch has been repaired with a 65 jewels Waltham part. Is it a problem? For purists, certainly yes. For the proper working of the watch? I suppose not, BUT the point is… the watch doesn’t work properly… for the moment. Your opinions, guys, if I may ask? It would be greatly appreciated! A huge "thanks" to all!
In the mid 1950s, the FTC (and the Department of Corporate and Consumer Affairs in Canada) enacted legislation that meant that only functional jewels could be included in the jewel count of watches. That put an end to such trickery as exemplified by your Waltham. The movement in the Swiss Waltham of yours is an A Schild caliber I think, and it would normally only have 17-jewels. That means there are 83 adipose jewels which serve no purpose other than to skirt false advertising laws. The auto wind rotor on your Waltham has been altered to resemble a perimeter rotor, and there were likely 83 jewels added to that rotor that serve no purpose. This watch was likely a product of a successor company to Waltham, and they either used a 100 jewel Waltham dial on a 65 jewel Waltham, or a 65 jewel rotor on a 100 jewel Waltham. Not too many purist collectors would be interested in this very average Swiss watch, in spite of how it is marked. And the cost of servicing it would be more than it is worth.
Thank you very much for all your explanation. Yes I know it is worth almost nothing. But he loves it! ... Do you mean it is not a self winding ? Because it is. During the short time the watch was working, the hand winding didn't work. It worked only with the self-winding. And then suddenly stopped.
If you read my post again, I specified that it has an auto wind rotor. Where might I have given an indication that it was a manual winder? It should wind itself.
Ah OK sorry. Anyway, I though something was wrong and it is. Let's see if he wants to have the watch serviced even if it doesn't worth the money...