Dominion Railways pocket watch by Waltham

[brokenrail]

Here is a very rare Dominion Railways pocket watch I wanted to share with you. It was made by the American Waltham Watch Co. of Waltham, Massachusetts a suburb of Boston it is 18 size, Hunter cased in a massive coin silver case made by the Keystone Watch Case Co. of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is a full plate, lever set, gilt movement, Model 1883, Grade Appleton Tracy & Co. Manufactured circa 1889, and the plates are inscribed "DOMINION RAILWAYS". The dial is a single sunk made of glass porcelain fired on to a copper disk with a hand-painted pastoral scene that has blue skies with puffy white clouds and trees in the background, grassland in the foreground and the view of a 4-4-0 American steam locomotive with smoke coming out of the stack and drifting along her back towards the wooden cab "DOMINION" painted on the tender.

Coin silver caseback

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Case hallmark

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Case

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Pocket watch movement

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Movement close-up

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The hand-painted glass porcelain dial

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Dial close-up

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas

[stem]

It's quite a beauty. What a great piece in your collection. Thanks for the photos.

As the Dominion Atlantic wasn't formed until 1894, exactly what railroad is this from?

[brokenrail]

Hello Steve:

As for the discrepancy between the date of manufacture, and the forming of the Dominion Atlantic in 1894, I believe these Dominion Railways were made for the DAR, they are unique, and the only other dials that were similar were made for the CPR here is an example manufactured around 1891. American Waltham also manufactured many other grades of CPR marked movements from the 1890s into the early 20th century, many of these were sold through Eaton's.

Larry

[Dan Conlin]

Certainly a beautiful watch. I have always thought of Waltham as the classic railway watch maker but didn't know they did such lovely illustrated work.
I wonder if the name "Dominion Railways" may have been intended more broadly for the Canadian railway market and not just the DAR, which as Steve mentions, didn't exist when the watch was made. Dominion used to be the fond old way of referring to Canada, as Dominion Day and was used for branding by firms like Dominion Textiles, Dominion Securities etc.
Anyway, just a thought.

Dan Conlin

[stem]

There's enough evidence to suggest that this watch was not specifically issued for the Dominion Atlantic Railway. There were a few other railways that used the term Dominion in their names.

Most notably Great Falls and Old Dominion Railway, The Western Dominion Railway Company or The Washington and Old Dominion Railroad.

Alternatively, in Canadian law you will find the we had the Dominion Railway Act that could have been the source of the term Dominion Railways:
http://books.google.com.br/books?id=pYc ... ct&f=false

There is even a historical society called the Old Dominion Railway Historical Society out of Richmond Virginia. This might have also been the source of the term Dominion Railways at the time the watch was made.

Of further interest to you, I also found a thread from another message board that deals specifically with this watch that you might find interesting in regards to persuing the history of this watch. Apparently you are in rare company with this beautiful time piece even though many were made at that time.

I will continue to keep my eye out for any further information on this timepiece. I would be very pleased in fact to discover evidence that this was specifically a DAR watch!

[brokenrail]

Although the serial number shows that this Dominion Railways movement was manufactured in 1889, and that the Dominion Atlantic Railway was not formed until 1894 does not necessarily mean that the watch was made to early to be used on the DAR. American watch factories at that time had lots of inventory stored in their warehouses. This Model 1883 Appleton Tracy & Company movement could have been taken from inventory in the 1890s and had a customized dial, and mainspring barrel bridge engraved Dominion Railways, as the DAR was part of the CPR system, and the only other dial like this made by Waltham were marked CPR my feelings are that these watches was made for the Canadian market especially with the 24 hour markings that were not used in the USA. I will post some other photos of Waltham Models 1883, 1892, and 1908 with movements marked for the Canadian Pacific Railway to try to explain this, there is a lot of debate among watch collectors about the CPR marked Model 1883, as the Canadian Pacific marked barrel bridge was added to many different grades and dates of manufacture, once again taken from factory inventory. I hope this helps clarify my postings, many years ago I saw a listing for a private-label jeweler from Nova Scotia with his name on the dial, and a Waltham Dominion Railways movement, I will try to find this information.

Larry

Close-up of CPR marked dial

[Dan Conlin]

It strikes me that the fact that the watch uses the Canadian term "railway" instead of the US style "railroad" would also support that the watch was aimed at a Canadian market.

Dan

[stem]

I look forward to more info! I also would agree that this appears to be a watch aimed at the Canadian sector and even more likely the CPR although the British term railway was still in some use in the US in the late 19th century as per the examples I provided.

This conversation though may net a few more collectors with some more facts after Google indexes the site and is available to all through that search engine. The more info we discuss here the more likely it will index broadly and attract some further attention.

If you want to see what mean, just put the phrase "Here is a very rare Dominion Railways pocket watch I wanted to share with you." in Google and see what what you find!

[Brynelen]

Hi folks

I have recently been shown a most wonderful gold watch which was presented to my late grandfather whilst he was working in Canada sometime around 1890+. When trying to research information for a family history book, I came across your website and am posting this information in the hope that someone will be able to give me any information. My grandfathers name was Edward Lambert Jones and I know that he did at one time live/work near Winnepegosis. He was born in 1871 in mid-Wales and traveled to Canada several times between 1889 and 1900. He was presented with this most beautiful gold watch and his initials are inscribed on the case. The case is marked Cashier F14582 and the watch serial number is 3202004. I have checked the NAWCC information website but cannot find any references to painted dials. I am most interested to know how many of these watches with the painted steam trains were produced and if there is a database somewhere that lists those who received them. Any information would be gratefully received. My photos may help.