WOW! This is one unbelievably nice watch, if I do say so myself. And I do! This is another very old key wind Waltham pocket watch. It is a 18 size "Appleton, Tracy & Co.", Model 1857. The serial number is only 21772, which dates it to about 1860. It has 15 sapphire jewels and is key wind and key set. The watch is encased in a beautiful and very heavy solid 18 karat gold hunter case with wonderful engine turning on the front and back. The dial is marked "Appleton, Tracy & Co.", and the movement is marked "Appleton, Tracy & Co.", "No. 21772" and "Waltham, Mass".

One interesting feature about this watch that I just discovered is that it was made with a special "stop works" on the mainspring barrel. This was an early attempt to deal with the fact that as a mainspring winds down it loses power, thereby causing the watch to run slower. Normally, this isn't much of a problem except when the watch is fully wound up or down, as the middle part of the spring is typically pretty uniform when it comes to power output. The stop works was an attachment on the mainspring barrel that both prevented the watch from being fully wound up and also stopped the watch before it fully wound down. This meant. of course, that they had to use a longer than normal mainspring to still have it run a full day.

Open Front Back Dust Cover Movement Dial

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