Waltham with wings logo.

[semroc]

Hello all. Just wondering if this looks legitimate? It's fifteen jewels. I guess it has a broken mainspring. The owner says it runs when shaken.

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[Literustyfan]

If the dial is real it will have a hologram effect, meaning that the "prop & wings" will change colors at different angles.

Those are not the correct hands but that would be a pretty easy fix.

Great score if the dial is legit!

[semroc]

Thank you.

[afire]

Unless the seller is hip to this being a potentially out of the ordinary watch and pricing it as such, this is the type of case where I'd just take a leap of faith. Until Stan's recent post, I'd never seen this type of dial (not that I'm a Waltham expert by any means, but I'm not totally oblivious). I could be wrong, but my guess is that nobody ever would have bothered to set up to recreate this dial, ergo, if you spot one, it's probably legit.

[441victor]

It's great to have a third example of this Waltham turn up here. This looks like a white gold filled version of the Star cased model. Should be 3/0 sized. It'll be interesting to see the dial without the yellowed crystal in the way. There is little possibility of this being a fake so I would snap it up. The examples are from a variety of sources. Mine came out of England and Stan has found published backup for his Illinois cased model. There is just so little documentation of Waltham's offerings year to year that collecting them is always fertile ground. Well done semroc, Joel

[semroc]

The wings and prop definitely change color. From a green to a reddish color. Here's a couple pics.

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[Magpie]

Oh yes, that dial is definitely for real! I found a version of it in a couple of Swartchild & Co. catalogs I have. (Interesting that there it is advertised as being for a nurse's watch -- a BIG one, since it's 3/0 size.) It appears in Catalog B-177 (for 1932) and also in Catalog B-232 (c. 1935). The image below is from the latter because the position on the page made it easier to photograph than the other one.

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The caption for the earlier catalog read "Luminous, airplane no bit, winds at 3." The price was $2.50 each. (Well, guys, now that you have the catalog info, you can go order a bunch. )

[semroc]

Great information Magpie. Thank you. Great pic also. What's airplane no bit, mean? I need to find a second hand. Any suggestions for sources? . The hour and minutes seem ok. Thanks again.

[Magpie]

What's airplane no bit, mean?

It means simply that the dial has that logo (wings and propeller of an airplane) and no bit (subsidiary seconds dial).

[semroc]

Stumbled upon this beauty while surfing the net.

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