Waltham Vintage 6s Pocket Marriage Watch Conversion 40mm SS Wrist Watch 1904 Movement

Guaranteed to be as described and satisfaction guaranteed, this is a very nice Waltham 15 Jewel Model of 1890 Seaside Grade size 6 pocket watch movement made c. 1904 which has been cased in a brand new custom fit 40mm stainless steel wrist watch case with sapphire crystals front and back. The movement in this watch was fully serviced on 04/28/2026, it had the screws and regulator custom heat blued at that time also. The band is a brand new 20mm quality black Strapsco brand leather strap with quick change bars (band can be changed with no tools and in under a minute). We will swap the black strap for a tan brown strap free of charge upon request. The original enamel glass fired dial shows no damage and is nearly perfect. It has never been refinished, painted or molested.

Men made the switch from pocket watches to wrist watches after the first World War because they found it to be problematic to be fumbling around in their pockets to check the time with gloves on, in a trench and taking fire. Many pocket watches were converted to wrist watches in the trenches by simply soldering wire lugs on to attach them to the wrist with a strap. From the mid 1800's through the early 1900's the USA made the best and most beautiful watches in the world. The Swiss actually made some “Swiss fakes” of American models. With it's fired glass enamel dial and dark heat blued hands this watch calls back to that time and reminds you of that every time you check your wrist. Turning the watch over an extra large observation window has been cut into the case back to observe the century and a quarter old movement. This watch is BEAUTIFUL. This watch will come in our wooden presentation box with our sales receipt and our Certificate of Authenticity (COA).

The idea of putting pocket watch movements from the heyday of American watchmaking into modern cases is not new. We feel that the wrong movements have been used in the past however. The conversions that watchmakers have been making have been taking the beautiful and highly accurate Railroad grade watches and casing them in custom wrist watch style cases. These are 16 or 18 size movements resulting in a ridiculously large 48mm to 56mm watches. Many require you to remove the bezel ring to get to the time setting lever. We decided that we wanted a modern sized 40mm watch (about the size of the traditional Rolex Submariner) that can be wound and set like a traditional wrist watch and be water resistant. The perfect movements for this task turned out to be the “work horse” size 6 movements made by Waltham from the turn of the 20th century (this is a higher grade 15 jewel version). The result is a 40mm in diameter (excluding the winding crown), 48.5mm tall (from lug tip) and 11.75mm thick watch which we think is perfectly sized. It is big enough to be masculine, but small enough not to make you look like a kid wearing dad's watch.

To build these beautiful watches we customize a brand new 316L stainless steel wrist watch case to fit the pocket watch movement and make it work with the pocket watch style stem and winding crown arrangement. We add a scratch resistant sapphire crystal. We also cut the full movement sized observation window in the case back and install a sapphire crystal there also. We source a vintage movement that has had it's case previously scrapped for it's precious metals and which never been the victim of a less than qualified watchmaker and disassemble it completely. We do not cannibalize complete pocket watches for their movements. Any worn parts are replaced, all steel components are hand polished, gold jewel settings are polished, a new modern white alloy mainspring is installed and the screws and the regulator are highly polished and thermally blued. It is cleaned and reassembled with all synthetic oils leaving the movement more beautiful and working better than when new. The result is a literal piece of history that is beautiful and functional for a fraction of the price of the watches that the modern fine watch brands are replicating with their “homage” pieces and selling for thousands of dollars. I challenge you to find a new watch with an enamel dial that sells for less than several thousand dollars.