High-quality American gold watch with power reserve Circa 1908

Gold open faced lever watch
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A high-quality American 18 carat gold open faced power reserve lever pocket watch, circa 1908. Bridge movement, lever escapement gold screw compensation balance. Silvered dial with Arabic hours, outer minute dots, power reserve indication at 12 o’clock and sunk subsidiary seconds at 6. Plain case. Dial signed Waltham Premier Maximus, case numbered, movement numbered and signed Premier Waltham.
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Diameter: 52 mm
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Weight: 120 g
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Signed: Waltham Premier Maximus
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The movement with the red gilt balance cock, the sophisticated fine adjustment system and the three diamond end stones on the escape wheel, lever and balance illustrates the high standard that the Premier Maximus range produced by the American Waltham company strove to embody. In the sales catalogues, the watch comes with a correspondingly high price tag of $ 610, while a conventional railway watch was available for considerably less than $ 100. Waltham writes about the watch: “The Premier Maximus Watch is never spoken of in terms of equality with any other watch. It is universally recognized as the crowning achievement of timepiece construction”.