Waltham
Past High Priest Pocket Watch
This wonderfully enameled Waltham pocket watch
bears the logo of a Past High Priest on the back and the hand engraved name of the original
owner on the front. Of course the most unique
feature is its shape! It is made to look like a Keystone, a symbol very
familiar to York Rite Masons. A description of the Keystone is below.
The keystone is placed in the center of an arch which preserves the
others in their places, and secures the firmness and stability to the arch.
As it was formerly the custom of Operative Masons to place a peculiar mark on
each stone of the building to designate the workman by whom it had been
adjusted, so the Keystone was most likely to receive the most prominent mark,
that of the superintendent of the structure. Such is related to have occurred
to that Keystone which plays so important a part in the legend of the Royal
Arch Degree. The objection has sometimes been made, that the arch was unknown
in the time of Solomon. But this objection has been completely laid to rest
by the researches of antiquaries and travelers within a few years past.
Wilkinson discovered arches with regular keystones in the doorways of the
tombs of Thebes, the construction of which he traced to the year 1540 B.C.,
or 460 years before the building of the Temple of Solomon. And Dr. Clark
asserts that the Cyclopean gallery of Tiryns exhibits lancet-shaped arches
almost as old as the time of Abraham. In fact, in the Solomonic era, the
construction of the arch must have been known to the Dionysian Artificers, of
whom, it is a freely received theory, many were present at the building of the
Temple.
Watch
Characteristics
Serial
number : 26524029 (shape)
Model
: 94
Movement
manufacturing year : 1928
Material
: P (ajusted to position = finest quality)
Grade
: premier
Size
: 12
Jewels
: 21 (+ jeweled main wheel)
Balance
: Breguet spring
Style
: open face (O.F.)
Case
: enameled decorated back
Engravings
: Presented to R.E.H. Cooke - High Priest – Golden West Chapter – No.
144 RAM 1931
A special
"Thanks" to Waltham International SA for submitting the pictures and
description of this beautiful timepiece. You are welcome to visit their
website at
http://www.waltham.ch,
& Waltham Memorial Serial Numbers Search Engine at:
http://www.waltham.ch/cgi/waltham/search.asp.
