Determine the Age of your Vintage Pocket Watch How to Use our Vintage Watch Serial Number & Date Lookup Tables Instructions for using our serial number look-up tablesThis page contains INSTRUCTIONS for using the serial number look-up tables that are found on many of our watch company history pages. The example below uses information from the American Waltham Watch Company, but that is just an example. You should consult the serial number table for the specific brand of watch movement you are trying to date by selecting a company from the menu on the left.Not all vintage watches can be dated using the serial number. Some American watch brands did not use a consistent series of serial numbers, but most of the big manufacturers did. Most vintage Swiss pocket watches did NOT have serial numbers and can't be dated by this method.

1. Zenith Radio Serial Number

Can't find YOUR exact serial number in our lookup tables?Many watch companies made hundreds of thousands of watches, and some companies made millions of watches! It would be impractical to list the individual serial numbers of EVERY watch made. That would make some really long pages! Our serial number tables list RANGES of serial numbers. So to determine when your watch was manufactured, you will need to find where your serial number fits within the range of numbers. Serial number look-up example:Let's say you have a Waltham watch with serial number 21,607,210 as shown in the photo below. Note that we're using the serial number from the watch movement, not from the watch case.

Looking at the table of Waltham serial numbers (see example below), you can see that number 20,900,000 was made in 1917 and 21,800,000 was made in 1918 (marked in red in the table below). Since your serial number falls between those two numbers, you know that your watch was made in 1917 or 1918. Not sure which serial number to use?You must use the serial number from the MOVEMENT of the watch.

The working part with the wheels and gears. Not the serial number from the watch case.

Cases and watches were often made by different companies and each usually has its own serial number. You usually have to take the back off the watch case to see the movement serial number which may appear anywhere on the watch movement.Use the movement serial number. Do NOT use the case serial number!This is an example only.

Your movement serial number may not be in exactly the same location as the one in the photo, but you are looking for the serial number that is on the watch mechanism itself. Not the serial number on the external case. EXAMPLE SERIAL NUMBER LOOK-UP: American Waltham Watch Company Approximate Serial Numbers and Production Dates YearS/N0,000188888888888888771,01,11,31,51,61,82,02,32,63,03,400,000YearS/N18883,84,24,75,25,86,36,77,17,48,18,49,09,510,211,112,113,514,314,715,516,417,617,918,118,218,919,520,020,520,921,822,523,423,924,124,300,000YearS/N192424,524,825,226,126,426,927,127,327,527,728,128,629,129,429,730,030,230,731,031,431,732,132,332,733,133,533,533,633,733,834,134,434,735,000,000.

Zenith makes history with Felix Baumgartner On October 14th 2012, Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner becomes the first man to break the sound barrier in freefall, jumping from the edge of the stratosphere from a space capsule and landing in the New Mexican desert, 38,969.4 meters below. Zenith serves as official timekeeper for the milestone jump and the watch worn by Baumgartner while making the jump is a Zenith Stratos Flyback Striking 10th containing Zenith’s world-famous El Primero movement. GPHG Sports Watch Prize – Chronomaster El Primero Lightweight The resolutely forward-looking Zenith Chronomaster El Primero Lightweight wins the GPHG Sports Prize.

Zenith Radio Serial Number

The keynote of the specifications of this avant-garde version of the legendary El Primero chronograph is the focus on shearing off any excess weight, along with ensuring performance and originality. Drawing upon its latest research on new materials, this El Primero lightweight chronograph teams a titanium and silicon movement with an ultra-sporty carbon case. Zenith 150th anniversary and the Zenith El Primero: Chronomaster 1969 An ideal occasion on which to take a panoramic look back across its history, the revolutions it has created and the feats it has accompanied, Zenith celebrates its 150th anniversary with the launch of the Zenith El Primero: Chronomaster 1969, a l150-piece limited edition picking up the style codes of the original model while featuring a distinctly contemporary style epitomising daring attitude and the enterprising spirit cherished by the brand. Launch of the Defy Lab: a revolution in watchmaking mechanics Equipped with a new and astoundingly slim monocrystalline silicon oscillator unaffected by magnetic fields, gravity or temperature, the Defy Lab is a major innovation challenging the very foundations of watchmaking mechanics: the sprung balance principle of regulation presented by in 1675 by Dutch astronomer, mathematician and physician Christian Huygens. Powering the watch industry into a whole new dimension, the incredible accuracy of the Defy Lab (an average of 0.3 seconds per day) is encased in Aeronith, the world’s lightest aluminium composite material, representing a second world premiere in this landmark timepiece.