WALTHAM

Waltham Manufacturing Co. (1905-1908)

Waltham Motor Manufacturers, Inc. (1922)

Waltham, Massachusetts

This is a Waltham radiator emblem (1922)    ms
Size: 53mm diameter    MM: Gorham

The Waltham Manufacturing Company was set up in 1893 by Charles Herman Metz to produce the Orient bicycle and the company went on to build Orient motor cars and the Orient Buckboard. In 1905 the cars were called either Orient or Waltham, or occasionally Waltham Orient, but the Orient name was dropped by 1906 (see Orient). Waltham also built commercial vehicles ranging in capacity from 600lbs to 800lbs. All Waltham commercials were powered by one- and two-cylinder engines. A four- to six-passenger bus was also built.

The company was in serious financial trouble by 1908 when Charles Metz, who had left in 1901 after disagreements with his financial backers, returned to take over the company. Waltham production ceased and Charles Metz produced the Metz Plan car (see Metz) and was able to pay off the Waltham debts. In 1921 Metz organized Waltham Motor Manufacturers, Inc. and the Master 6, which was a Metz car in 1921, was sold as a Waltham in 1922. But only six were built. In August 1922 it was all over.

Emblems

Apart from the Orient Buckboard, the following is the only original period photo I have found of a Waltham car built between 1905 and 1908. This photo was taken at a carnival in New York in 1908.

Waltham car (c1908)   dpl

The Waltham in this photo is seen to carry a "Waltham" script mounted on the radiator core but no sign of a radiator emblem. It is possible that Waltham cars carried a radiator script from 1905 to the end of production in 1908 but I cannot confirm this.

The white enamel finished Waltham radiator emblem shown above at the top of this post was used in 1922 on the car produced by the Waltham Motor Manufacturers, Inc. and is extremely rare. 

There is also a thick bronze medal-like version of this emblem without enamel, which is also extremely rare, see example shown below:

This is a Waltham radiator emblem (1922)    mjs
Size: 53mm diameter   MM: Gorham

The Waltham radiator emblem shown below is finished in gilt metal and is also extremely rare.

This is a Waltham radiator emblem finished in gilt metal   mwc
Size: 53mm diameter     MM: Gorham