Combined Techniques: Transfer Process with Hand-Painting Embellishments on “Dominion” Locomotive Dials

Shortly after the American watch factories perfected new procedures for efficiently marking dials with transfer techniques, the art form of dial painting was combined with the new methods to create custom dials with stunningly artistic scenes.

These locomotive dials, typically featured on Waltham movements, were produced around 1890 by first transferring the outline image of the train onto the enameled center blank. Then, after an artist embellished the scene with vibrant colors, the dial was baked again to set the paint.

Many variants of this dial were created, including marked and unmarked tender cars and scenes depicting different seasons. While still rare, the most common dial variant features a summer scene with a locomotive pulling a tender marked “Dominion.”