Hello & thanks for the welcome!

I’ve had a quick scout and there’s lots of knowledge to be found here!

I came to find info about how to date a Wertheim Sewing Machine, with a serial number S109720.

It seems so easy to find info on a Singer but nigh on impossible to find info on a Wertheim, are there any suggestions to how I go about this?

please & thanks

 

Haven't taken the time to check this out, but thought perhaps it might be a help to you:

https://toreperni1979.mystrikingly.com/blog/wertheim-sewing-machine-serial-number-database

 

Thank you! , I’ll check it out

 

Let us know if you find it.

 

Greetings, Sonyamcv!

 

Welcome!

 

@Shangas

 

Wertheim was a German sewing machine company (established and headquartered in Frankfurt) with branches in Australia (in particular, Melbourne).

So far as I know, there are no surviving serial-number databases for Wertheim machines. But if you post some photographs of the machine, I might be able to approximate a date of manufacture based on the style.

 

Thanks for the welcome!

 

Thank you!

 

Thank you! These are pictures taken on arrival, I’m sorry about the dust etc. The timber housing has been restored and the machine won’t be used but would love an idea on age, wether it would be repairable and/or, if it was cosmetically refreshed, is there someone in brisbane that would do that (it’s very heavy).

 

@Shangas

 

It's a vibrating shuttle machine, from the early 1900s in all likelihood. It can be restored, but the cost would be more than the machine is worth secondhand...especially in that condition.

To get it working you'd need a replacement slide-plate, new bobbins and a new shuttle...the bobbins and shuttles are hard to find, because every machine used a different size and length. I was lucky enough that my Wertheim machine is still usable. Finding replacement parts can be very tricky.

 

Wertheim was a fairly famous company, but it wasn't as big as say, Frister & Rossmann, Siedel & Naumann, the big German sewing-machine companies of the 1800s and 1900s. That can make stuff harder to find. Typically, the more famous the company is, the easier it is to find parts (for example, Singer sewing machines are pretty easy to restore because there's loads of bits and pieces out there that you can buy for them).

 

That’s really helpful insight, thank you. I don’t think it will be restored to working order, it’s not required for usage and it’s for sentimental/family heritage factor. Is there such a thing I wonder, where I could take it to have the machine repainted? Logo reapplied? Is that even a thing or is that a bit sacrilegious?

 

For SINGER yes, but I dunno about Wertheim.

I have friends who run a sewing machine museum and repair-service in Victoria, but they're the only people who I know who do this professionally.