Pocket watch experts - Unite!!

Danm54 · 27 Mar 2011 at 21:15

Hi,

I need some help identifying this pocket watch.

My Gran died about 2 months ago and left this to me. Speaking to my grandad he's no idea where it ever came from or how long my gran has had it.

I know its gold so other than scrap value ive no idea how much its worth.
Im not interested in selling it but it'd be nice to know whether its worth anything and look at getting it insured or its worth £80 scrap.

There doesn't appear to be any hallmarks on it or a name of any sort. You can just about make out 2 hinges in the pics, these appear to allow the front and back to open.

edit; Ive just found out how to open the back, there's 2 winding keys and this,

K14
19395

Pics are the best I could do with my little Kodak so no moaning from the photography experts!!

Thank you

whitecrook · 27 Mar 2011 at 21:21

K14 is probably 14ct gold

apeZ · 27 Mar 2011 at 21:21

No offence, but I doubt you'll find 'pocket watch experts' on a computer forum. Aren't there specialised sites and forums for watchmaking? You might have more luck there.

Danm54 · 27 Mar 2011 at 21:24

apeZ said:
No offence, but I doubt you'll find 'pocket watch experts' on a computer forum. Aren't there specialised sites and forums for watchmaking? You might have more luck there.

You'd be surprised the people who are on here.

Just googled the K14 and yes, means its 14ct gold.

apeZ · 27 Mar 2011 at 21:53

Danm54 said:
You'd be surprised the people who are on here.

Perhaps. There was a thread a few months back about watchmaking, maybe the posters in there will come out of hibernation and see this thread

Danm54 · 27 Mar 2011 at 21:59

Theres been a few watch threads and there seems quite a following.

Whether this is their kind of thing I don't know, we'll see.

Andy90 · 27 Mar 2011 at 22:11

What does the movement look like (ie the inside) does it have anything written on it. Are there any jewelled bearings - usually made of ruby and a pinky/purple colour. Reasonable rule of thumb, the more jewelled bearings the better the quality of the movement. Looks like it also has its original display case and that can add quite a bit to the price of the watch too.

Just re-read what you posted, you mentioned two hinges to open the front and the back. When you opened the back were there two holes with the winders sticking out and then the 14k and the 19395 stamped or scratched on this part? If so you may not have opened the watch fully. check around the edge of that plate and there may be a small indentation where you can get your thumb nail in it normally can be found at the top of the watch - the rear hinges on these watched are normally double hinges, one for the outer back and one for the inner back. Once inside you should see the workings and they normally have stamps, serial numbers etc.,

Danm54 · 27 Mar 2011 at 22:47

Well what do you know, I never even seen that hinge!

The 14k and 19396 (read it wrong) are stamped on the back plate of the watch.

Ive open a plate under that and I can now see the workings, now idea what jeweled bearing are but I can only see gold gears and a lever that switches between S and F.

Under that plate there is 19396 stamped and something else scratched, really hard to make out though.

There is still another hinge that looks like it opens the front too.

Andy90 · 28 Mar 2011 at 00:26

Have a look at this wikipedia article - it explains jeweled bearings

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewel_bearing

The picture at the top right of the article shows the bearings, they're usually pink in colour - they're used since they're low friction and do not require lubrication -as such they're usually used in high precision instruments - their main use is in watches.

You normally see the amount of jewels stamped on somewhere on the movement. 17 Jewels is normally a high quality movement - you can get higher jewel counts but they tend to be for show rather than functional.

As for the lever with F and S - thats for regulating the speed of the watch i.e faster or slower, I wouldn't go messing with that since it probably is reasonable accurate.

You can also take a look at the article on pocket watches, which is quite interesting

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocket_watch

I must admit I'm certainly not an expert on these things, the stuff I know is due to having been given a 9ct gold Dennison pocket watch that belong to my Great Uncle. That has a nice 15 jewel swiss made movement. Unlike your watch however the case is plain. Your watch has some nice engine turning on it and I suspect may well be worth a little bit of money.

Personally I would take it along to a reputable jewellers to see if they could give you a valuation. Be prepared for a surprise though, some aren't worth an awful lot (as you say its in the gold content nowadays), but others dependant on rarity can command high prices.

One last thing, most people shove them in a drawer since they're not very pratical nowadays, you can however get some nice stands for them - most are like arches with the watch hanging from the central point - as such they can make nice desk clocks. If you Google "Pocket watch stand" and then look under images you can see what I mean.