Don Dahlberg
02-26-2005, 01:04 AM
Please note the rules of the board in the upper left corner of the window. For legal reason we do not attempt to value watches.
Pocketwatch people are mostly interested in the movement and not the case. (Wristwatch people are the opposite.) In fact, until the 1920 a customer would go to their favorite jeweler and pick out a movement and pick out a case and the jeweler would put them together.
Still from the information you have given us it seems clear that your watch is a common Swiss ebauche. Factories would make a crude movement, sometimes not including the escapement. Watchmakers would buy this ebauche and complete it into a watch. Sometimes they would make an outstanding watch from the ebauch, but usually they made a medium or low grade movement from the ebauche. Sometimes they would make a special movement and enter it in judged contests. If they would win a metal, they would then put those metals on their less expensive watches. There were literally thousands of such watchmakers in Switzerland. Kathy Pritchard wrote a large two volume set listing many, but not all of them. If you can find a name on the movement, perhaps someone has a copy of Kathy's book and can say something about the maker. Many, inspite of their bragging about metals, did not even put their name on the watch.
If you are still interested in value, you can see similar watches come up for bid on the popular internet auctions.
Don
Pocketwatch people are mostly interested in the movement and not the case. (Wristwatch people are the opposite.) In fact, until the 1920 a customer would go to their favorite jeweler and pick out a movement and pick out a case and the jeweler would put them together.
Still from the information you have given us it seems clear that your watch is a common Swiss ebauche. Factories would make a crude movement, sometimes not including the escapement. Watchmakers would buy this ebauche and complete it into a watch. Sometimes they would make an outstanding watch from the ebauch, but usually they made a medium or low grade movement from the ebauche. Sometimes they would make a special movement and enter it in judged contests. If they would win a metal, they would then put those metals on their less expensive watches. There were literally thousands of such watchmakers in Switzerland. Kathy Pritchard wrote a large two volume set listing many, but not all of them. If you can find a name on the movement, perhaps someone has a copy of Kathy's book and can say something about the maker. Many, inspite of their bragging about metals, did not even put their name on the watch.
If you are still interested in value, you can see similar watches come up for bid on the popular internet auctions.
Don