Inscribed watches

[Lorne]

I purchased a watch on Ebay, a 1924 size 12, 17 jewels (see the picture), which had an inscription on the back.

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g179/LGilsig25962/091308114.jpg

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g179/LGilsig25962/091308116.jpg

I've made a few (dozen) phone calls trying to track down the owner (deceased), his children (deceased), and Grandchildren (not interested). I've also called the college that gave him the watch after 30 years of service (defunct).

Anyone else do this or am I insane, as my wife alleges?

By the way, anyone know where you can get a balance staff for this watch?


Lorne D. Gilsig

[M. Cross]

It never ceases to amaze me how things like this get away from families within a couple generations. I was helping my Mom clear out the family house a couple weeks ago as she prepares to move into a retirement community (my Dad passed away a couple years ago). We went through every crack and cranny of the house finding 'treasures' like this that went back through the family history, and I moved a truck load of items to a storage unit to transfer to my home my next trip up.

That said, I'm still puzzled at my sisters question last month when she asked me 'what are you going to do with all that stuff?' She isn't the least bit interested in having a thing from the house, and only wanted a couple easily carried items that she can put in her carry on when she flies back to her home in NY.

My daughters REALLY want items from their grandparents, and can't wait until we get these items back to Tennessee, so we've passed along the importance of at least attempting to keep a thread of connection back through our family history.

Seeing such important items like your watch just 'floating' out there, unwanted by the original owners family, makes me always shake my head.:(

So, long answer to your short question....no, I don't think you're crazy.

Regards! Mark

[Bryan Eyring]

Lorne;

I can help you with the staff. Please email me if you are interested....

Regards,
Bryan Eyring
132532

[Lorne]

Sir, Its good to hear from you again!

I think I need is the staff. The balance wheel had to much end-shake, but it will work if you hold the watch just right (face down). That means it has to be the staff, or the top or bottom jewels.

How should we proceed?

Also, don't suppose you have a case for a colonial A lying around?


Lorne D. Gilsig

[pocwatjim]

Lorne,

This also puzzled and troubled me when I was new to collecting.

I couldn't imagine someone's family selling a family heirloom.

Guess what?

I was told in so many words by family members that I tracked down that the watch didn't mean anything to the family.

A fellow member of my church wanted to sell me his Dad's wristwatch and asked how much it was worth! I said not very much, don't you or anyone in the family want to keep it?

The usual answer is how much is it worth?

It appears to me humans are evolving back to nature and like buzzards are circling waiting for the final breath so they can cash in. Sad.

PS. I don't try to reach the family on inscribed watches anymore.

[Dutto11]

Hi,
Like many members and collectors we have watches in our collection that have inscription on them and like you I wondered why the families didn't want to keep them.
I have a nice 21 jewel 921 Hamilton with an inscription on the back and would love to track down the history of the watch.
Living in Australia makes it a bit hard to do the detective work but thanks to the internet it makes it a bit easier.
I will spend some time chasing down the family and to where bouts it came from one day.
By the way nice looking watch and did I read right that you would like to put the movement into a better case? I myself would keep it intact as is.
It just works for me that is to keep them together.
Cheers
Gary

[Lorne]

Dear Gary,

Yes, the internet does make finding people easier. I found almost all of the person's surviving family on the web.

I'm not looking for a case for this movement. It would seem dishonorable to recase the watch. Kind of like carving a marble headstone up to make a counter top. I need a case for a size 14 Colonial A movement I bought. The watch in the picture is a 1924 Colonial size 12.

Lorne D. Gilsig

[richiec]

I have a younger brother like that, his attitude is what do I care about dead people, that is why I am the guardian of the family heirlooms. Right now I am trying to figure out who to leave the stuff to as I only have step children, my older brother only has adopted children, my sister had no children, my cousin doesn't give a darn either and none of my younger brothers children are interested in family history either. maybe when they get a little older. I have kept my great, great, great, great grandfathers Tobias watch, spent a lot of money keeping it running, it has a very ornate inscription from the 7th Regiment New York Nat'l Guard from 1847, kept some of his military uniform stuff like his epaulets, shako hat insignia, buttons, etc but no one younger is even interested in it. I even showed my cousin's son a picture of the guy with the watch being that he shares his middle name with the guys last name but that did not thrill him at all. We will see in about 15-20 years what happens if I live that long. Maybe it will end up on ebay too. Sorry to hear that the family gave you such a cold shoulder

[Ethan Lipsig]

My wife is so sentimental about old family heirlooms that she has taken to wearing her great, great grandmothers wedding ring, which she just happened to find in a great tangle of costume jewelry her mother had amassed over the years. Every time I show her an inscribed watch, e.g., "To my dearest wife, Christmas 1888," she fumes about how anyone could ever have sold such a family item.

Yet, I see it differently. After a generation or two, for most of us ancestral roots become diffuse or completely blotted out. I have my grandmother's extraordinarily ugly red gold 1940s era wristwatch, my father's less ugly 1960s Omega wristwatch, and even my first gold wristwatch, a junior high school present from my parents in the early 1960s. I cannot get rid of them, how long after me will anyone care?

I bought perhaps the most notable watch in my collection from the grandson of the original owner, who had been the pre-eminent developer of New York skyscrapers in the 1920s, but was ruined by the depression.
(I am attaching a photo I pulled off the internet of a clock in the shape of one his buildings.) Just about all he apparently left to his heirs when he died in the early 1930s was his ultra thin, platinum and diamond Cartier pocket watch, with his very stylish Art Moderne monogram enameled on the back. The grandson said that he hated to sell the watch, but it had been in a safety deposit box for over 70 years. He told me that he was retiring and moving to Florida, and would never have any use for the watch. Touchingly, he sent some old memorobilia about his grandfather, including a biography. The watch now has a caring home.

[LloydB]

[snip] The watch now has a caring home.

That's far better that than some of the alternatives.

One of my more intriguing purchases is a pristine
Longines 12-Size, 21J, 18K from about the same era.
It was presented to a Roman Catholic priest by his
brothers and sisters, part of a recognition celebration
for 25 years of service, 1906-1931.

The lengthy, detailed inscription led to a newspaper
article describing the jubilee celebration, the gift of
the watch, how one brother had crossed the country
to attend, etc.

When contacted, in 1996, surviving members of the
family were not interested in the watch (but were
grateful for a copy of the newspaper story).

As you say ...

[Dr. Jon]

I have not tried contacting family although I am tempted with some inscribed watches I have.

I love tracking down the history from inscriptions as I have written in my Bulletin article on how to use the internet to do this.

I also find some retirement watches heart breaking. I once just got too depressed over one, a gold filled watch a guy got for digging graves for 50 years and sold it.

[Fred Hansen]

For anyone that likes inscribed watches there are some fantastic examples from the collection of Dr. Bill Heilman that are shown on the NAWCC Information Storage page at these two links ...

http://www.nawcc-info.org/Heilman/billheilman1.htm

http://www.nawcc-info.org/Heilman/billheilman2.htm

... and just click any of the thumbnails at these links to view the full size image.

Fred