HELP! Biggest watch I have ever seen, what is it?

[scwilcox]

I just picked this up yesterday, it previously came from the Estate Sale of Boxcar Wille, but that is not important here, I am trying to figure out who made it and what it is? Looks like there may have been a small engraving on the back of the case but polished off. There is a seriel number in the case but nothing on the dial or movement, and what are the 4 little tabs for? Anyway this watch is 70mm across, the movement is 60mm!!! I have it next to a 18S BWraymond for comparison. I have had a lot of watches, but nothing like this.

[Oldfathertime]

The only thing I can offer to this query is to say that these larger pocket watches were known as a 'goliath' watch. They usually came with a leather case or a silver open fronted' stand frame' when new that doubled as a stand in order that you could use it as a travelling clock or stand on your bedside cabinet, dressing table or mantlepeice. I think these came in when stands for normal sized pocketwatches became less popular when more people in the working classes could afford to buy a wooden cased mantle clock.

[Dr. Jon]

That answer probably also explains the four eyes on the case. They were to attach it to a stand.

[Oldfathertime]

You're probably right about the 'eye' rings, I hadn't considered that!

Here's the one I have, brass coloured case that still has the majority of the thin gold plating still on it, quite an ornate watch in case decoration. It looks like the hands, or one of them may have been replaced at some time in its life. The movement has a glass cover as well as the inner case dust cover. It was given to me by an elderly lady who told me it belonged to her Grandfather. To wind it you just turn the crown, as normal, but to set the hands you push in a little pin on the side of the case to the right of the crown with your thumb nail and then turn the crown. This watch is quite heavy and it measures in total 61mm in diameter. Pictures below.

[scwilcox]

Awesome guys, thanks for the help! When I get home I will remove the dial to see if there are any marks to see who made it then my quest begins to find the holder

[Oldfathertime]

Personally I would not attemt to remove the dial as it could cause untold damage especially with those hairlines in the enamel, I'd leave it well alone and I doubt very much wheather you would find anything marked under it. Look inside the case rear lid and the inner hinged dust cover for monograms or symbols, this would only then give clues as to the maker of the case. I would say that the movement itself is a relatively mass-produced Swiss lever movement that was made in this size specifically for the size case and is pretty generic. The identity to maker you may never know, some mysteries are all the more interesting if they cannot be solved, it adds to the interest. Just one further observation, looking at the picture of the dial, it looks like the 'gold' dots on the hours have been added at some time, if you were to remove anything, these dots would be the things to remove but I would seek professional advice on doing this as you don't know what type of paint has been applied, to me it would greatly improve the look of the dial, but this is my opinion and I don't wsh to influence you in any way.

[LloydB]

[snipped]Just one further observation, looking at the picture of the dial, it looks like the 'gold' dots on the hours have been added at some time, if you were to remove anything, these dots would be the things to remove but I would seek professional advice on doing this as you don't know what type of paint has been applied, to me it would greatly improve the look of the dial, but this is my opinion and I don't wsh to influence you in any way.

Chances are, the dots and the same paint on the hands
are some type of luminescent material. Still more reason
to believe it might have been used as a travel or coach
clock.

Note the double dot at 12:00, and no dot at 6:00 make
it easy to orient the dial correctly, to read the time in
the dark.

If that material still glows in the dark (unlikely) it's
even possible that it's a Radium paint -- not particularly
dangerous if left alone.

[Oldfathertime]

That is quite a feasble theory on the dots but 'lume' or luminous paint will only glow for a very short time after the lights go out and it needs light to re-activate it. Would a watch, especially a pocket watch of it's probable age have had this applied? Perhaps another mystery. Notice the movements in these two watches, they are almost identical.

[scwilcox]

Well, I did take the dial off and all I found was a serial number that matches the case, no marks any where I have been able to find. On the other hand I did remove the luminous material that was added to the dial and hands, made a big difference

[Oldfathertime]

What a transformation! Now that is looking much better and a terrific improvement, you've taken the bull by the horns there and it's definitley payed off 'hands down'. Looks like I was right about the dots having been not original as in removing them has exposed the larger hour number markers, if the dots were original I reckon the markers would otherwise not be there. The hairlines have pretty well dissapeared as well. It would be interesting to know how you cleaned it up and what with.

[scwilcox]

The dots were easy, they were not uniform and the 2 top dots were quite sloppy. I gently pushed on the luminous stuff with a toothpick and it popped off, same with the hands. Used a drop of dawn dish soap a toothbrush and hot water and gently brushed. Hairlines still there but there and was some dirt and grease ther that had to use the toothpick on as well but did clean up nice. Been searching ebay now, trying to find one with the tabs on it to see how they were used. Using the term Goliath, I have found a couple of watches with the same movement, but no id, what fun!