Back before eBay, my main way of finding interesting pocket watches was to hop into the car, and drive the back roads of Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. I enjoy driving, and on nice days, would take my old 1989 Celica convertible out for some sun. It was a splendid way to spend the day.
I eventually developed several routes that would bring me to 2-5 different stores. Most of these trips ended up with no finds, but looking at antiques is always fun. Once Ebay came about in1995, these trips became less frequent, but I still get in five trips or so a year.
Last Friday, I spent the day in Southern New Hampshire. At an antique store in Amherst, I came across a 18 Size, private label Illinois KWKS pocket watch in good working order. It has a handsome 5oz silver hunter case, and a very low serial number. I snapped it up, and thought that was it for finds for that day.
But, an hour later in Northwood NH, I came across a 1870 KWKS Waltham in its original silver hunter case. Along with that watch was a 1865 PS Bartlett in a silveroid open face case. Both watches were very reasonable priced, and ended up joining my collection. Once I got home, it turned out that the 1865 Waltham was actually a hunter case movement, that had been jammed into the open face case. I will eventually mount that movement to an age appropriate hunter case. As with the previous watch, both of these Walthams were in good working order. Total outlay for all three watches was less than $500.
Anyone else have any interesting antique store finds? I would love to read about them. I have attached photos of the three watches from the NH excursion. Happy Holidays everyone.
I eventually developed several routes that would bring me to 2-5 different stores. Most of these trips ended up with no finds, but looking at antiques is always fun. Once Ebay came about in1995, these trips became less frequent, but I still get in five trips or so a year.
Last Friday, I spent the day in Southern New Hampshire. At an antique store in Amherst, I came across a 18 Size, private label Illinois KWKS pocket watch in good working order. It has a handsome 5oz silver hunter case, and a very low serial number. I snapped it up, and thought that was it for finds for that day.
But, an hour later in Northwood NH, I came across a 1870 KWKS Waltham in its original silver hunter case. Along with that watch was a 1865 PS Bartlett in a silveroid open face case. Both watches were very reasonable priced, and ended up joining my collection. Once I got home, it turned out that the 1865 Waltham was actually a hunter case movement, that had been jammed into the open face case. I will eventually mount that movement to an age appropriate hunter case. As with the previous watch, both of these Walthams were in good working order. Total outlay for all three watches was less than $500.
Anyone else have any interesting antique store finds? I would love to read about them. I have attached photos of the three watches from the NH excursion. Happy Holidays everyone.
