Perhaps not the correct thread but perhaps it will stand?
Some person of whom I am most fond wants to buy her boyfriend a pocket watch as an engagement present. It will perhaps only be worn once and then spend time as a watch on a stand. Choice lies between a Rotary Pocket mechanical @£159, a Jean Pierre Chrom plated Half Hunter@ £195 and a Woodford Chrome Plated Mechanical Half Hunter also @£195. As usual I knows nothing but I would like her to get it right...any suggestions please - also as to other watches? Thanks to you.
An actual antique Pocket watch would be a very fine gift. They are currently priced reasonably, as is most jewelry in the antique market. I own a Rosselot 1870, Hunting case w/o chime, key wind. It is 1.5 ounces 18k gold, and is appraised at ~1k US. I carry it on special occasions as it keeps very good time.
Hunters and half-Hunters look smarter and are more traditional. (Open face watches were, and probably still are, generally cheaper for obvious reasons.) Gold plate looks better and more 'special' than chrome. (Indistinguishable from solid gold unless examined closely.) I prefer full Hunters but, if it will spend most of its life on a stand, then a half-Hunter would be more useful/practical.
It probably will spend most of its life on a stand. I wore my Grandfather's Hunter when I was a young barrister and we all dressed very formally but it's been in a drawer for many years. Pocket watches are very rarely worn these days, not least because not many people wear waistcoats any more. Some people used to wear them on a chain from lapel button-hole to top pocket, but again very rarely these days.
I looked up the 'Rotary Pocket mechanical'. If it's the one with all its innards on display then IMHO it looks naff.
All the prices you quote are very high. Try Google and/or Ebay.
An actual antique Pocket watch would indeed (as suggested) be a very fine gift, but is likely to be beyond the budget.
(Your mention of a watch-stand has given me an idea. Thanks.)
FL
Last edited by Flying Lawyer : 19th July 2009 at 23:15.
I have a 18ct gold Waltham Half Hunter,and no you can't have it.
Pity waistcoats went out, it looked good with the gold chain and me masonic knick knacks hanging from it.
Very much disagree with an antique pocket watch being beyond the budget - there are 1000's of antique watches on the market for way below the prices you quote. I sold old watches for a sideline in my militaria shop for over 30 years. At the moment you would get a nice 100 year old silver cased watch for under £100 - check out your local antique dealers and leave ebay to those who know what they are doing. One word of warning - dont expect great accuracy - a minute or so a day would be considered pretty good for a watch of that age, but try and get a smalll guarantee - say 28 days - if it will run for a month there probably isnt much wrong with it. By the way a chrome-plated half hunter sounds horrid! A silver one for a lot less sounds a much better bet
Fair enough, an antique pocket watch may well not be beyond budget.
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check out your local antique dealers and leave ebay to those who know what they are doing.
I agree some items on ebay are best left to those who know what they are doing, and watches may be a very good example, but buying from antique dealers is also arguably best left to those who know what they are doing or are wealthy enough not to care.
No offence intended, I don't doubt you were entirely honourable. However, antiques dealers are almost unique amongst shopkeepers in generally not having price tickets on items - which enables them to adjust the price up or down according to their assessment of how much the potential purchaser appears to know and/or is prepared to spend.
Yes, it is best to be cautious. For the young lady, an intense tutorial on antique watches is available on the web, start looking. Find a well recommended dealer of long standing, (there are several in Berlin), and make an appointment, it is a courtesy. Perhaps the Hammer will accompany the young lady? Speak little except to make known your demands, a known maker and metal content, with flawless movement.
I am impressed with a short look on the web, Waltham, Audemars, and others are begging at 2-300 USD. A gift whispers the effort it takes to acquire it. Bon Chance.
I'm with the "buy used" brigade for a semi-sentimental reason: if you're buying a mechanical device that does something useful, then it'll stop being useful once you hang it on its display stand. Far nicer to have something that has already had a useful life. Even if you never use it again, it has value to the recipient both as a gift and as a link to its past.
I've not got a Waltham, but I'd like one because it represents mass production, the point at which everyone who wanted a watch could think about buying one.
Given the common perception of the legal profession I thought I might get something along those lines in response - and your Stalin/Hitler comment did make me laugh. Well done.
Credit to you for not trying to defend the 'no price tickets' practice of the antiques trade and, in particular, for not denying the reason for it.
Oh dear! My self-imposed ban on JBing isn't working...bit like my promising not to drink on weekdays. Anyway, dealers and watches.
When I sold my home in Frinton, I was in a very low state...I'd been in it for 33 years and now it was being pillaged by antiquie dealers and others. It just demolished my determination to keep those things I couldn't get a good price for. I sold things that now, I can only look back at myself in bewilderment and wonder why. The point is, what was bad for me, could perhaps be good for you.
A small pocket watch. Solid gold 14k, fusee sp? movement, glass and second solid cover. I'd repaired the fusee chain some 25years before and it kept good time. That was in the days I could still see microbes.
With a fine-linked solid gold chain, it fetched about 600 quid. I think the watch by itself was 400. Around that price.
Something like this is an investment that will carry on for generations, and the long term benefits are obvious if you can find a deal now.
It is then a bbit of the no contest really. Thank you for the information. I will try to gently direct maters into a more antiquated and long lasting manner. My thanks to all for some really good thinking postings.
Did you know when the wrist watch first appeared the hope that it would rapidly replace the pocket watch took a hit i when they came to be regarded a sign of effeminacy in men and only err strange chaps wore them,took a long time for the wrist watch to be acceptable in polite society.
may l suggest that you investigate your local auctions, the goods will certainly be described on line.
You will be in competition with dealers buying "wholesale" to make a profit by selling on. The worst that could happen would be paying market value. Good luck, as others have said, buy quality.
Drapes has a very interesting point, aside from "dress" wear, mens watches tend to get more expensive with increased size and crudity.
My practical choice is the simple old gold plated Triumph that adorned Grandad's working or Sunday best waistcoats and without which I never go; with or without me weskit. You can't beat a pocket watch for style; expensive antique or cheap & cheerful vintage, like the Triumph.
Just got this sudden image of Will Hay sp? spinning a pocket watch as a method of deciding which way they'd go. He shut his eyes and released it, and it smashed on a rock.
"It's gone west." He said, and they all set off into the sunset. Sixty year old memory at a guess.
For furrin' people. Gone west, means bust - broken - bu.....
I was once offered a Dent. Huge, I mean bring a sack-barrow to carry it huge. It was perfect in every detail. Thirty quid. Where's me time machine?
EDIT. Now that's strange. The bloke that was showing me the Dent, said that it was made by the company that made the Big Ben clock. Down, pedants! anyway, I'Ve seen a few programs about the tower clock and Dent's name wasn't mentioned. Having posted above, I gogoiled Dent. There lies a mention about the clock.
lndeed he did, looking about 85 but l didn`t notice if he was wearing a watch ( a very tenuous attempt at being on thread ! ).
" `ello, l`m Gerry the mole, your next door neighbour" just run the tape to check.
Bought the tapes in the "fire sale" a few years ago when the big stores binned their VHS stock. About two quid each l seem to remember. The basic format seems to have been the norm until alternative comedy set in. Must still be available on dvd, but expect a hellish price.
MY boyz got nice Swiss ones for their christnening, I've got a lovely antique one (can't recall name or be bothered to get it) but it was only half the cost and oddles more rare than the ones you mention.
I've also got my Grandfathers fob but it's died - rather like him.
They are unusual and would stand out as a smashing present.
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