Does anyone else have pocket watches in their collection?

The Trutime model by E Ingraham is interesting, as it is clearly meant for an automobile dashboard. The NAWCC museum had an entire case on aftermarket auto clocks or ways to mount pocket watches, most of which predate the year 1921 (when the shysters at Vasheron Constantin got drunk and made a cockeyed wristwatch dial pretending that it great for cabbies and truck drivers or something, which is ridiculous).

It's shocking how similar that Elgin dial is to that of a woman's Elgin (presumably circa 1920's) that I just passed on to my aunt. The vertical brushed metal dial with radially machined subdial, the typeface and discreet branding, even (IIRC) the railroad minute track, it's all very similar.

I have a few inherited pocket watches as well, but my phone is currently being temperamental with uploading images so I'll try again later.

I have a few. I reckon they offer amazing value compared to vintage wristwatches. I don't wear them but rotate them as my desk clock.

This is one of my favourites, a wedding gift from 1912 and still going strong after 101 years. I believe Birks were a jewelry store chain who sold own brand watches.

Those are beautiful, especially the Elgin. I inherited an Elgin from family. I was able to use online tools to date it to circa 1901. If you open the back and locate the serial number, that gets you started. Here are some Elgin links I found helpful:

Serial number database: http://elginwatches.org/databases/elgin_sn_intro.html

What the search results look like: http://elginwatches.org/cgi-bin/elgin_sn?sn=9698846&action=search

Info on production history: http://home.elgintime.com/elgintime/SnumLookup?SN=9698846

Good luck!

Birks is in Montreal. They had a relationship with Eterna for decades, but I don't know if it extended back to 1912.

I have an old Westclox that needs a service.

I have also inherited three this year when my mum passed.

One I knew about which was my Dad's and before that my grandpa's

Which has been serviced and lightly renovated by my friend Gareth @ gasworks.

The other two I believe belonged to my Great Uncle Fred who was a first world war veteran wounded on the Somme.

One was remarkably clean and working

The last much older 1880s I believe and in need of some love

I find them fascinating and when I have the time would like to do some research with a view to collecting more.

They do seem surprisingly inexpensive to buy compared to vintage watches!

I have a few pocket watches, all of which are over 100 years old, but still work and keep good time.

An invaluable resource for dating pocket watches is the Pocket Watch Database. https://pocketwatchdatabase.com/

Really that’s just awesome, I’ll definitely use that in my quest to date them

So I looked up the serial number and it’s from 1926!

The Elgin case back

The trutime movement look at that beautiful lines!

There you go. Have to have a birthday celebration in a few years. By the way (you probably already know this, but I didn't), you looked up the number on the movement and not the number on the case, right?

Yes Sir, it’s the number from the movement not the case.

I was at an IWC event in Indianapolis with Reis Nichols and they had two gold pocket watches in their used case and I immediately went straight to them as my local AD never stocks anything interesting. As other people have commented, their price point is much more palpable than similarly aged vintage watches. Dial is marked with:

Oskamp Nolting & Co.

Cincinnati

I’ve dated the Elgin it was made in 1926

Wait, I thought Westclox weren't worth servicing.

I had mine serviced and it works, generally. It's the middle one below, circa 1933.

The top one is a Walmart George quartz that cost $8.88. It eats batteries too readily. I'm utterly mystified at how the bottom one came into my family. The movement is apparently Poitevin, which I can only find was some Parisian watchmaker in the late 1800's.

I own these two beauties and I was able to check their history at pocketwatchdatabase.com. Perhaps these other sites may work out for you.

https://www.lovetoknow.com/

https://www.pmtime.com/

https://www.elginnumbers.com/

The dial on that Hamilton is in immaculate condition. I'm curious to know what movement sits behind it!

They're gorgeous. One of these days I'll need to get a piece from Hamilton that was made in Lancaster, PA. I grew up just about an hour away.

Beautiful!