Hello Jake,
Thank you for sending your pocket watch into mearto.com for an appraisal. I shall try to help you with that today
TITLE:
Gent’s 10k gold plate (20 year gold finish guarantee) , pendant wound and lever set, savonette, hunting case pocket watch in a Fahy’s Monarch #1 case, S/N 3967791, Grade 67, made by the Elgin National Watch Company, Elgin, Illinois, circa 1890.
DESCRIPTION:
CASE – Size 6, four leaf, 10k yellow gold plate, hunting case pocket watch with the outer covers engraved with a plethora of gilt foliage which extends to the barrel edge of the casing in fine filigree foliate patters. There is a fluted ball pendant and round bow placed at the three position (savonette) opposite the case hinge. The interior of the case is marked for Fahys monarch #1 case, first patented in 1879 and the trademarked first issued in 1892 (see history), although I cannot read any of that information from the photos. There is a cuvette over the movement.
DIAL – White enameled dial with roman hours, closed minute track, sunken subsidiary seconds @6, steel Breguet hour hand and a replaced steel baton minute hand. The upper dial is marked ‘Elgin’.
MOVEMENT – This is the three-quarter, with damascened nickel plates, Grade 67 movement, Model 1, Class 50 made by the Elgin National Watch Company of Elgin, Illinois, serial number 3967791, made in 1890 in a run of 1000 such movements. They were made in a size 6 using 15 jewels, pendant wound and lever set with a going barrel, quick train, plain regulator and made with no adjustments for position. The movement is properly signed and numbered.
CONDITION:
Case – The case is not damaged but the engravings are certainly moderately worn from usage.
Dial – This is where the problem lies with this particular watch. There are major fractures extending down from the 8 and 12 minute markers. There are also compound hairline fractures at the 35-38 minute markers as well as the 26 minute marker. There is also speckling of the dial. The minute hand is a replacement. These findings on the dial, I am very sorry to say, truly destroy any real value in this pocket watch.
Movement – The movement is genuine and original to this case, and the movement is considered functional, signed and properly numbered.
HISTORY:
FAHYS, JOSEPH, WATCH CASES - Joseph Fahys came to America in 1848, took his training in Hoboken, N.J. and set up shop on Nassau Street in New York City in the year 1857. He opened a second case shop in Carlstadt, New Jersey in 1861. In 1882 he merged it with a large factory he had built in Sag Harbor, N.Y. Fahys generally made watch cases of either silver, gold filled or nickel cases. However, sometime between 1865 and 1890 he formed the Brooklyn Watch Case company for making solid gold watches. After 1900 he merged the Brooklyn Company with the two Fahys companies. By 1890, 500 workers were at work there turning out gold filled, silver and nickel cases. The "Fahys Watch Case Company" of Sag Harbor, N.Y. turned out to have filed ten trademarks with the government starting in 1891 and filing the last in 1905. Fahys main office remained at all time in New York City under the name of ”Joseph Fahys & Company" of New York City and Brooklyn. They filed their first of six trademarks in 1908 and their last in the year 1925. The company operated until the great depression of 1929. By the mid-1930's Bulova had taken over their Sag Harbor factory.
PRICING:
In very fine condition in a 10k gold plated case this watch might have a fair market value in the range of $80-$120. However, with the shattered dial essentially you are selling the pleasing Monarch #1 case and the movement. I cannot see this watch selling for more than $50 and have therefore put a fair market price range from $40-$50. A true retailer would not buy such a watch because of the dial so that it has no retail value at this point. I wish I could provide you with better news, but that is how I see this watch in today’s very demanding marketplace.
I hope that helps you with your appraisal and your understanding of the pricing limitations. Well, I can at least wish you a happy and healthy New Year! Thank you for using mearto.com for the appraisal.
My best,
David