Hello Michael,
Thank you for sending in this pocket watch to mearto.com for an appraisal. I shall do my best to help you with that today.
TITLE:
Gent’s, gold-filled, pendant wound and pendant set, savonette, hunting case pocket watch, made by the American Waltham Watch Company, Waltham, Ma. USA circa 1910.
DESCRIPTION:
CASE – Size not provided, four leaf, gold filled, hunting case pocket watch with both outer covers having rows of foliate engravings very much in the style of the Art Nouveau era (1880-1910) which stressed the beauties of nature. There is a fluted ball shaped pendant and round bow placed at the three position (savonette) opposite the case hinge. The inside of the cover carries the case no. 351972 (this is not the serial number, which is found on the movement). In addition, there is a logo of an arm-and-hammer indicting the case was made for Waltham by the Philadelphia Watch Case Company. They first registered this trademark on Aug 29, 1905. (See history)
DIAL - White enameled dial with roman hours, closed minute track, subsidiary seconds dial @6, Steel American type Spade hands and the upper dial marked Waltham.
MOVEMENT – Not shown. So I am unable to determine the date of production, the size of the watch and the type of movement.
CONDITION:
Case - Fair condition with excessive wear to the engraving on both covers. The gilding is gone from the pendant and bow and there is an area on one cover which has blackened or oxidized. Scratches are numerous inside the case.
Dial - Poor with dark speckling throughout the dial but worse is the large fracture that runs from the three minute marker down through the base of the hands and down further into the subsidiary seconds dial.
Movement – not seen and could not be properly evaluated. Will assume it is original to this case, genuine and functional.
Overall the watch is in fair to poor condition and is made of gold plated or gold filled metal.
HISTORY:
Philadelphia Watch Case Company: MR. THEOPHILUS ZURBRUGG bought out the watch case company of Leichty & Le Bouba in 1884, in Philadelphia, Pa. and he changed the name to the Philadelphia Watch Case Co. He made various types of cases, using a crown as one trademark and an arm and hammer as another. The company moved to Riverside, N.J. in 1902, leaving Philadelphia, but keeping the name. In 1904 Zurbrugg managed a series of mergers, which brought together his own Philadelphia Watch Case Co., Bates and Bacon, Crescent and the Keystone Watch Case Company, the latter company was the true owner after the merger. Keystone stayed in Philadelphia while Philadelphia operated in their New Jersey location. After a series of mergers in 1904 the name became the Keystone Watch Case Co., Riverside, New Jersey. In 1901, the Philadelphia Watch Case Co. had purchased the U.S. Watch Co. at Waltham, only a little more than a year after NY Standard was purchased by Keystone and Zurbrugg. That was at the same time, that the three companies, Zurbrugg, NY Standard and Philadelphia, opened a shared office on New York's Maiden Lane. But, it must be kept in mind that, by that point, Zurbrugg and Keystone were essentially the same company. The stated purpose in an article describing Philadelphia's purchase of the United States Watch Co., Waltham, Mass. was "... to have a large output of high grade watches, ..." but that didn't exactly happen, at least not under the Philadelphia name. Instead, Keystone (the real owner) purchased the rights to use the Howard name on watches and ran the company as the E. Howard Watch Co. Almost as if to add insult to injury, the names used on the cases were Keystone and Crescent, not Philadelphia.
PRICING:
I do not believe that seeing the movement of this watch would make much difference in trying to sell it. The case is in poor condition and uses an inexpensive type of metal with about 5% gold, tiny microns thick layers on the inside and outside of the casing.
This watch with a terribly damaged dial and fair case and the correct movement would not be worth more than $50. I do not believe it is even possible to find a buyer. However, I have assigned a value of $40-$50 for parts. No retailer would have any interest.
Sorry I am the one who has to provide you with this news. I do not enjoy doing that.
Thank you for using mearto.com.
My best,
David