Hello Daniel,
Thank you for sending in this gold pocket watch to mearto.com for a fair market appraisal. I shall try to help you with that today. Remember, we only provide fair market values as if sold on the watch market. We do not provide prices if you sell it on the gold market which destroys the watch.
TITLE:
Gent’s, 14k yellow gold, pendant wound and pendant set, Art Deco era, 24-hour open face, ‘Chronometre’ pocket watch, made by the Elly Watch Co., Ébauches S.A. also known as Buser Freres & Company, Niederdorf & Basel, Switzerland, circa 1930.
DESCRIPTION:
Case: 50 mm diameter, 14k yellow gold, three leaf, open face pocket watch with vertical guilloche striping on the back cover which is embossed with foliate designs along the peripheral edge and around the dial bezel. The back cover contains a cameo for the owner’s initials, an intertwined ‘DK’. The gold fluted coin shaped crown and embossed shaped bow are placed at the twelve position. The interior of the back cover carries the hallmark for 14k gold (0.585%), the squirrel, and the number 56, {most likely a number assigned to the Buser Brothers Watch Company, a member of a Federation of Swiss watch making companies who formed an association in Neuchatel, Switzerland in 1926 for cooperation and sharing of parts and services between the various members in the difficult years following World War I}. The case number is noted as 196722 (this is not the serial number which would have been on the movement). . .
Dial: A round silvered dial with applied gold upright Arabic hours, gold dot minute track to the outside with a deep blue enameled second hour chapter (13-24) placed in Arabic numerals every five minutes. There is a sunken subsidiary second’s dial @6 and gilt skeletonized Art Deco Lozenge hands. The dial is marked “Chronometre, Elly Watch Company”. The dial center has guilloche swirls. . .
Movement: Gilt half plate and small finger bridge movement, pendant wound and pendant set, jeweled, monometallic balance with Swiss made index regulator marked in both English and French initials for faster and slower. The movement is unsigned. The half plate has an exposed crown and ratchet wheels with the barrel wheel signed “Franca” with three stars. Franca was a trademark name for Buser Freres & company founded by Albert Buser in 1916. . .
CONDITON:
Case – Excellent with little signs of wear.
Dial - Very good with few speckles of black silver oxidation around the dial while the edge of the dial or crystal has an arch shaped blemish at the number 8 on the dial.
Movement – Clean and in very good condition, but does not appear to be of chronometre quality. Many of the small Swiss companies used the term chronometre as a form of advertisement rather than the name being indicative of a true chronometre.
COMPARABLES:
https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/45870177_a-14k-gold-movado-pocket-watch
(similar Movado watch in 14K white gold sold for $550)
https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/36950206_14k-omega-swiss-art-deco-pocket-watch-17-jewel (14k gold Art Deco pocket watch made by Omega sold for $350)
https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/53360233_ch-meylan-14k-yellow-gold-pocket-watch (14K gold Art Deco Meylan pocket watch sold for $400)
https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/60847868_1950-zenith-14k-49mm-deco-shell-swiss-pocket-watch (14k gold hunting case pocket watch by Zenith sold in 2018 for $700.)
PRICING:
Just for interest let’s calculate what the value of the gold is in this watch:
59 gms = 2.08116 ounces X 35% (the 35 % is the weight of the gold metal in the watch without the dial and movement) = 0.7284 ounces of 14K gold X 0.585 = 0.4261 ounces of pure gold in this watch X $1722.00 (today’s price of gold) = $733 less a 15% retailer fee = $623 to you if sold on the gold market.
In today’s watch market the condition of the watch case, dial and movement means a good deal, and the brand name also affects the price. The Elly Watch company IS NOT a major name in Swiss watches and that reduces the value a bit. Still this is a handsome solid gold Art Deco era watch which should bring a fair market price at auction in the range of $400-$450.
I hope that helps you to understand the nature of your watch and its approximate fair market value. Retail values will be somewhat higher, perhaps twice the fair market price.
I hope that is helpful to you.
My best,
David