Hello Kathryn,
Thank you for sending this family heirloom pocket watch into mearto.com for an appraisal. I shall try to help you with that today.
TITLE:
Gent’s, 14k gold-filled, open face pocket watch, keyless, open face pocket watch with Montgomery dial, made by the Howard-Keystone Watch Company, S/N 1151671, Grade: Series 10 movement, made by the Howard/Keystone Company of Waltham, Ma. USA, circa 1912. (See notes below regarding the E. Howard Watch Company) Accompanied by the original fitted leatherette jewelry case marked ‘Howard’.
DESCRIPTION:
CASE - Size 16, 14K gold-plated, three leaf, polished open face pocket watch with a suppressed ball gilt fluted pendant and round bow placed at the twelve position. The back cover is polished 14K gold-plate and free of engravings. The cuvette is engraved, “E. Howard Watch Co., Boston”. The case serial number is 1504163 and the inside of the back cover is marked for the case maker and owner of this company, the Keystone Watch Case Company and carries the hallmark of a balance scale with a crown at the fulcrum, a mark that indicates this a 14k gold plated case with a gilt finish guaranteed to last at least 25 years. . .
DIAL - A triple sunk, white enameled ‘Montgomery’ dial (A Montgomery dial was often used on the railway lines for safety reasons and is a dial with each individual minute numbered in Arabic figures) with bold upright Arabic hours, open dotted minute track with each individual minute having its own Arabic marker with every fifth marker in red. There is a sunken subsidiary second’s dial @6 and the sunken dial center is marked, “Howard”. The dial has steel Spade hands. . .
MOVEMENT – Although not shown, this would be a partial plate, finger bridge and straight center wheel finger bridge, nickel movement with vertical and parallel damascene decoration of the plates, size 16 movement of 'Grade Series 10, model 1907', made by the E. Howard Watch Company (then owned by Keystone and known by collectors as Howard-Keystones) of Waltham, Massachusetts, Serial Number 1151671, made in 1912 in a run of 7000 such movements, each with 21 jewels, open face configuration with pendant winding and lever setting, Reed type regulator, Breguet hairspring, double roller and going barrel all adjusted to five positions, temperature and isochronism. The movement plates are signed “E. Howard Co. Boston, 21 jewels”. . .
CONDITION:
Case – Moderate amount of surface scratches from usage and the pedant bow has the gilding worn partially away. In original jewelry box with paperwork. . .
Dial – The most significant damage to this fine watch is on the dial and that is the presence of three significant hairline fractures extending from the dial center to the one, five and nine positions (this is a major hurt to value). . .
Movement – Not seen but would assume it is genuine and functional.
HISTORY:
E. Howard, & Company (watches):::: Edward Howard (1813-1904) was a mechanical genius who did pioneering work in both the watch and clock businesses. After 1857 he successfully began the manufacture of pocket watches by using interchangeable machine made parts. By 1858 the first watches bearing only Howard's name were produced, and the firm of E. Howard and Co. was formed for the manufacture of high grade watches (1858-1903). In 1861 most movements were stamped with an "N" which indicated a rather large size 18 watch. Howard used letters on the movement to indicate watch size, and N stood for 1+13/16 inches. By 1868 Howard was the first to introduce stem winding movements in the USA. The 'L' watch movement was introduced in 1868 and was #16 size, and that was the year he produced his first nickel metal movements. In 1878 the key wound movements were discontinued and only stem winding versions persisted. Howard, himself, retired in 1882, but the company continued to make watches in the old style until after 1903. The dials were all made of fine enamel and bore the Howard name. Despite slight changes in the name of the company over the years, one finds that their fine jeweled watches always bore the name E. Howard and Company. In 1902 the company transferred all the rights to use the name E. Howard to the Keystone Watch Case Company of Phil, Pa. (1902-1930). The Howard Division was located in Jersey City, N.J. In 1905 Keystone purchased the United States Watch Company factory and offices in Waltham, Ma. and created watches there until 1927. Most of the Keystone watches had the name Howard on the dial and E. Howard Watch Company, Boston, USA on the movement. Howard never made the cases for his watches while Keystone made both the cases and many of the watch movements.
PRICING:
In very fine condition this gold-plated watch would have a fair market value in the $500 range. The condition of the case (fair-good) and the triple fractured dial reduce the value into the range of $300-$350 at auction with a retail value somewhere above that, but retailers would avoid buying this example because of the multiple dial fractures.
I hope this appraisal has helped you to understand the family piece that you inherited and to appreciate the fineness of its mechanism.
My best,
David