Hello Jinzhe Li,
Thank you again for sending your necklace watch to mearto for an appraisal. I will do my best to help you with the valuation of this piece of jewelry
TITLE:
Ladies 14k yellow gold and diamond, manually wound, keyless, mechanical pendant watch, model 4515, calibre 490/BW, made by LeCoultre, Switzerland, circa 1960s.
DESCRIPTION:
This is a diamond and 14k gold small (size not provided) wristwatch made as a pendant for a necklace. The oval 14k gold bezel has eight small cut diamonds, two at each pole of the oval, the other four individually placed around the dial, between the groupings are 14k gold leaves. There is a small gold ringlet above through which a necklace would pass. The back cover of the case has the marking 14k gold, while the inside of the cover is signed by LeCoultre, case no.388580 and has the Swiss gold hallmark. The oval dial is champagne colored with black onyx dotted hours and steel baton hands. The upper dial is signed LeCoultre. The movement is shown and is a split plate fully jeweled mechanical example signed in gold by LeCoultre of Switzerland. It is a manual-winding example with lever escapement and monometallic balance, signed and numbered. This and similar movements were made by JLC during the 1950s and 1960s for watches that were essentially ladies’ jewelry. JLC made much more elaborate pendants using jade, jadeite, and rock crystal, pearls, platinum and enameling surrounds for the watch and sell for several thousands of dollars. The movement is marked for the LeCoultre company, but unfortunately the photo of the movement is not clear enough for me to read. I believe this is the Lecoultre seventeen jewel caliber 490/BW first made in 1949 and one that had a power reserve of 40 hours on a single winding.
The use of watches as part of lady’s jewelry goes back to the Art Deco era of the 1920's and these were magnificent examples with all sorts of high-priced materials. The 1960s was a renaissance of that earlier style and it lasted through the 1960s up until the quart revolution of the 1970s, when cheaper quartz movement watches made it very difficult for the Swiss companies to survive.
Your case, movement and dial are triple signed by Lecoultre and I have valued it as in working order.
Looking at comparables at auction over the past few years I believe that the fair market value would be in the $1000-$1300 range, in working condition. If not functioning about half of that amount.
Once again, it was my pleasure to be of assistance to you.
My best,
David