Hello Christine,
Thank you for sending this pocket watch in to mearto.com for an appraisal. Thank you for the extra photos.
TITLE:
Art deco era, Gent’s silver-plated base metal, pendant wound and pendant set, open face pocket watch, dial marked Marathon (made by Jeanneret-Brehm, St. Imier, Switzerland), case made by the Illinois Watch Case Company, movement made by Gallet & Company, SA., La Chaux de Fonds, Switzerland, circa 1930s
COMMENTARY: Bothe the Jeanneret and Gallet companies collaborated their efforts together in supporting each other to gain a foothold in the American watch market. It is best described in this website - http://www.galletworld.com/gallet_watch_history_time_line.html
DESCRIPTION:
Case: Size not provided, but this is either a silver plated or coin silver Art Deco era case with vertical guilloche ornaments on the back with a shield shaped cameo for the owner’s initials (black.) There is a round flat coin shaped pendant and shaped embossed bow at the twelve position. The barrel of the case is filled with embossed foliate designs as is the dial bezel. The interior of the case is pictured in a blurry photo but one can make out the Illinois Watch Case Company, Elgin, Illinois (1890-1951). There is an illegible watch case number inside the case. (The Illinois watch company had no special relationship to the two Swiss firms)
Dial: This is triple stepped double sunk white enameled dial with a black enameled stylized Arabic hour track, open bar minute track to the outside, sunken subsidiary seconds dial @6 and a sunken dial center with the name Marathon printed in the upper dial center. There are steel Antique Breguet hands. (Marathon was a model made by the Jeanneret-Brehm watch company in the middle years of the 20th century.
Movement: This is a damascened nickel split three quarter plate movement made with seventeen jewels, exposed ratchet and crown wheels, three adjustments made for accuracy in three different positions, and signed Gallet & co, Switzerland, a movement provided for Jeanneret -Brehm most likely during the late Art Deco years of the 1930s-1940s.the movement has a bimetallic balance wheel with hairspring and a Swiss made index regulator for making the movement faster and slower.
CONDITION: The dial and movement are therefor related to the two different companies working together to create a product for the American market. The case is likely supplied by a watch repairman simply to provide a properly sized and fitted case. Certainly, this was done all over the country by jewelers and watch repairmen. Could it have been the original case, perhaps ordered by the case company for their watch cases? Yes, but most likely they were paired by jeweler or repairman.
The silvered case has wear to the guilloche pattern on the back of the case. Note the fluted coin pendant has lost all of its silver an appears to be a brass movement below the silver. There is patchy discoloration around the edge of the dial between the 44- and 52-minute markers, but not signs of a dial fracture. The movement remains in very fine condition, looks clean and may be functional.
COUPLE OF IMPORTANT FACTS FROM HISTORY:
1911 - Henri Jeanneret-Brehm, a member of the esteemed Jeanneret family of St. Imier watchmakers, purchases the Magnenat-Lecoultre factory with financial assistance from the Gallet company.
1918 – Jeanneret-Brehm begins manufacturing under the company name Excelsior Park. Deriving the name from Jenneret-Brehm’s previously registered “Excelsior” trademark, the English variation of the French word for “park” is utilized at the prompting of Gallet to support the collaborative efforts of the two companies in their marketing focus on the American consumer. The cooperative relationship of Excelsior Park (OWNED BY Jeanneret) and Gallet leads to the development of a number of time-recording mechanisms, including the calibre 40. These new chronograph movements are utilized almost exclusively in Gallet and Excelsior Park wristwatches, with a small number supplied to the Girard Perregaux and Zenith companies when production capabilities allowed.
COMPARABLES:
~https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/36595889_antique-swiss-engraved-silver-pocket-watch (sold in 2015 for $80)
~https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/24730253_gallet-and-co-gold-filled-open-face-pocket-watch (Gold filled Gallet watch sold for $90 in 2014)
~https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/98220444_marathon-pocket-watch (Marathon pocket watch, Art deco years, sold in 2021 for $20)
~https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/85293010_three-american-pocket-watches Three watches including a Marathon pocket watch sold for $122 in 2020)
PRICING:
In today demanding marketplace those watches made of solid gold will bring significant money, even if made by the less famous firms. This watch was likely ordered by a jeweler in New York and put the Swiss dial and movement together with an Illinois watch case. (Illinois watch case company was in business from circa 1890-1951.) It is a handsome watch and the fair market value in today’s market place would be in the range of $50-$75 with retail prices about twice that amount.
Thank you for choosing mearto.com for this appraisal.
My best,
David