Hello Catherine,
Thank you for sending in your family gold pocket watch to mearto.com for an appraisal. I shall try to help you with that today.
TITLE:
Ladies/Gent’s, elegant, Art Nouveau era, 18k yellow gold, pendant wound, savonette, hunting case pocket watch, movement serial number 68172, case number 57526, retailed by Tiffany & Company, NYC and made for Tiffany in Switzerland, circa 1890-1900.
DESCRIPTION:
CASE – Approximately 37/38 mm diameter, four leaf, keyless, 18k yellow gold hunting case pocket watch with a full fluted ball pendant and round bow placed at the three position (savonette) opposite the case hinge. The outer covers (only one shown) are heavily engraved with gold leaves flowers and fruit all very much in the Art Nouveau style of c. 1880-1910 which stressed natural forms. I will assume both covers have similar engraving with one having a shield shaped central cameo initialed by the owner. The inside of one cover has case number 57526 and is marked for Tiffany & Co. NYC, 18K gold.
DIAL – White enameled dial with black Roman hours, closed minute track, continental type Spade hands and the upper dial marked for the retailer, Tiffany & Company, New York.
MOVEMENT – This is a rhodium plated, three quarter nickel plate movement with parallel damascening and a small finger bridge present, straight line lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensation balance, blued steel Breguet balance spring, Swiss made index regulator, fully jeweled (usually 16-18 jewels) and the movement signed, Tiffany & Co. New York no. 68172. Dial, case and movement are triple signed for the retail jewelry firm.
CONDITION:
CASE – Excellent condition.
DIAL - Excellent condition with no hairline fractures. Only negative here is the lack of a subsidiary seconds dial.
MOVEMENT – This is a fairly typical layout of the Swiss made watch movements made for Tiffany on special order. They were made by some of the best firms in Switzerland although not signed by the maker.
HISTORY of TIFFANY & CO:
In 1837, in a time when New York City saw dynamic growth, extravagant taste and golden opportunities, twenty-five-year-old Charles Lewis Tiffany and John B. Young opened a “stationery and fancy goods” store with a $1,000 advance from Tiffany’s father. On their way to the new emporium at 259 Broadway, fashionable ladies in silks, satins and beribboned bonnets faced a gauntlet of narrow streets teeming with horses and carriages and the hurly-burly of city life. At Tiffany & Co. they discovered a newly emerging “American style” that departed from the European design aesthetic rooted in religious and ceremonial patterns. The young entrepreneurs were inspired by the natural world, which they interpreted in exquisite patterns of simplicity, harmony and clarity. These became the hallmarks of Tiffany design, first in silver hollowware and flatware, and later in jewelry. This singular style quickly established Tiffany & Co. as the arbiter of taste, elegance and sophistication, which it still is today. The Tiffany & Co. silver studio, where apprentices were encouraged to observe and sketch nature, was the first American school of design. Tiffany first achieved international recognition at the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1867, when, for the first time, an American design house was awarded the grand prize for silver craftsmanship. By 1870 Tiffany & Co. had become America’s premier purveyor of jewels and timepieces as well as luxury table, personal, and household accessories, with customers including prominent figures such as President Lincoln. At the turn of the century the company had more than one thousand employees and branches in London, Paris, and Geneva. Tiffany opened their own factory for making watches in 1872, but this was a short lived effort and they closed in 1876. The operation of that Tiffany factory was taken over by Patek Philippe in 1879. In 1882 President Chester Arthur invited Louis Comfort Tiffany, the son of the founder, to redecorate the White House and by 1900 the younger Tiffany was a recognized world leader in the Art Nouveau and Arts and Crafts movements. In 1902 he became Tiffany’s first director of design. Tiffany designs captured the spirit of the times from the extravagance of the 1920s to the modernism of the 1930s and the aerodynamic age of the 1940s and 1950s. A unique partnership in retailing was celebrated in recent times by Patek Philippe, one of the world's premiere watchmakers, and by Tiffany & Co., one of the world's leading luxury goods retailers. That business relationship began with a handshake agreement in 1851 between company founders Antoine Norbert de Patek and Charles Lewis Tiffany.
PRICING:
Comparing this watch to others made for Tiffany sold at auction over the past few years, yours has a plethora of fine Art Nouveau engraving and the gold is thick, but on the opposite side of the coin this is a relatively small pocket watch measuring about 37/38 mm diameter (not counting the pendant and bow) when compared to the full gentleman’s size of 50-55 mm. However, the pristine condition makes this a valuable example in today’s marketplace. I would place a fair market value on this watch, if sold at auction, in a range of $3000-$3250. Retail prices would, of course be higher.
{Almost all Tiffany watches were made by other manufacturing companies in Switzerland or France. Tiffany did make watches in Switzerland for their own stores during the short period of 1872 and 1876. Those watches remain very highly sought after as do the watches with complications such as repeating on gongs, calendars and many other complications and the prices of those can quickly sour into the middle five figures.}
I hope this helps you to better understand and appreciate the beauty of this particular family heirloom watch. Continue to take good care of this piece and it can only grow in value.
Thank you for using mearto.com.
My best,
David