Watches
Pocket -Fob Watches
Vary in size and style. Both men and women wore pocket watches. Men wore these on fob chains and had them attached to their vest button holes. The fob then hung down into the vest pocket.
Ladies wore their watches on chatelaines (belts) and also off Albertina watch chains from their lapels. The smaller sized watches were ladies’ time pieces and the larger heavier bulker watches were worn and used by men.
In modern times men attach the watches by means of a fob chain to a suit jacket through a button hole and hang them into their coat or trouser pocket.
While women wear them on a chain around their necks as a pendant or with the aid of a bar brooch making it possible to wear on a shirt, jacket or jumper.
There are:
Open faced watches with no protective lid.
Half hunter-a closed in lidded face with a small circular window through which the hands can be seen. These watchesusually had Roman numerals enamelled onto the outer protective lid. These were very popular for men that participated in sporting activities such as fox hunts, thus the origin of the name was born as they did not have to open the cover to see what the time was and risk dirtying the watch.
Repeater-a chiming pocket watch: there are 3 types-5 minute, quarter repeater and minute.
Watches are quite easy to date; this can be done by looking at the movements and the style of the case. For example the early pair case watches (two cases) would be from Georgian times c1750’s onwards and quite easily spotted. Coming right through the centuries until the last popular style was invented, the machine turned self winding watch from the c1920’s which replaced the key wound watch.
Ladies watches unlike men’s watches are not really seen to be collectable and have to be valued and priced accordingly. The Diamond Art Deco ladies watches again have no real collectable value and are to be valued on gemstone and gold content only. Men’s watches are the only ones that retain the value and are considered collectable. This is mainly because of the fact that ladies watches have impossibly small faces, making them very hard to read and impractical and therefore harder to sell.
Antique Fob watch care:
Fob watches are special pieces.
Open from the front glass to change the hands, Use the key for the earlier wind up watches. With the more modern manual wind up watches pull gently out the ribbed winder to change the time or move the hands, to wind the time piece up by rotating the knob. If the winding mechanism feels tight –stop. Six to eight winds should be enough. When closing the cover never press down on the middle of the cover as this is only a thin sheeted metal and can bend inwards causing the glass to shatter or break.
These watches are not shock or water proof. Dropping them can cause them to not work, even if you feel it wasn’t that hard a shock.
They can be temperamental due to age. Heat and cold can affect them, as the metal expands and contracts with the pressure. With this added pressure this can cause time to be lost or gained with the watch.
They need to be wound up daily. Please be patient and remember that these watches were very advanced in their day even though by today’s standards they are very outdated. They will not keep accurate time, they are not digital. If your watch is running between 5-10 minutes early or late that is considered within the limitations of normal. Some watches can even run much later than this due to their age and wear and tear on their parts, such as the cylinder movement watches. This type of movement can not be replaced in a watch. A majority of these watches are between 70-150 years of age and need to be treated accordingly. They are often given as gifts and are meant to be a curio worn on special occasions, an insight into the past for future generations to come.
- Care must be taken not to over wind as mechanisms are old and delicate.
- Regular servicing may be needed by a professional clock and watch maker.
These watches are an investment for the future.
NOTE: UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCE OPEN THE BACK OF THE WATCH ESPECIALLY AFTER JUST BEING SERVICED. OPENING ALLOWS DUST & MOISTURE IN. ALSO NEVER TOUCH THE MOVEMENTS AS THIS LEAVES ACID FROM YOUR FINGERS BEHIND AND CAN CAUSE THE WORKINGS TO CORRODE IN YEARS TO COME!
WATCH KEYS
These were used to wind the old pocket watches. They can be 9ct gold, silver, rolled gold or gold cased, plain or jewel set. They were commonly worn on watch chains and chatelaines. The ends of these can be stone set with intaglio seals in an array of different designs.