Old watch

Here are some pics of an old watch that was handed down in our family to me. It turns out that a co-worker fixes old watches; I brought it to him and he cleaned it up and got it working. (It probably stopped working during the dust bowl!) He says, based on the hallmarks inside the case, my watch was probably made sometime between 1790 and 1820. He thinks the tax stamp indicates it was made during the reign of King George III, who died in 1820.

The movement is called a "fusee verge escapement". This movement went out of fashion in the mid 1800s.



<a href="http://s804.beta.photobucket.com/user/mark_in_michigan/media/B%20Webb%20and%20Son%20fusee%20verge%20escapement%20watch/watch_8_zps79df734c.jpg.html" target="_blank"> </a>

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very nice. to borrow a slogan "takes a licking and keeps on ticking".

That is very nice. I have a double barrel shotgun that is handed down to the oldest son. Don't know what generation it started with but I'm told the last time it was fired was by my great Grandmother who shot a coon in the engine house/summer kitchen. I have no sons so it will have to go to my oldest daughter. My only brother is a bachelor so the last name has to change any way unless I give it to one of my cousins to give to their oldest son with the same last name. Now that I think about it, maybe that's what I should do. Opinions?

You wouldn't think they could have made something that intricate back in those days.

I wonder how many man hours it took to build it back in those days.

Ask the daughter, she is your flesh. Jim

The experts on this site may be able to tell you all about your antique watch.
National Assuciation of Watch and Clock Collectors

RF, it is quite amazing. The fellow who fixed it said I was lucky there were no broken parts, because there's very little interchangeability in watches this old. He was concerned it might have a broken pivot, and he said that even with his more or less modern lathe he found that particular part to be very difficult to make.

The "fusee" mechanism uses a tiny chain that wraps around a conical wheel. The wheel looks like a miniature spiral staircase; it's quite remarkable they were able to construct just these two parts, to say nothing of everything else.

Thanks for the link, dgasper.

Well I guess ask yourself, "Who would appreciate this most?" If your daughter would appreciate it equal or more to a cousin's child, I say give it to your daughter. If she has no interest in guns and it may end up being sold out of the family someday, then give it to someone within your family who appreciates its family value and will keep it within your family.

very nice old watch, think of how many times it COULD have been damaged, but escaped, if it could only talk!

while remodeling our 1st farmhouse i found a watch case just like that ,,,no inside worx,,thought it was gold but jeweler pal said it was brass ,. said if i ever wanted to sell it , he was interested ,and asked about it when i bought my 1st wife a bigger ring ,. i think my 1st wife did just that,,.it left when she did //

My dad found an old pocket watch. He was walking along the bank of Lake of the Ozarks one early spring day during the winter draw down. He looked down and there in the mud he saw it, all black from tarnish-the fob was attached with a length of bailer twine.

When he got it home, he started to clean it up. He opened the cover, wiped it with silver polish, and staring him in the face was his grandfather's name and the year he was born, scratched into the metal by hand.

My great-grandfather had passed away several decades earlier and about 150 miles away from where the watch was found. When he died, there were two personal items that couldn't be found, his Bible (he was a preacher) and his watch. My Dad now has both.

I have a 1890 watch..inside the case it is stamped COIN METAL. An old jeweler said that it
meant, silver, as in silver doller coins.

Among my dad's effects was a "railroad" pocket watch- looked pretty authentic, but he bought it in the 1980's or so from Monkey Wards. Still had the price tag on the box.

I gave it to my son, and he (keeping a straight face) tells people it was "handed down from my grandfather". Turns out dad quit using it when the battery ran down.

And that's just about the extent of family heirlooms in my family. Dad had a few books I wanted, but I think they got sold at the estate garage sale. I did get the branding iron and brand book.