# New old pocket watch



## SteveHorsfall (Nov 25, 2017)

Bought this yesterday at 'Home and Colonial' Antiques, Berkhamsted, yesterday. Marked 'Pain Brothers Hastings' on dial and mechanism, but a bit of googling suggests that they wereretailers, not watchmakers. Silver case, hallmarked Birmingham, 1900.

Flickr album.


----------



## barrywatch (Apr 8, 2017)

Hi Steve

That's very nice, good find. Is it working?

Barry


----------



## Always"watching" (Sep 21, 2013)

Yes, Steve, as someone who has lived on or near the Sussex coast for many years, I can tell you that Hastings has never been a centre of commercial watchmaking and Pain Brothers were evidently the retailers for your watch. Judging by the form of your timepiece and the decoration on the caseback, I would date it to about the later 19th century, perhaps just into the twentieth. There are a few Marked, "Pain Brothers," pocket watches shown online and it seems that the firm also put the title, '"TRUE BRITON"' or '"THE ACCURATE"' on the dial some models in addition to their company name.

It seems that Pain Brothers rather liked these "boasts" placed within quotes and in upper case letters. For example, a pair of sugar tongs is known from Pain Brothers with the term, '"MIRROR SILVER" stamped on them above their company name, although these tongs were presumably in nickel silver and were certainly not true Sterling silver. As for the dates of Pain Brothers, a Christmas catalogue for the company (for 1914/15) exists which gives the date of establishment as 1889. This fits in with your own watch and other extant pocket watches from the firm.


----------



## SteveHorsfall (Nov 25, 2017)

Barry - yes, it's working. It's running a little fast at the moment, but I'm in the process of adjusting it.

Always - yes, that's what I gathered by googling. Pain operated from an establishment called the Presents House, and seem to have dealt in baubles and gew-gaws suitable for giving as gifts, including, but by no means confined to, watches.


----------

