# The Hunt For A Pocket Watch Continues



## Shangas (Jan 27, 2008)

Hey everyone. Remember me?

*Dead silence*










Anyway, I came to this forum a few months ago, wanting information on pocket watches. Since then, I have been haunting various weekend flea-markets in my neighbourhood and I think I have finally found a decent candidate. I haven't bought the watch yet (I need a bit more money, first), but I have my eyes set firmly upon it and I hope to buy it this weekend.

What would you say to an open-faced pocket watch with a clear, unblemished crystal and face? It winds properly and ticks rhythmically and seems to keep time. The bezel (I think that's the word - that metal ring that goes around the edge of the crystal?) is a nice shiny gold, as are the hands inside the watch. The actual case is a greyish metal (the seller called it 'gunmetal', although I wonder!







)

The crown is goldish in colour, like the hands and bezel, the ring up the top is a silvery-grey, like the rest of the watch. I suspect after a good polish and a trip to the watchmaker for an overhaul, this might make a decent purchase.

The fellow was asking $40 for it. Does this sound like a good deal? I've saved up about $25 in cash so far. I hope to have the additional $15 by this weekend.


----------



## Mikrolisk (Jan 23, 2008)

Watches with a gunmetal case are most common in the 20s, also in germany some gold cases are changed to gunmetal ("Gold gab ich fÃ¼r Eisen" = I gave gold for metal, a well known slongan during the 1st world war).

But for that cases the pendant ring should be of brass, not clear metal (silver coloured).

Just have a look at this gun metal case: http://www.mikrolisk.de/content/horologium...eater_front.jpg

There you'll find this glass ring (brass), also the hinges are of brass as the pendant ring is.

Well, if the watch looks fine, $40 are not much!

Andreas


----------



## Shangas (Jan 27, 2008)

Hey Andreas,

Thanks for the input. I guessed it wasn't too old. He had a lot of watches, most of them didn't work, I didn't like, or I couldn't figure out how to wind!! (Of those, I figured they were key-winders where you have to open the caseback, but I was worried about breaking something. And I'd want a stemwinder anyway).

I'll go back this weekend and see what I can find!









I have $30 saved up now.


----------



## Shangas (Jan 27, 2008)

HUZZAH!! I finally got my pocket watch!!

Now all I need is a chain!...Hmmmm...More searching, methinks.

Watch has a mechanical movement, gunmetal case, clear, unblemished dial with clear, hindu-arabic numerals. Easy to read. Minute-subdial at the 6 o'clock position. Open-faced with uncracked glass crystal. The crystal could do with a clean, though. It's not yellowed, it's just not as good as it could look. The watch is a 'Craven' with "SWISS MADE" around the bottom of the subdial. The watch measures just under 5cm across (about 4.8, 4.9cm). What size watch would this be?

The case is fine, but could do with a clean and polish (I think I have some stuff that might do the trick there).

I bought this watch from the very nice stallholder at the flea-market, for $40. He had a whole heap of pocket watches, but this one struck me as the best --- of the ones which worked, anyway.

It keeps amazingly good time for a $40 flea-market find. I wound it up when I bought it and took it home. In the hour or so since I bought it, it hasn't lost a minute. I reset it to the more accurate time of my computer-clock. Let's see how well this puppy runs. Hopefully if it's good enough, I won't need to get the movement checked and I can just have the crystal cleaned. It appears to be moisture on the underside the glass.


----------



## Mikrolisk (Jan 23, 2008)

Pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## Shangas (Jan 27, 2008)

Hi, sorry Andreas. I created a new thread specifically for the watch. You can see pictures of it there.


----------

