# Would like to find out about an old pocket watch



## JC81 (Jun 3, 2015)

Hi everyone,

Getting married soon and my father-in-law to be has lent me a pocket watch to wear on the wedding day.

He doesn't know anything about it, it was found when a great aunt passed away years ago so I'd like to try and find something out about it in return.

I've been doing some googling and found that T Howie is Thomas Howie, there's a listing for him in an old phone directory from 1939 but beyond that I've not found anything.

Are there any other resources I can check to try and find out a bit more about the watch? I'm wondering did T Howie make it or did he just fix it at some point?

Pic of the watch

Thanks

Johnny


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## Paul Audemars (Oct 31, 2013)

I'm guessing that is a bit older than 1939.

You need to post clear pictures of the movement (the "works" inside the case) and anything engraved inside the case or on the back of the watch itself. You can ignore any numbers and letters scratched by hand as they are repairers' marks.

If you don't get any joy here go to http://mb.nawcc.org/index.php and post the description and the pictures in the "European Pocket watches" section.

Paul

www.audemars.co.uk


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## Guest (Aug 3, 2015)

that looks pretty special :thumbsup: but cant be more helpful than that


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## harryblakes7 (Oct 1, 2010)

Interesting watch........... T Howie may be the repairer of the watch at some point

The watch itself appears to be a pair cased silver watch around 1850, possibly with a rack lever movement, it is definatly an early one......

A pic of the movement would be great!!


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## mel (Dec 6, 2006)

I assume the info inside is a paper repair label as was often used by repairers, if you (very gently) take that out you may find dates the watch was serviced written on the back, or names of clients even. \\try not to tear or damage it, it adds to value often!

Researching "Howie" in Perth may be a problem, I'm sure there are at least three or four shops in Perth bearing that name, Howie's the Butchers is one, they do nice Scotch Pies, and I think there's a tackle shop near the river iit's a common name in the area. :yes:

TRY a google on www.highst.com (or 20 high Street perth) and fiddle around there, it's an up-to-date town centre resource that lists shops by street in a lot of the UK, found it useful in the past.


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## JC81 (Jun 3, 2015)

Thank you so much for the replies, I really appreciate it. I popped round on my way home from work and had another look at the watch.

We carefully pulled out the T Howie paper and revealed another watchmakers label Rule & Son in Jedburgh (not looked them up yet). Once we pulled that out, there was some old news paper and behind that, a name! So we now think we know where it came from.

We also opened up the watch to look at the mechanism (that was terrifying, it's so delicate) and found a couple of markings. I daren't take it apart any further so hopefullly the photos linked below will help shed some light on it. The markings inside the casing were 'PW' then the number '64428'. There weren't any letters evident on the back of the mechanism (sorry that photo is a blurry, taken with my phone), just a flowery pattern engraved in that middle bit.

This is a gallery of all the photos of the watch I've taken -



http://imgur.com/a


This is the back of the mechanism -










Thanks again!


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## mel (Dec 6, 2006)

There's a "Jewellers Pend" or maybe it's "Lane" off the High Street in Jedburgh, but I don't think there's a Watch/Jewellery shop there (at least any more), but perhaps the Scottish Borders Council in St Boswell's might be able to help with historical records?

another 2c worth!


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## J Howie (Sep 11, 2015)

Hi, Thomas Howie was my great grandfather and my family owned a jewellers business in Perth until 1988 when my father also Thomas Howie (grandson on the Thomas Howie) wound up the business.

I never got much info from my father on when the business started before he died, although I always thought it was established in the 1930s so may be from that time. The business operated from High street in Perth for many decades but also recall something about a shop in George St, but that may have been where my grandfather John Howie learned the trade with a different jeweller.

As far as a I know, no watches were made by Thomas Howie so it would likely have been repair/service work that lead to the insert.

Thanks for posting the image, it's of great historical value for me personally and I found this thread when looking for information regarding my old family business on the Internet.

regards

Jason


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## JC81 (Jun 3, 2015)

Hi Jason,

Wow, you are very welcome regarding posting the picture. Glad it was useful to someone! Thanks for the extra information.

I haven't managed to find out anything about Rule and Sons though.


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