# Info On Centre Seconds Pocket Watch



## streety (Jan 17, 2009)

Hi all. A friend has asked me to research this family heirloom for him. I know little about pocket watches, only what I can get from Google. If my research so far is correct then using the hallmarks found on the inner casing I have discovered the casing is sterling silver .925 (lion). .The assay mark is that of the Chester office (three wheat sheafs around a sword) and it was made in 1880 ( hallmarked [G] ). The maker is Alfred Gurney [AG] of Smithfield Street Coventry. The dial is without damage only a little spotting. The watch is set and wound from within the rear outer casing.

The Fusee chronograph marked 23293 on dial and movement has a brass hacking button at 2 o'clock on the casing, not shown in picture. The watch came without a key but when wound with a No. 6 key it started immediatley and only lost one minute over 24 hour period. Sadly the hacking feature is frozen.

One thing my research could not find was the significance of the numbers 0 to 300 in increments of 25 around the outer edge of the dial. There is suggestion it may be a doctors watch or a race day watch. Any ideas anyone ????. Any further info or correction of my Googling would be very welcome. P.S. I am not after a valuation cos I know the rules


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## streety (Jan 17, 2009)

come on guys what do the numbers mean. :dntknw:


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## dgf67 (Dec 8, 2010)

someone must know!!










i think it could be for how far away a sound is but that's just a guess


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## louiswu (May 16, 2009)

I'm pretty sure It's a 5ths of a second chronograph scale ..... but i'm fully prepared to be corrected on that

if it was a 'how far away a sound is' (telemeter) scale it'd read '2' around the 5 second mark (for kilometers) or '1' for miles.

fifths of a second was probably as acurate a reading as could be taken on a chronograph pocketwatch of that age.

Is there a button to stop the seconds hand, or is it a continuous runner?


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## dgf67 (Dec 8, 2010)

mine has a stop, you can see it around two o'clock in my picture.


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## streety (Jan 17, 2009)

Yes, the watch does have a stop button at the 2 oclock position on the casing but it doesnt work. Appears to be firmly stuck. The watch itself is running fine..


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## ValvesRule (May 20, 2009)

I, too, have been given a Watch very similar to this to have a look at (the Hour and Minute hands are missing and it has a Power Reserve indicator, but the movement is fine. The Hack is also nonfunctional, having no apparent mechanism near the Escape Wheel).

You will probably find that the watch ticks 5 times each second, so that this is the precision it measures to. Perhaps numbering it makes it clear that the Watch can indicate no greater degree of precision, just as it would probably be unwise to read off seconds from an ordinary 18th Century Watch, when it was usual to number the 5 Minute marks.


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## JoT (Aug 12, 2003)

It is a fifth of a second scale as mentioned above, it is a standard feature of navigation chronographs of that era


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## lizzard (Jul 12, 2021)

I also have a pocket watch with a similar face marking 0-300. It as no stop/go - it is simply a watch. We do know it is was bought from new by my Grandfather and he served in the trenches during WW1. So perhaps sound travel (artillery location?) might be part of it?


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