Pocketwatches

[Leutnant]

Hello!

Thank you for the information. The chain has the standard clip on both ends that is identical to the most common variety in the above illustrations. I will post a picture within the next day or so.

 

[Leutnant]

Well, I finally regained possession of my camera and, as promised, here is a picture of the 1914-15 star and chain...http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2419050160102947535IMViXf

 

[Leutnant]

Well, that didn't work...looks like it might now though...

 

[imported_Silent_Speaker]

Attention Horologists! Pocket watch survival in the 21st Century?

I have recently acquired an old pocket watch (from the 20's or 30's I think), nothing special, 7 jewels and the label is nothing to rave about. I am by no means a collector,but I am enamored by the aesthetic of a pocket watch (and the wearing of it also!).

Thus, as it will not be sitting in a glass case, I am worried about how this watch would last as a day to day device. It has been serviced etc., so what I mean is that is there anything I should be aware of if I were to carry such a watch? Anything that might damage it?

Any ordinary objects that, not existing a century ago, could play hysterics with the delicate internal workings of such fine devices?

Mobile phones? Computers? Excessive pocket lint? (I read somewhere in the old posts here I think). Anything at all that, to your knowledge, would ruin or hamper the functionality of a pocket watch in this excessively electro-magnetic era.


Hail and Farewell!

 

[Flitcraft]

It should be fine...

those old watches are way tougher than you think. The manual wind mechanism in them is still being used in some wristwatches just because its so durable.
The much more difficult task is keeping the crystal from geting scratched (if it doesn't have a cover) while riding around with all the loose change and other junk in your pocket.

 

[Woland]

Agreed.
I bought a new pocketwatch some years back.
Kinda pricey it was too...

Malfunctioned utterly and completely after a few weeks.
Went to the shop and uttered a complaint.
Shop-owner insisted that it was my own fault since I kept the watch in my pocket!
I found this conclusion strange, but he insisted I should have kept it in a pouch in order to protect it from dust and whatnot...

I would think that old models was made for actually being kept in a pocket.

 

[LocktownDog]

I've carried one for years and never had a problem. Take that back ... I did get some light scratches on the glass, but that probably came from pocket change rubbing up against it. Still keeps great time.

The maintenance guy for my apartment complex uses one too. And he does some rough physical labor at times.

Richard

 

[imported_Silent_Speaker]

Ah! Most heartening news! Thank you!

Well, I of course imagined them to be tough (to have survived up to now is clear testament to that fact ).

Hmm, glass scratches. That will be a problem, no doubt about it (it's open-faced). What I am also worried about is dropping it, I'm prone to clumsiness. But I would imagine that if it were dropped from standing height onto say, a carpeted floor, it would be alright. Right?

LocktownDog: how do you wear yours? A particular chain style?

Woland: Bah! I sure hope you throttled the guy with the watch chain after he uttered such an absurd comment....(is what he said true, everyone? Or was this seller just a fool?)

 

[Moby]

Silent, I wouldn't worry about lint or dust and your pocket watch. Most of them are pretty well sealed. Especially an open face watch which usually has screw on front and back covers. The major danger to a good running pocket watch is the possibility of being dropped. Hitting the floor will often break the balance staff. The balance is the wheel you see swinging back and forth inside your watch. The axle that the balance spins on is called the balance staff. A hard hit especially from the side can break off the ends of the balance staff. It can be repaired but not cheaply unless you can do it yourself.
The best insurance is a watch chain, so that if it slips out of your hands it will not hit the floor. I have dropped pocket watches without breaking the staff but it's just a matter of luck.

 

[LocktownDog]

LocktownDog: how do you wear yours? A particular chain style?

Left pants pocket, sometimes in a waistcoat pocket on nights I dress a bit better. Not always with a chain. If I use a chain, the end is clasped right to a belt loop.

I've gotten around the scratching problem by using a light adhesive film from Target that is sold for Nintendo DS screens. Once trimmed to size, it can't even really be seen.

Richard

 

[Warbaby]

I have a couple of vintage pocket watches that I've carried off and on for more than 30 years with no problems other than having them cleaned about 20 years ago. Both are still running fine and keeping good time.

One thing that vintage pocket watches (and wristwatches) are vulnerable to is magnetism. It causes the hairspring on the balance wheel to get magnetized and stick together. If this happens, the watch will suddenly start running fast, gaining an hour or two a day. Keep your watch away from speakers, electric guitar pickups, and cyclotrons.

It's a simple fix, though - just take it to your watch repairman and have it demagnetized. It takes about 30 seconds, and if he's a proper watch repairman, he won't charge you for it.

As for scratching, just don't put your watch in a pocket with anything else. That's why God gave us watchpockets.

 

[Riposte3]

As for scratching, just don't put your watch in a pocket with anything else. That's why God gave us watchpockets.

Unfortunately, it's getting harder and harder to find anything with a watch pocket, except for jeans. The last time I bought slacks for work, I had to buy "golf pants" to get a pocket for my watch. (It was officially labeled a "tee pocket"), and I haven't been able to find a suit with a watch pocket for years. :rage:

-Jake

 

[Mark from Plano]

One thing that vintage pocket watches (and wristwatches) are vulnerable to is magnetism. It causes the hairspring on the balance wheel to get magnetized and stick together. If this happens, the watch will suddenly start running fast, gaining an hour or two a day. Keep your watch away from speakers, electric guitar pickups, and cyclotrons.

It's a simple fix, though - just take it to your watch repairman and have it demagnetized. It takes about 30 seconds, and if he's a proper watch repairman, he won't charge you for it.

+1. Also avoid if you carry a magnetic money clip. Sometimes even your computer monitor can have a magnetic field that can magnetize the hairspring.

Beyond gaining time it can simply lock up and not run at all (which is what mine did).

 

[Alan Eardley]

In my experience, most malfunctions to pocket watches are due to over-winding. They seem more prone to this than wristwatches. I think people have 'lost the touch' when it comes to winding clocks and watches.

Alan

 

[Rider]

I think people have 'lost the touch' when it comes to winding clocks and watches.

Alan

Last time I was winding a watch in public someone asked, "What are you doing?" I said, "I am winding my watch."

She asked, "What is 'winding' a watch?"

I think the world has lost the knowledge as well as the touch.

 

[Alan Eardley]

Last time I was winding a watch in public someone asked, "What are you doing?" I said, "I am winding my watch."

She asked, "What is 'winding' a watch?"

I think the world has lost the knowledge as well as the touch.

Yes. We have a houseful of antique clocks and timepieces. I maintain and repair them, but my wife winds or 'weights' them. She loves it and sometimes talks to them as she does it, just as when she waters her beloved plants. Each of the clocks and timepieces belonged to one or other of our ancestors or 'passed on' friends and it seems to us that something of the character of people we knew and loved lives on in them.

Each time I wind my great-grandfather's fusee pocket watch I think of the stories I was told about a man who died long before I was born. Same with my grandfather's pocket watch and my father's and uncles' wristwatches, which I wear regularly.

I feel that people who 'tell the time' from their mobile 'phone are missing so much...

Just my opinion.

Alan

 

[Feraud]

I am proud to show off this recently acquried item.
A watch chain made of human hair.
A Victorian Era piece of jewelry. I do not think they were made much into the 20th century. Woven by women and given to men as keepsakes and within families are heirloom pieces. There are beautiful woven examples of brooches, necklaces, rings, framed designs, etc.
My apologies but there is some detail missing in the weave I did not catch in this photograph.

There are artists today who keep this mostly lost art alive.

 

[LZeitgeist]

Wow, those are some absolutely beautiful chains!!

 

[Feraud]

For you watch chain junkies.

I have more if anyone else is as interested in these as I am.

 

[invention13]

I bought one on eBay a couple of years ago. No use for it, just loved the way it looked. It is a Longines hunter case in coin silver, from 1903 (dated from serial number). The case features an art-nouveau floral design in repoussee. I think it is just timeless. One of these days, I am going to have the movement serviced and would like some day to start using it.