Hardly a day goes by that I don’t get e-mail from somebody wanting my help in identifying an old pocket watch that they just bought or inherited. Often the person includes a ton of detail about the watch, but at the same time fails to give me the information I...

Although silver isn't nearly as valuable as gold, it's still nice to know if your watch is in a silver case or just a silver-colored case. Watch cases made in Europe were often stamped with hallmarks to guarantee that they were silver, but this was not the case [no...

For obvious factors, it's crucial to understand whether your watch is in a strong gold case or whether it is merely gold-filled or gold plated [" gold-filled" includes a base metal such as brass sandwiched between 2 thin layers of gold] The only way to be absolutely...

Many collectors feel that American watchmaking reached its pinnacle with the invention of the railroad watch. In an effort to meet the stringent and rigorous demands of the railroads, where the incorrect time could and did prove disastrous, American watchmakers were...

Many pocket watches state that they are “adjusted” to temperature and to a number of positions. This basically means that they have been specially calibrated to maintain the same accuracy under a variety of conditions. A watch that has been adjusted to temperature...

A watch movement mostly consists of a number of gears [called “wheels”] held in place by an upper and a lower plate. Each wheel has a central shaft [called an “arbor”] running through it, the ends of which fit into holes in the plates. If you have a metal shaft in a...

When a collector refers to an American watch’s “size,” he or she is generally referring to the diameter of the watch movement only, not the case. The same size watch movement will usually fit in a variety of different size cases, so the size of the case is usually not...

Most people think that you set a pocket watch the same way you set a wristwatch -- by pulling out the winding stem. Well, that is true with many pocket watches, but by no means all of them! In fact, there are four main ways pocket watches can be set, and if you don't...

Most of the information crucial to identifying a particular pocket watch is inscribed on the watch movement. Different watches allow you to see the movement in different ways, however, and if you don't realize how your watch opens up you can damage it. Pry off – on...

The model of a watch is the overall design of the watch’s movement. In general, the model defines the size and shape of the plates and/or bridges. The model especially defines the layout of the (gear) train and the design of the vast majority of the parts. Waltham...

The question I am most often asked is some variation of “Who made my watch?” This question usually occurs because the watch has no visible maker's name or brand, and the answer is not quite as straightforward as you might think. There are various reasons why an old...

Silver hallmarks in the UK date back to the medieval period and the practice of applying them as a guarantee of the purity of the precious metal represents Britain’s oldest form of consumer protection. It was Edward I (1272-1307) who first passed a statute requiring...