How To Value A Pocket Watch — 7 Simple Rules To Follow
How To Value A Pocket Watch is not hard you just follow some simple rules and you could make a lot more money than selling to any old dealer, or giving away for scrap.
Currently due to the economic state of Worldwide countries due to Coronavirus, precious metal prices have surged. So if you have a gold pocket watch then it now could be worth substantially more than a few months ago.
What would you value this pocket watch at? Well I bought at an auction for £75.00 it’s worth at least £250.00 maybe more. Get an idea of the true value by following a few simple steps.
I’ve bought many pocket watches for £20 to £30 and sold on making £100s, you can do the same! Maybe you don’t want to sell just get an idea of what its worth.
After many years of buying and selling pocket watches I have learnt a few principles from experience for evaluating the value of antique pocket watches.
This guide is for people who have acquired or own a pocket watch and want an idea of the value, so they can sell on, that’s if they want to, in the knowledge that they are receiving a good deal. I will also suggest the best places to sell, nearer the end of this post.
I will first go through what to look for in a pocket watch to determine its value, then bring together all the gathered information, to summarise and value.
I’m going to go through the following principles, each step is worth reading so you will become familiar with what you need to look for in a pocket watch.
1- Does it work?
2- What material is it made from?
3- Condition?
4- Who made it or brand?
5- Age it?
6- Rarity?
7- Complexity?
Is the pocket working or not?
When I first handle a pocket watch I immediately like to know if it works. If it’s a top winding pocket watch then simply wind it a few times, gently shake the watch and see if the seconds hand moves, can you hear it tick? if so great, if not then all is not lost, we’ll discuss that later.
If the pocket watch is key winding, then usually open the back and wind to see if it works, if it works great. If you don’t have a key then you will need to buy a pocket watch multi key, best place is Ebay, costs about £4.00, or try your local watchmaker or jeweller, the value of the pocket watch could justify the small effort obtaining a key.
What material is the pocket watch made from?
This can determine a minimum value, as many watches will be made from silver or gold, so will have scrap value.
If the pocket watch looks silver, open the back and look inside the cover, if it has hallmarks, a lion passant, makers mark, date letter, and assay office symbol, then you can be sure it’s silver. If the pocket watch is gold coloured, then again look inside the back cover, if it has a carat number, i.e. 9ct, 14ct, 18ct, 22ct, with assay office, date letter, possibly case makers symbol, then you know it’s gold.
Many gold coloured pocket watches will be made from gold plating, this is usually marked on the inside covers. If it is then don’t assume it’s worthless, it can still have value, so not to be discarded.
Naturally the higher the pocket watches gold carat the higher the value. Because the pocket watch is not made from gold or silver, then again don’t think it’s worthless, far from it! many have nickel, brass, gun metal, stainless steel cases, but could possibly have rare movements, or used on the railroads so had to be robust, and Government regulated, it’s not just about the material value.
Condition?
The all important condition of the pocket watch, grade it as:
Poor — heavy wear, cracked dial, dents to the case, hands missing, missing glass, does not open or close correctly, can still have value if made from precious metals, or rare calibre movements.
Average — small amount of wear, small shallow dent, scratched glass, small hairline cracks to dial. Could be repaired by a watchmaker, or again might be made from precious metals, or have a unusual movement.
Good — light wear, still see case details, no dents, just normal usage signs. Easy to repair.
Excellent — Hardly any wear, no dents, clean inside and out. If made from gold or silver, or have a good brand name, then you could have a very valuable watch.
If the pocket watch does not work, don’t just reject it, the make, and quality movement, plus what it’s made of can still mean you have a valuable timepiece. Sometimes it worth the expense of repairing, there are many amateur watchmaker/repairers online who love to repair pocket watches, and see them working again, instead of being scrapped.
Brand or pocket watch make?
This once again can have a huge impact on the value, you are talking about Rolex pocket watches to un-named pocket watches.
You may have a rare early LeCoultre, Longines, Waltham or Omega military pocket watch, which are much sought after by collectors and fetch a high price in good condition. In some rare cases a famous brand in excellent original condition, can fetch a premium price, you just don’t know until you research your watch.
It’s so easy today to research online to find out what your pocket watch is — no excuses! If you cannot for some reason do your own searchers then find someone within your family.
Antique pocket watches are not made the same, often the most valuable watches, such as railroad pocket watches were made to government approved standards to guarantee accurate time keeping. This was to ensure that trains kept on time, not just for passengers schedules, but also to avoid horrendous accidents, even so a few terrible accidents still happened, this was after all the steam age.
This meant the quality had to be high, made with highly robust movements, with 15 jewels plus to ensure smooth running and accuracy. The above also applies to nautical, military, and sports pocket watches, many are made to a very high standard, so are higher value, plus very collectable.
Age?
Aging can be straight forward, and sometimes tricky, to age a silver hallmarked pocket watch, then you need to look at the hallmarks and go to:
See the mark for the assay office, then look at the date letter and match the style of letter to the letters belonging to the assay office.
This will give you the age of the case, and usually the watch made date.
Gold marks usually are much the same as silver, look up the assay office, and match the style of date letter to the date.
The older the pocket watch then the more important is the condition, and all the other aspects of valuing. Also the older the watch then normally the higher the value.
Early pocket watches pre 1890s will start to have varied movements, normally chain driven or fusee driven movements. The earlier then the larger the parts become, also in quality watches the more lavish the cases, and the plates, balance cocks, and other pocket watch parts became. The early watches were expensive and only the middle class and rich could afford them.
Rarity?
A pocket watch could look standard but might have a unusual movement, this will impact the value.
A pocket watch’s movement is the entire mechanism which makes the pocket watch function. The condition and design of watch movements is important when deciding what the pocket watch might be worth.
The movement needs to be complete as repairing can be costly, sometimes more than the watch is worth, but sometimes the movement is so rare it can be used for spares.
A highly decorated gear system also increases value due to the craftsmanship needed to apply the details.
Also the higher the number of jewels and adjustments in a movement will increase the value, the more jewels the smoother running, the more adjustments that calibrate the movement, then the more accurate the pocket watch is, this all determines the quality of the movement, and its final value.
Many of the higher value pocket watches have complex movements, for instance a centre seconds hand, stop start feature, moon phases, date day dials etc. The more complexities in a pocket watch then the more valuable especially if it all functions and it’s possible married to an expensive gold or silver case.
So as not to unduly prolong what is supposed to be a guide, a basic idea how to value your pocket watch, I’ll try to summarise and give the principles that enable you to get a fair idea of the value of your pocket watch.
Take a good look at you watch and follow the following steps writing down the details as you see them.
Remember to search online for brands, hallmarks, movement types, today you can find a lot of helpful and valuable details online.
1- Does it work?
2- What material is it made from?
3- Condition?
4- Who made it or brand?
5- Age it?
6- Rarity?
7- Complexity
Once written down then you need to find some pocket watches that are similar to yours.
You can usually find close matches by searching Ebay, or Google Fellows auctioneers and look in there archives.
Probably one of the best places to do a comparison search is Ebay, you need to search the pocket watches that have been sold, not the ones being sold.
Place your search item in, for instance: waltham gold pocket watch. Go to the left categories and look under Show only sold listings. Tick the box and it will automatically show all the listings for Waltham gold pocket watches that have been sold. At the top you will see a drop down sort menu, pick the highest price, now you will have the highest to lowest prices for the watch.
If you believe you have something which might have a high value, then contact a respected auction house expert, not your local auction. Try auctions like Fellows of Birmingham, they are famous for selling watches, or Tennant’s at Leyburn North Yorkshire, or even the Christie’s, Bonham’s, Sotheby’s, Phillips etc, they are accessible and easy to find online.
This posting is just a guide, to hopefully give an idea what the value is of the pocket watch you own. The variations and complexities are vast, especially when you realise that pocket watches have been around since 1675, around the time of Charles 11, who made popular by wearing with a waistcoat.
This subject is huge, so on many points I’ve just barely scratched the surface, I will in future posts be expanding on many areas skimmed over, so keep coming back.
I still buy and sell pocket watches plus other antiques, all can be found at:
Yorkshire Fine Antiques
I hope this small guide will be of help, but if you would like to comment or contact me for further details, please feel free to use the comment box.
Thanks for reading.
