Interesting pocket watches ... cheap

[tango]

They are fairly cheap, a few dollars. But of you have no use for one I suppose there's no point buying one.

Depends what sort you want. A quartz pocket watch from China can be cheap. An antique mechanical watch is unlikely to be. Somewhere I have an Elgin pocket watch in a gold case, thats probably worth a couple of hundred dollars. I've seen them from the 1800s costing well into four figures and some of those were beautiful pieces.

 

[psalms 91]

They are fairly cheap, a few dollars. But of you have no use for one I suppose there's no point buying one.

I tend to like the antique ones and they are not cheap, I like ornate

 

[MoreCoffee]

I tend to like the antique ones and they are not cheap, I like ornate

Yes, if they are antique and beautifully made then they will be expensive. I can't afford expensive pocket watches. My nephew who is a watchmaker tell me that unless one is willing to spend one thousand dollars or more mechanical movement watches are likely to be fairly low quality. And in the price range I am interested in twenty to forty dollar watches and they are - as he put it but with me censoring a little - excrement.

 

[psalms 91]

20 to 40 dollars is not so bad

 

[MoreCoffee]

20 to 40 dollars is not so bad

It depends on if it is paid for the watch version of excrement or for a useful watch

Would you pay $21.62 for a watch that looks like this

 

[psalms 91]

maybe but thta is not a pocket watch, as forthose kind I usually buy a timex

 

[MoreCoffee]

maybe but thta is not a pocket watch, as forthose kind I usually buy a timex

I think it looks nice. It's a mechanical movement watch. No batteries needed. I do not know how long it would last. Maybe a few weeks or months or many it would last for years. The pocket watch whose image I included at the start of this thread was bought in San Francisco in 2000 for around $7 and it still works now in 2016 but it is a quartz watch with a Japan Movement that uses a button battery (type 377).

 

[psalms 91]

I think it looks nice. It's a mechanical movement watch. No batteries needed. I do not know how long it would last. Maybe a few weeks or months or many it would last for years. The pocket watch whose image I included at the start of this thread was bought in San Francisco in 2000 for around $7 and it still works now in 2016 but it is a quartz watch with a Japan Movement that uses a button battery (type 377).

A nice little watch

 

[MoreCoffee]

A nice little watch

Yes, it was a surprise to me that it still works after so long a time since purchase.

 

[psalms 91]

a pleasant one I am sure

 

[MoreCoffee]

a pleasant one I am sure

Yes.

 

[tango]

Yes, if they are antique and beautifully made then they will be expensive. I can't afford expensive pocket watches. My nephew who is a watchmaker tell me that unless one is willing to spend one thousand dollars or more mechanical movement watches are likely to be fairly low quality. And in the price range I am interested in twenty to forty dollar watches and they are - as he put it but with me censoring a little - excrement.

I'm not sure that the 1000 dollar (presumably AUD?) threshold is entirely fair.

If you want a top-end Swiss movement you are going to have to pay for it. But there are some pretty good movements coming out of China these days. Sufficiently good that the British Horological Institute is willing to sell them. A while back I saw a wristwatch (admittedly not a pocket watch) but it had a tourbillon-based movement and still came in under GBP400. At current exchange rates that's probably not far shy of AUD1000, but if you don't need the tourbillon movement you can go cheaper. And my rather elderly Elgin pocket watch (it's a ladies watch that my wife inherited, with no idea of just where it went through the family tree) has a very nice movement with 17 jewels and is probably only worth maybe USD2-300. A good part of that value is the gold case.

I have seen a few (rather optimistic, IMO) antique dealers selling old pocket watches with parts missing (when I say parts missing I mean things like a pocket watch that is missing a hand) who don't want anyone trying to wind the watch but still expect someone to pay USD150 for it. One time I looked at one and as soon as I realised the dealer didn't want me winding it I just put it back and said if I couldn't wind it to see if it worked I wasn't going to pay anything like USD150 for it.

Broken clocks and watches can be fun. I've bought a few dead clocks and fixed them up. I think my best catch was a guy who bought one from an antique dealer and got it home to find it didn't run. He didn't call the dealer, he didn't spend 30 seconds on Google, he sold it on ebay instead. So I had it, and it took me 30 seconds to get it running. It's a nice clock too

 

[MoreCoffee]

I think some of the cheap mechanical pocket watches from China look interesting - the one below costs about $15

And this one is about $20

 

[psalms 91]

I like that one

 

[MoreCoffee]

I like that one

Which one?

 

[psalms 91]

The last one, I too like them just dont own any

 

[MoreCoffee]

The last one, I too like them just dont own any

The golden looking one?

 

[psalms 91]

yes

 

[MoreCoffee]

yes

I wonder what they use to make it look so gold. Obviously it is not gold. The price for even a very thin gold plating would drive the price of that watch up well past $20.

 

[psalms 91]

Yes they have stuff that mimics gold but wears off in about a year