New Zealand Gold Prospecting & Metal Detecting Forums Archive

very very cool!! Love old watches

How did you get on down here in the weekend where did ya end up hitting? I had my detector with me and it stayed in the truck all weekend!!

Dan

That looks to be a "priceless" find... the next thing to find is a dealer to get it value ;)

I think so, cause that guy has never even seen one... so at least that would be one... and the most important thing about them seems to be their internals according to that site.

what could it hurt?

Well then off to the collectors you go! the other day a lady in Briton did some spring cleaning and found an old Chinese vase and it sold for over $40 million at auction! I bet she thought it wasn't worth much but I bet she aint doing any more spring cleaning... lol.

A nice find indeed. When the history buzz kicks in its captivating to say the least. Still buzzing over my last 1882 silver find. Takes you right back in time.

Shane

Yes, its the inner works and signatures that are of value from what i see on antiques shows. Hard to value a piece like that.

Hi Shane - no value in truth due to condition unless it has some historic significance - for example if it was picked up in that condition at Chunuk Bair and it was engaraved with the name of the New Zealand commander then its historical value would make it very valuable. I have a watch here which belonged to a soldier who was killed on the day New Zealand lost more men than any other single disaster in our history has ever had before or since when we lost more or less 1/1000th of our population in one attack, the attack at Passchendaele on 12th October 1917 and because it has no hands or glass it isnt worth a plugged nickel...just curiousity value...except for the scrap silver valueof the case.

Its value is merely as a curiousity or thing of interest - it could be said that it is a treasure without value. If the case was solid silver or 8ct gold then it is worth scrap value unless the case is good enough to reuse and a mechanism can be found to fit. If the frame and mechanism is perfect and can be recased then it is worth something for the works. No remade or recased watch is worth one that is all original and complete though. I do have one that is recased and is worth a lot but it is a 1790 fine filigree frame gold washed fusee with a huge diamond in the middle cased in an 1840 silver case all in fine condition.

Generally speaking the American watches were made by companies for popular demand and for the people so were basically budget watches - there were exceptions. Those with money to spend purchased German and Swiss Watches and time pieces and also British ones.

The company that made Chris's watch later passed through different ownership, just managed to survive the Great Depression and during WWII, to the best of my knowledge made fuses for the military - that is mechanised fuses for artillery shells. I am pretty certain that the company ended up changing hands and eventually became Timex and Timex is a good and respected brand so Chris's watch is probably of interest to someone who collects Timex clocks and watches back to their beginnings.