Miles Pocket Watches

Pocketwatch Information Page

In answering questions for some of my customers I have tried to assemble an information page which gives at least some answers to several of the most common topics asked about.

How can I determine the value of my watch?

In order to provide an evaluation for your watch, you need to know the size, the number of jewels, any model or name info on the movement, the type of case (hunter or open face), and the material the case is made of including how it is marked is very important.  In addition, the condition of the watch (running, keeps time, scratches on case and movement, wear on engravings, etc) is most important to value.  Determining these factors about a watch is called grading the watch.  The grade can then be used to determine a fairly accurate value

In general, with this information at hand, an educated collector or watchmaker can give you a rough idea of the value of a watch.

You might also take a look at the "Complete Price Guide to Watches" it has a lot of information on a wide variety of watches and this is an excellent source of information for many collectors and watchmakers.  This book is available from Amazon.com, and can be found in some libraries as well.

Determining the Size of a Pocketwatch

The size is measured across the face of the movement (click here: American Sizes or Swiss Sizes), but for the layman, you can  judge near it by measuring the case diameter.  An 18 size watch the case is about 2-1/4"in diameter, a 16 size is typically about 2" in diameter, a 12 is 1-3/4, a 6 is 1-1/2", an 0 size is 1-1/4, and a 000 (triple 0) is about 1" in diameter.

Determining the Number of Jewels for a Pocketwatch

The number of jewels must be counted on the movement if it is not marked, typically models with 17 jewels or more are marked as such.  Basically you count 7 jewels for the balance and two jewels for every one you see on the top plate.  The jewels are simply low friction bearing surfaces in which the pinions, supporting the gear train ride and rotate.  

Determining the Model of a Pocketwatch

Model or name information on the movement is normally marked, but if not it must be compared to pictures to identify the model.  Again, the "Complete Price Guide to Watches" can help in this identification for most major watch manufacturers.

Determining the Age of a Pocketwatch

To date a time piece typically all you need is the complete serial number off of the movement (not the case).  This is fine for most American and some European watches (click here: American Pocketwatch Dating).  In some cases for very old timepieces they must be dated by either the signature of the maker, the Hallmarks on the case (though this could be misleading if the watch has been recased) or the elements of design for the movement.  Certain clues in the design can reasonably date a watch to within maybe 20 years of it's manufacture.

You might also try the "Complete Price Guide to Watches" it has a lot of information on a wide variety of watches and this is an excellent source of information for many collectors and watchmakers. This book is available from www.amazon.com

Railroad Grades and Railroad Approved Pocketwatches

Railroad watches of accurate time became requirements for the Rail lines after a number of disasters where trains sharing the same tracks were inadvertently sent to their demise due to clocks and watches which were not keeping time.

Although Railroad Approved is a term of a somewhat by-gone era, it still has meaning as it is most commonly referred to when discussing the grade or quality of watches made from the late 1800's to the mid 1900's before the time quartz and battery operated watches were made and then mass produced.  As with any creation before mass production, the craftsmanship and thus the quality was a matter of sum of it's parts and the watchmakers expertise in assembling and timing the watch.  Thus higher grade watches tended to have higher jewel counts as the jewels are simply low friction bearing surfaces in which the pinions ride and rotate. GJS stands for "Gold Jewel Settings".  A Gold Train means that all the gears in gear train of the watch are solid gold rather than brass. This reduces friction in the gear train which improves accuracy.  Gravity plays it's part in accuracy as well.  Since a watch when carried is subject to many orientations with respect to gravity, the timing on a high grade watch is measured and adjusted in several to many positions.  So when you see a Railroad watch advertised as "Adjusted to 5 Positions" (sometimes 6; Stem Up, Stem Down, Stem Right, Stem Left, Face Up, Face Down) it means that the timing was adjusted such that the mean, or average, in all of those positions will be accurate to within about 30 seconds per week.  All Railroad watches were lever set (meaning that a small lever around the circumference of the face) is pulled out to allow setting the watch.  This was intended to prevent inadvertantly setting the watch when attempting to wind it.  Since on all open face watches the bezel must be removed in order to access the lever, it is impossible to set the watch with the bezel in place.

So, you see that meeting Railroad Standards (termed "Railroad Grade") and having authorization for use on a Railroad (termed "Railroad Approved") are more than advertising gimmicks.  As for the use of this term in modern quartz watches, I suppose that if a manufacturer adjusts and tests their watches to this standard then it would be proper to advertise it as such.

Chains and Their Use

The T-Bar chain is used to hold the watch through a button hole in a vest or shirt. When wearing a vest, the watch is typically in the vest pocket. A spring ring chain is typically used to attach to a belt loop on a pair of pants.  There are also various styles of belt clip chains (wire and solid) used to hold the watch when wearing a belt.  In these two cases, the watch is carried in a pants pocket.  Some chains have no end clip at all, but just a decoration or fob.  These chains are typically shorter (4 to 8 inches) and the end of the chain simply hangs out of your pocket.  There are also chains with two to three branches called a "Double Albert".  They were typically used to hold a key on one end for a key wind watch.

Miles Pocket Watches

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