Time has often been a valued element, and now becomes a valuable component for those that collect antique gold pocket watches.
The history of pocket watches extends back to the mid 1400’s, proven by a letter from an Italian clockmaker to a nobleman. In the document, the nobleman is offered what was named as a pocket clock by the clockmaker. An entrepreneur of German descent was making pocket watches in 1524 in England employing a revolutionary spring technology ; clock faces that exhibited only one hand to indicate the hour now took the place of using the sun to tell what time it is. Time may be guestimated within an hour or so of the real time. The minute hand was added much later on in the late 1600’s when technology advanced further ; enabling wearers of the watches to gauge time inside minutes of the actual time. As technology permitted more definitive time gauging, more gildings were added to meet a growing interest in the watches.
Portable watches, as they were called in the beginning, were first built of steel by blacksmiths and locksmiths as they were used to working with the amalgamate. Over time, other more acceptable substances were used instead, for example brass, silver and gold. Jewels and fragile scroll work were added to grace some of the watches to make them more attractive for the made. Antique gold pocket watches, especially those with jewels, are especially valuable for collectors due to these embellishments.
Waltham, Elgin, Hamilton, Ball and Illinois are just a few of the early manufacturers of pocket watches whose products are among those valued the highest. Going back to the mid 1800’s and of stunning design, many of those watches are requested as collectibles. Another popular collector type of pocket watch is a series called Railroad watches. These watchs were employed by train engineers in critical time keeping schedules for train arrivals and departures. The accuracy of the watches were more exactly accurate than most, as any variance of time faster or slower could mean tragic eventualities for two trains on one track. As with any antique, the value of the item relies on how much a buyer is willing to pay for it.
The prize of many collectors is antique gold pocket watches, with histories that go back almost 150 years. Often owned by the well to do in society, these timepieces would likely have smashing stories if they were only ready to tell more than time.
