A Look At Antique Gold Pocket Watches

Time has always been a valued element, and now becomes a valuable component for those who 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 noble.  In the document, the noble is offered what was named as a pocket clock by the clockmaker.  A businessperson of German descent was making pocket watches in 1524 in Britain using 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 the time.  Time might be estimated inside an hour or so of the genuine time.  The minute hand was added much later on in the late 1600′s when technology advanced farther ; enabling wearers of the watches to gauge time inside mins of the time.  As technology allowed more specific time gauging, more elaborations were added to meet a growing interest in the watches. 

Portable watches, as they were called in the early days, were first constructed of steel by blacksmiths and locksmiths as they were used to working with the amalgamate.  Over time, other better substances were used instead,eg brass, silver and gold.  Jewels and fragile scroll work were added to embellish some of the watches to make them more engaging for the made.  Antique gold pocket watches, particularly those with jewels, are particularly valuable for collectors because of these embellishments. 

Waltham, Elgin, Hamilton, Ball and Illinois are just some of the early makers of pocket watches whose products are among those valued the highest.  Going back to the mid 1800′s and of beautiful design, many of those watches are sought after as collectibles.  Another popular collector type of pocket watch is a series called Railroad watches.  These watchs were employed by train engineers in crucial time keeping schedules for train arrivals and departures.  The accuracy of the watches were more exactly accurate than most, as any variance of time quicker or slower could mean tragic situations 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.  Frequently owned by the well to do in society, these timepieces would likely have wonderful stories if they were only able to tell more than time.