Is There a Pocket Watch Guru In The House?

[Mike (Virginia Beach)]

Hi guys. I was wondering if there are any pocket watch afficionados that may be able to tell me a little something about this gold pocket watch I dug up with my Explorer II yesterday. It was at an old home site...nothing but a field there now. But it has yielded many things over the years, from Colonial items through the 1900's. I found this watch yesterday at about 8 to 10 inches. It was a mess, almost completely crusted with dirt, verdigris and rust. But there was a small area where it looked like some gold plating was still left. So I washed it with soap and warm water and worked it with a toothbrusk and it turned out it wasn't plating at all. I had to dunk it several times in my electrolysis tank and it finally cleaned up real nice. I figure it's probably turn-of-the-century/early 1900's. Any ideas?

Here it is, resting on the detector, right after digging...

Here it is after a good washing and scrubbing...
]

In the tank...

And after another 5 or 10 minutes...

And the finished product...

Apparently, it looks like all the crust, rust, and "yuck" was from the guts of the watch leeching out from the face and around it in the hole. When I first dug it I was tempted to fling it into the woods. I guess that would have been a bad move. :nono

 

[ihuntrelics!]

n/t

 

[tencents]

If you can unscrew the back off the watch there should be information to help identify the watch there. It will have the brand name and a serial number by which you can date the watch.

 

[Mike (Virginia Beach)]

It was pretty bad off when I dug it up. Despite the miraculous transformation of the exterior, I fear that if I try to open it up it will be really bad inside, break apart, and be pretty much ruined. More. But you have intrigued me, so...who knows?

I have this old Polish guy locally here that owns and operates a tiny clock and watch repair shop. He fixes wathes and grandfather clocks. I go to him with beach finds when I need a battery or a link or band for a watch. I think I'll have him look at it first. He'll probably know all about it. Or at least how to get it apart or if it's wise to try.

Thanks...

 

[Anonymous]

Congrats on a nice find! If you can read any part of the numbers; Civil War era Pocket Watches used Roman numerals. Post war watches used our modern numbers (what I'm told). Good hunting, David @ Dixie