Pocket watch info

[coasterbrakejunkie1969]

My wife and I have been going through some of her late fathers stuff and we came these 2 watches. I wondered if anyone knows anything about either of the 2? The larger of the 2 is inscribed to Ivor Anthony a British jockey and horse trainer who was an assistant trainer to my wife's Great grandfather Aubrey Hastings. A well known horse trainer and jockey himself. Hastings trained and rode Brown Jack that some considered to be the man o war of British race horses. The second smaller one belonged to my wife's grandfather. Thanks for any help @dnc1 thought I would tag you as you are one of our representative's across the pond. Thanks in advance

 

[HEMI426]

They both look gold are there any gold markings or hallmarks?

 

[coasterbrakejunkie1969]

They both look gold are there any gold markings or hallmarks?

These are from the big one I'm guessing 18K is one of the markings.

 

[coasterbrakejunkie1969]

These are on the smaller one

 

[HEMI426]

Each one of those hallmarks will tell you something but you will have to Google them to see what they mean.

 

[Fritz Katzenjammer]

The little Waltham is a 12 size man’s dress watch made in 1928. Grade 1235, model 1924 Col.B.

These are pretty common watches of good quality. The case is gold filled which is to say it was made of one plate of filler metal, likely brass which was sandwiched between two thinner plates of gold and then bonded tegether using heat and pressure. Its a much thicker gold than you would get via plating.

The English watch is unusual as it has a center seconds hand, its also well jewelled and would have been consdered a higher quality watch in its time. English watches of this era were basically hand made so parts need to be made from scratch if anything is worn or needs replacing. Its pin set, meaning you push the little pin with your nail while turning the crown to set the time. The case is 18k gold with a Chester hallmark... possibly 1870, but its hard to tell on this crappy little screen so don’t hold me to that.

Both watches shouldn’t be run without a service as the lubricants (whale oil originally) will have dried up a long time ago. The American watch would be a good daily wearer as its of good quality nd parts are easy to get should they ever be required.

 

[coasterbrakejunkie1969]

Thank you @Fritz Katzenjammer

 

[Tom Carroll]

Back in the day makers would mark the gold content in weird ways compared to today ….most of tge time it was under karat so a good coin and scrap buyer could X-ray it for complete content…the gold filled is just a way to say gold plated.