Personally, I’d much rather own an exceptional mid-grade piece than a rare one that’s been passed around from collector to collector, getting thoroughly beat up in the process.

At the very summit of Waltham’s 12-size family was the 23-jewel Riverside Maximus. A new customer from Florida sent in this beautiful heirloom cased in solid gold, containing four diamond cap jewels and a provenance date…

The American Waltham Company’s first 16-size pendant-set watch was the Model ’88 (Waltham kept it simple, naming the models after the year in which they were launched). In several ways the model mimicked the earlier leve…

Complications are another fascinating aspect to collecting antique pocket watches. The Swiss went for them in a big way in many styles and features, but American companies in general stayed away except for simple ones li…

Another superb family heirloom, and this time a Vacheron private label for Atlanta jeweler Josiah Stevens, cased in solid gold.

I’m allergic to farm work – third-party watches sent from jewelers – for several reasons. First, the customer should know who’s working on their watch, which seems fairly obvious. Secondly, the jeweler will mark up my in…

Among Hamilton collectors there is a solid percentage who believe that the 23-jewel 950B was the single best railroad watch ever made. They were very similar to the 992B but with a bridge design and a jeweled barrel. Rou…

After the Panic of 1893, the Columbus Watch Co went into receivership and re-emerged a year later with new investors and new capital as the New Columbus Watch Co. After production began again, most of the 21-jewel-and-hi…

When the short-lived Fredonia Watch Co ceased operations, John C Adams – the same John Adams who helped to found both the Adams & Perry Co and the Elgin Watch Co – visited the town of Peoria, Illinois to attract investor…

For many years the Complete Guide to Watches printed the existence of 28-jewel Railway, made by Seth Thomas, which would have been the highest count of any American pocket watch produced during the railroad era in the la…