Pocket Watch help, info needed!

HI I am new to collecting pocket watches and seen this and hoped someone could tell me more about it. I was told it is silver plated and Swiss but I don't have a clue if that is true or the makers name or date? Here is some pics! Thanks!

 

Nice watch......from what I've gathered here the movement is just average ( do I see 4 jewels? ) .
But the case and face could be of superior manufacture.
Any marks on the back of the dragon slayer ??

 

HI I really know nothing of pocket watches but I see three purple and one red jewel. I can't find any marking on it, it's just engraved with an owners initials but nothing more from what I can see. Any information on it you can give me?

 

Let's wait till more seasoned watch collectors show up........

 

I am finding a few of these on the internet. One is a fine Patek Philippe watch that has a similar but not exact case. Others are more like yours but no real information is to be had. All had different dials than yours. This watch site has an old thread about a similar watch. It has a different movement but, based on the markings, may have been made by the same firm. It does give some information about the motif of St. George slaying the dragon on the case. Some other information I ran across makes me wonder if this might be a Russian knock-off.

http://mb.nawcc.org/showthread.php?98497-Pocket-Watch-with-St-George-slaying-the-dragon

 

That was a great thread you linked me too, but confusing, I know the man that owned the watch originally died in 1891 and it said on that thread the charitable service that used the St george motif was created in 1894 unless the same inscription and decoration was used for other things prior? I don't think it's a knock off though, I don't collect watched but I do collect coins and the wear and colouring of the metal in certain places are appropriate to its age that just can't be faked. It's the inner working that are confusing me, and the maker, and this date issue of the motif. EDIT :just found watches from earlier with the same legend and motif so that's good

 

That watch face is lovely . I don't know anything about pocket watches , but I did recently hear that hands like yours are the exception rather than the rule ? Makes me think it might be a little better than the average watch . That stamp looks like " RM" with something in the middle.

 

Yea I see the RM I think it's a top of a castle with the flag on top! But I can't find anything on it!

 

It does say Swiss on the inside and gives to serial number to different parts that are both the same if that any help everyone

 

The symbol of George slaying the dragon as patron may pre-date the society using it. Otherwise, family history can be notoriously wrong.

I did not mean to imply that a Russian Knock-off wasn't old. This part is just conjecture anyway based on something I read about similar cases.

 

I see Avance & Retard written on the speed setting........would that made it a French Movement ?...or Swiss...

 

Glad I'm not the only one who can see retard haha, that's a good point though ! Just found this on another post from a different forum.
"advance/retard is no brand, but just French for fast/slow. It indicates where to move the regulator lever to speed up or slow down the rate of the watch. French inscriptions usually indicate that it is a Swiss watch, and most old Swiss watches were made in a kind of home industry. They have no brand, nothing is recorded, and numbers helped only to keep case parts together, because they were not interchangable." Makes sense why I can't find anything on it.

 

Well, like I thought...the movement is not going to help place the case & face !

 

It's quite the puzzle!

 

And that's why we're here .......if we can't nail it down......you'll know very soon.....and then we'll start making jokes .......& then we'll move on !!

But keep showing other stuff , cuz we love a good mystery !!!

 

Oh....the joking around is optional...of course !!!

 

Half the fun is solving these things haha!

 

It is a 15 jewel Swiss clubfoot lever barred movement with cut, compensated balance, (a medium quality movement), certainly Swiss made, for the continental market, round about 1880-1900.

St George and the dragon in a very similar design had been used on British sovereign coins since 1821 so it was nothing new but the novelty does raise the desirabilty of the watch a little above average for a plain case. The case is almost certainly silver, not plated. The marks are usually on the inside of the outer case. It is stem wound and pin set.

The style of dial and hands is quite typical of watches made for the continental European market. Watches intended for Britain were plainer in hands and face because that's the way the British buyers preferred them.

Rather unusually, Captain Grouch is going to say well done for the pictures, which are very good.

The actual maker is more or less irrelevant, it is not a big name and in general it is quite possible to assess the quality without reference to any branding. I could possibly locate the ebauche maker from the stamp on the movement but some blokes in a Swiss shed is near enough for all practical purposes.

Typically, it is a lady's fob watch, unhappily these are less desirable than men's watches because most collectors are men.

 

See, AJ....I told you the watch guy would be along......

 

Hey, I am not just 'the watch guy', I am quite tall and occasionally make jokes.