Watches

1904 English Smith & Son Tourbillon Pocket Watch

Appraisal: 1904 English Smith & Son Tourbillon Pocket Watch

Transcript

GUEST: Well, it was a gift from my father. My father grew up in Greenwich, Connecticut. It was given to him from a neighbor. His neighbor was a civil engineer, and his neighbor also ran a radio repair shop in his basement, and my dad helped him repair radios. And he actually told me that this man inspired him to go on to M.I.T., and... So it's really special.

APPRAISER: We know it's a pocket watch, it's 18-karat gold. It was made by Smith & Son in London.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: And they were famous watchmakers. They made watches for the British royalty, they made them for the Admiralty, for the navy. They were very famous for making chronometers and very accurate timepieces. They also made watches for the king of Spain.

GUEST: Oh, okay. Because it's called the king of Spain watch by my family.

APPRAISER: Oh, is that right?

GUEST: Right, it's written somewhere on it, I think on the inside.

APPRAISER: Okay, well, we'll open it up and look at it. Let's study the face of the watch first. You have an hour hand, of course, like all watches. And a minute hand, and a constant running second hand. But do you know what that little dial is, and that hand is, up there?

GUEST: I'm not sure, I think it said, "Wind," on it. It says, "Up-Down."

APPRAISER: Wind?

GUEST: Yeah.

APPRAISER: Okay.

GUEST: That's all I know.

APPRAISER: It's called a power reserve indicator or a winding indicator. And basically it would tell you how much time the watch had left before it would stop ticking so you would know when to wind the watch.

GUEST: Oh, "Wind." (chuckles)

APPRAISER: And I'm just going to give it a quick turn. As we... turn the watch to wind it, watch that hand move. Do you see it's moving?

GUEST: Oh, look at that. Okay.

APPRAISER: And so, that winding indicator would turn, and you would know when you wound the watch all the way up. You'd also know when you'd have to wind the watch again. It's a very heavy case, 18-karat solid gold. The case was made by Frederick Thoms, who was a famous English case maker. Now, the watch has an enamel-porcelain dial, which has a very faint hairline crack, and that was about the only flaw that I could see in it. But other than that, the watch has a very special feature that I want to show you.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: When we open up the back of the watch, you'll see here that-- there's the escapement of the watch. Now, this has a very special type of escapement known as a tourbillon.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: And the whole escapement makes one revolution every 60 seconds. Tourbillons were invented by Breguet, who was really the most famous watchmaker in France. He was 50 years ahead of everybody else. Breguet didn't make this actual tourbillon, but this was his invention. And what it was made for was to counteract the effects of gravity on the watch. When a watch lays flat, gravity is pulling on it and can affect the timekeeping of it. And if you turn the watch over, now gravity's pulling on it in another way. So it was thought that if the escapement was constantly revolving, gravity would never be pulling on it in one particular direction. And, therefore, it would be of the utmost accuracy. These escapements are really incredibly rare.

GUEST: Really?

APPRAISER: Now you mentioned the king of Spain watch. And it's upside-down, but it says, "Maker to the Admiralty," and it's signed by the maker here, Smith & Son, London. It also says, "His Majesty, the King of Spain," with the royal warrants. And one other interesting feature on these watches is that it actually spun all the way around here. Your watch is hallmarked and I dated them. The case was manufactured in 1904. I think this case could be as heavy as three ounces of 18-karat gold-

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: -which at present gold prices today would put the gold value at over $2,000 and close to $3,000.

GUEST: Oh, wow, okay.

APPRAISER: The power reserve indicator adds a little bit to the value of it. So a watch like this with a power reserve indicator-- nice, heavy, big English watch, with a normal escapement, would retail for around $4,000 to $5,000.

GUEST: Wow.

APPRAISER: This watch, in the present market, would retail between $40,000 to $50,000.

GUEST: Oh, my gosh, you're kidding.

APPRAISER: No.

GUEST: Wow, I had no idea. (laughs) I better be careful with it.

APPRAISER: This tourbillon escapement is still rare today. And it's made for very collectible watches. Let's take an example of, like, a Patek Philippe wristwatch. A strapped, Patek Philippe, 18-karat gold, retail price, let's say is around $20,000.

GUEST: Wow.

APPRAISER: That same watch with a tourbillon escapement would retail by Patek Philippe between $200,000 and $250,000.

GUEST: Oh, wow.

APPRAISER: So it's something really wonderful to have and very special.

GUEST: That's amazing. Well, I knew it was a special watch, but I didn't know how special.