APPRAISER: How did you come to own this?
GUEST: Actually, my grandmother gave it to me several years ago. And the story that she tells me is that her husband-- my grandfather-- had given it to her sometime during the war. And he passed away many, many years ago, so I really don't know that much about the watch, and I've actually kept it in a safe deposit box ever since.
APPRAISER: Gee, you haven't been wearing it.
GUEST: No, I haven't.
APPRAISER: What a shame. You'll have to start wearing it soon.
GUEST: Okay!
APPRAISER: First, as a piece of jewelry, it's a very beautiful bracelet, but what's really neat is that it's also a watch.
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: The style is late-1940s deco, early retro. It's manufactured out of 18-karat yellow gold. It has a very nice patina on it, also. The interesting thing about this watch is it was retailed by Van Cleef & Arpels, a very fine jewelry store in Paris and in New York. However, they did not make everything in-house. They sometimes farmed out things to have them made elsewhere. This particular bracelet was made by a man in New York City. His name was Edward Wiener, and I have seen some raw, unfinished examples of this watch, this exact watch. This is the first time I've seen one finished, so I was really excited, especially with the very fancy snake chain for the bracelet. We open up this toggle back here, and we close it, and you can see that on the wrist, it's very dramatic.
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: So, again, you really have to start wearing it.
GUEST: (chuckling) Okay.
APPRAIER: So, again, it's more about being a piece of jewelry than a watch. In today's market, at auction, I think this watch would probably bring around $5,000 or $6,000.
GUEST: Really? Oh, my goodness.
APPRAISER: Yeah, it's quite a desirable watch because it has a very specific style and sense of fashion to it.
