GUEST: My husband's mother inherited it from her brother. And then she gave it to my husband before she passed away. I think his wife gave it to him. That's the story... their 25th wedding anniversary. That would have been probably in the 1950s, maybe. My husband has had it for about 20, 25 years. We were told that it is a platinum watch. As far as the maker, I've seen ads for that particular name in magazines or in Wall Street Journal, and stuff, so we knew it was a good watch. And, plus, his uncle was the kind of person who he didn't own anything that was not good. He was quite a fancy guy.
APPRAISER: It's a Patek Philippe, which is really the finest watch company in the world. They've been in business for about 160 years. The unusual characteristics of the watch are that there's enamel all the way around the watch, which is beautiful. It's a platinum case, and it's a signed platinum Patek Philippe. A lot of these watches in the '40s were contract cases where they weren't signed. It's a triple-signed Patek Philippe pocket watch. And that means that the case is signed one signature, the movement is signed with a second signature, and the dial is signed. This particular one doesn't have reference numbers in it. It pre-dates 1940. Before the war, they didn't put reference numbers in the case. This was probably manufactured between 1925 and 1935. It's very much in a Deco style. And it's extremely thin. The chain that you have... and I know that you took out the little diamonds and you put them in little bezels, and set them in your ears. That's a wonderful chain. That dates from the 1920s and '30s also. So it was probably the original chain. They would wear it in a fob, in a vest pocket in those days. Beautiful piece. It would finish somebody's collection for Patek Philippes. They're very rare in platinum. A watch like this in today's market at a good auction house would probably gavel at around between $5,500 and $6,500 for the watch alone.
GUEST: Wow. Oh, my gosh.
APPRAISER: And then you throw in a chain, because of the platinum work and the chain is all handmade and everything, after you've taken the diamonds out and used them for earrings, the chain alone probably would bring $1,000 to $1,200. And it would increase as you put the diamonds back in. You don't have to put the ones that are in your ear back in, but you can put any diamonds.
GUEST: Wonderful.
