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The Watch Enthusiast #2-1 September 2004

The monthly newsletter for collectors and wearers of vintage and antique watches.

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In this issue . . . . . . .
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1. Welcome
2. Split Second Chronograph
3. Logo Watches
4. Retirement Watches can be quite collectible
5. Musings
6. Helpful Resources
7. Questions and Answers
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1. Welcome

Welcome to the First Anniversary issue of The Watch Enthusiast. The Watch Enthusiast is a free monthly newsletter about watch collecting. Our goal is to provide:
Original articles about the enjoyment of collecting and wearing wrist and pocket watches. Up to date information based on reliable sources.

As an anniversary issue, I though I’d look to the use of watches for branding and the celebration of an anniversary, such as the retirement watch. I’ll also go into exactly what is a split-second chronograph really. Please let me know if there is a particular watch or style of watch that you would like to see discussed in future articles.

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2. Split-second Chronograph

I’ve seen some intriguing split-second chronographs online, including online auctions. I say intriguing because many of them were not true split-second chronographs. I know that when I first started collecting, I thought a split-second chronograph was a watch with a chronograph (stop watch) feature that had each second, on the outer ring of the dial, divided into fifths. I soon learned that was just plain wrong.

A split-second chronograph is a chronograph with two timing hands, one on top of the other. Such a watch is excellent for timing the splits in a race and it would not surprise me if the term split-second did not come from dividing time, but rather from measuring different splits of a horse race. A basic split-second chronograph, http://pages.captainhucksbooty.com/3559/PictPage/1922412775.html will be without any minute or hour registers. Split-second pieces, like regular chronographs, may also have additional registers to record minutes and hours. Both hands will generally be started by depressing the crown (or chrono button on wrist watches). There will be a separate button to stop the split. When the split button is depressed again, the split hand will rejoin the regular timing hand. The main button will stop both hands and reset them both to 12.

You may occasionally find a keywind chronograph without a reset feature. This is more than acceptable (just harder to use) as Hugenin did not perfect the reset feature until the 1860s.

The most sought after split-second chronographs are, as usual, by Patek Philippe. My favorite, based on its high quality and comparatively low price, are those made by Agassiz. I expect it is an Agassiz movement in the pictured Tiffany pocket watch.

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3. Logo Watches

Logo watches are generally collected for reasons beyond the basic watch collection. It can encompass advertising or just specialized business area collectors. If one collects beer items, then a Schlitz logo watch http://pages.captainhucksbooty.com/3559/PictPage/1922111246.html would easily fit into the collection.

Logo watches can be fun, and based on the advertising in every in-flight magazine about putting your company logo onto watches, they should be plentiful and rather inexpensive. Personally, I wear my corporate logo watch for certain meetings when I feel the need to show a certain degree of loyalty or an attempt to show that, contrary to what I may say, I just might follow the corporate position.

I particularly like logo watches that are more than just an advertising piece. I can just imagine the pride the Frigidaire salesman took in wearing his Sales Leader watch. http://pages.captainhucksbooty.com/3559/PictPage/1922047748.html I suspect that it also served as a visible incentive to keep selling.

Logo watches were also often given to employees for anniversaries with the company or for retirement. Generally, what makes these pieces are the logos and not the inscription. A good example of this is found in a Packard Motor Car Company anniversary presentation where the dial carries the Packard advertising theme of “Ask the Man Who Owns One.” http://pages.captainhucksbooty.com/3559/PictPage/1922412774.html. With such a dial and an inscription including presented by the Packard Motor Car Company, this is a great automotive collectible. Additionally, for the automotive collector, while not directly related, the top grade pocket watch made by the South Bend Watch Company was called The Studebaker. Yes, the family that owned that car company also owned South Bend and stayed true to form in naming things after themselves.

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4. Retirement Watches can be quite collectible

As seen above, logos can make retirement watches interesting. In this section, I will focus on what makes the inscription fun. Generally, pieces that just say, in appreciation, etc., do not become collectible. However, if it is from a company in an industry which has spawned many collectors and includes a fully engraved corporate logo, it should find a favored spot in a collection. http://pages.captainhucksbooty.com/3559/PictPage/1922340587.html

Sometimes retirement watches are collected because of their association with certain vocations such police, fire or railroaders. For me, the most interesting part of retirement watches are the stories, and questions, that arise with certain inscriptions. For example, I wonder why an individual receives a watch in 1951 from co-workers, and not the company, commemorating his more than 48 years of service in the passenger department of the Burlington Railroad. http://pages.captainhucksbooty.com/3559/PictPage/1922111224.html If I had to guess, it is not something that would be politically correct now – while really not a politically correct person, I would say that after 48 years, the man deserved a gold watch from the company and not be relegated to receiving a gold-filled piece from his co-workers.

Retirement watches are great pieces for ones collection. Whether you collect them based on the company involved, the vocation of the recipient or the story told by the inscription, they add character to your collection. If you are strictly a watch collector, an unusual retirement inscription can make a rather mundane piece into one of the stars of a collection. This is one of those areas that can make a regular piece a lot more fun than just filling the collection slot.

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5. Musings

The summer was busier than usual with life issues, so hopefully I can start off the Fall in proper style with a timely September newsletter and continue on from here. With auctions starting up again this month and major watch shows, I’ll provide a market update in the October issue. While I believe in timeliness, I also believe that summer is a time to relax (which I wish I had gotten to) in order to face the stress of the Fall. If all goes well, there will actually be 12 monthly issues during this second year of the Watch Enthusiast newsletter.

Please provide your comments about this newsletter and let me know if there is any watch collecting area you would like to see explored in this newsletter.

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6. Helpful Resources

Don’t want to spend the money for the big chronograph book? You can find a lot of information about chronographs at http://www.chronomaster.co.uk/index.htm This site also has a helpful section regarding “which watch to buy” and quite an interesting section of quotes about time.

Current production by the top watchmaker in the world, Patek Philippe, as well as information from their museum can be accessed at http://www.patekphilippe.com

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7. Questions and Answers

Question:

Why are 18k gold watches so much more expensive than a similar 14k gold watch?

Answer:

It is primarily a supply and demand issue as watches in higher karat cases do realize considerably more than the difference in actual gold value. The same can be applied to gold-filled vs. gold watches. A well made 21 jewel fully adjusted Lord Elgin wrist watch in gold-filled will rarely command more than $200, while the same watch in 14k will bring more than $400. http://pages.captainhucksbooty.com/3559/PictPage/1922111232.html This difference probably amounts to more than 4 times the difference in actual gold value, which for most basic wrist watch cases should be less than $60.00.

Pocket watches, due to their higher case weight, will often have a greater difference involving the same movement, but not as much of a lodestar vs. gold value as found in wrist watches. Remember that this is a general rule that, due to rarity, will occasionally be broken. A great example is a stainless steel Patek Philippe which is far rarer than 18k Pateks and will command a more rarified price.

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If you have questions about watches or watch collecting, please forward to Huck@Tias.com. We will not respond to questions solely about value of a particular watch. For an estimate, discuss with watch friends, check with a local appraiser or auction houses or, on the web, try http://www.kovel.com for a price book or http://www.whatsitworthtoyou.com/tias.htm for an online appraisal.

Thank you for reading. Please e-mail Huck@Tias.com with any comments or if you would like to write a short note for this newsletter. Also, please let me know if there are any items that you would like me to search for --- thank you, Paul Huck, http://captainhucksbooty.com. Feel free to forward this to a friend. To subscribe to this or other TIAS newsletters, especially The Cuff Linker for which I’m also the editor and primary author, go to http://www.tias.com/subscribe

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