Gruen 50th Anniversary Gold Presentation Watch, ca. 1924
Watch
GUEST:
This picture is of my granddad, Franklin Augustus Seiberling, Sr., who started Goodyear Rubber Company and then went on to found Seiberling Rubber Company in the 1920s. After my dad died, it was given to me.
APPRAISER:
Do you know when it was given to your grandfather?
GUEST:
It was given in 1928. It is listed on the back that it was given by his sales staff to him as a gift.
APPRAISER:
Now, what I want to do here first of all is take it out of its box. Now, what's interesting about this watch, not only was it a presentation piece, but it was also the 50th anniversary celebration of the Gruen Watch Company being in business from 1874 to 1924. The Gruen Watch Company was set up in 1874 in Cincinnati, Ohio, and what they did was they produced a watch with a solid gold movement. And not only that, they put ruby jewels in it, 21 of them, plus two diamonds as well. And the metal is pink gold. Now, these watches are not unique. They made a small production run of them, and over the years I've seen a few of these. But what I've never seen is the watch in its original presentation box. And you're very lucky. You have saved one of the advertisements for this watch when it was brand new. Now, very seldom do these watches really ever survive with all of this material. And when I was looking at the box, inside I found this small tin box. Now, this was designed to be a jewelry box. But furthermore, it has some other goodies in it as well-- a small box from the Gruen Watch Company, which, when you open it up, has a crystal. It's pentagonal because it's the 50th anniversary watch. It's a spare part. Should you ever be so unfortunate as to break the crystal of this watch, they've supplied you with another. You'll find these watches in a price guide for maybe $4,000 to $6,000 for an auction. But when it's in this kind of condition, when it has the portrait of the owner, you have a bit of the advertising with it, it's in its original box, it's hardly ever been used, you have a spare crystal, it falls into the category, really, of a mint condition watch. In an auction, I would probably estimate this somewhere around $8,000 to $10,000.
GUEST:
Oh, very good. Thank you.
APPRAISER:
You're quite welcome.
Appraisal Details
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