Wittnauer Pocket Watch, ca. 1925
Watch
GUEST:
This was a pocket watch that belonged to my father-in-law. He was a local businessman here in Knoxville and operated his business for 30-some odd years as a blind person, legally blind. He suffered from retinitis, so he progressively, from his 20s on, lost sight. It was in his collection when he died. He died of leukemia when he was 65 years old. His wife, my mother-in-law, gave it to me.
APPRAISER:
What we have here is we have an open face pocket watch, 14-karat solid gold case with a 14-karat gold chain, beautiful hands, porcelain dial, Arabic numerals, nice and clean watch. The movement is so beautiful. Everything is bright and shiny. This watch was made by the Wittnauer Watch Company circa 1925, located in Switzerland. Wittnauer later became Longines-Wittnauer, still located in Switzerland. And they've been making watches for over 125 years. And on the dial it's marked "Huguenin-Breguet," which, both of those companies were watch making companies in their own right in Switzerland. They would have retailed or partnered with Wittnauer to market and sell this watch. What makes this stand out is that this is what they call a repeater. This is a minute repeater and it will chime or ring on the hours and on the minutes. On the side right here, there's a lever. (chiming) Did you know this watch chimed?
GUEST:
No, I didn't, but because he was blind, he was interested in things like that. He had an electric watch that talked to him.
APPRAISER:
In today's market, this watch with the gold chain, a retail price, should bring about $7,500.
GUEST:
Holy...!
APPRAISER:
Yes.
GUEST:
Wow!
APPRAISER:
Yeah.
GUEST:
It's going to stay in the family, so the value is secondary, but it certainly is a surprise.
Appraisal Details
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