Ed. Koehn Gold Pocket Watch, ca. 1923
GUEST:
I brought my father-in-law's pocket watch. He has since passed, so it's now my husband's watch. As a young man, he came over from Germany. He went to work immediately on an estate. He worked for the Hendersons. That's the people who owned the estate.
APPRAISER:
Okay.
GUEST:
It's located in Media, which is about an hour from here.
APPRAISER:
Okay, that's Media, Pennsylvania.
GUEST:
Yes, Media, P.A. He ran the estate for them, and they gave him this pocket watch in appreciation for the work that he did.
APPRAISER:
This watch is a presentation-style watch. The watch is retailed by J.E. Caldwell, the pre-eminent jeweler in Philadelphia, who was founded in 1839. The watch is made of 14-karat gold, and it was made by Ed Koehn. Now, Ed Koehn was a Swiss watchmaker. He worked for Patek Philippe for 15 years. He then became the director of Patek and retired. He decided he wanted to start his own firm to produce very, very fine, very high-grade, and very thin watches. He struck up a relationship with J.E. Caldwell, and he was selling the watches exclusively in this area through Caldwell.
GUETS: Oh.
APPRAISER:
So the watch you have is sold by J.E. Caldwell, made by Ed Koehn. When we open it up, it has his name, "Swiss-made."
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
It also says "J.E. Caldwell" on the movement, and it's an 18-jewel watch, which is exactly the same as the Patek Philippe counterparts would have been.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
Do you have any idea what the value of this watch would be?
GUEST:
None, we've never had it appraised.
APPRAISER:
In a retail setting today, a watch like this would probably sell in the $2,000 to $3,000 price range.
GUEST:
Oh!
APPRAISER:
So it was a very nice gift.
GUEST:
Oh, indeed. My kids will be very happy to hear that.
APPRAISER:
I'm sure they will be, they always are.
GUEST:
Yeah.
Appraisal Details
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