Now THIS is craftsmanship!

[Alcan]

This pocket watch, dated to 1762, came into my custody a couple of years ago. A friend owns it, having it handed down from his great-great (great?) uncle, an English sea captain. When I received the watch, it had some problems. His 5 year old grandson had found it in a drawer and tore it apart one morning, on a thick pile living room carpet. He went through all the usual routines; search the carpet, run a magnet across it, new bag in the Hoover and empty it afterwards. At the final count, three wheels (gears) were missing.

So, shouldn’t be too difficult to find someone to fabricate 3 new wheels, or so I thought. It took 6 months of research and emails to finally find someone to take the project on, and I eventually was referred by the British Horological Institute to Arthur Jones, a transplanted Brit living in Belgium.

Mr. Jones still cuts wheels and agreed to take on the project as a side job. Six months later he finished it, fabricating the 3 new wheels and restoring the movement.

When he shipped it back I was elated, until I unpacked it and wound it. It didn’t tick. Crappola!!! Now what? Then I opened the caseback and spotted the folded piece of paper he’d placed between 2 wheels to stop the movement. My guess is that was done to protect the balance in transit. I removed the paper and................. this 250 year old movement chugged back into life.

So, here’s what a really, really old pocket watch looks like, up close and personal. A colleague at work took some high res photos, and that’s when we started to realize the actual workmanship in this watch. We spotted the 2 birds, then saw the Lady’s head, engraved in the upper plate. The chain fusee drive shows very well, and the overall finish is outstanding for a watch made entirely by hand 250 years ago.

I have another thread’s worth of info on the watchmaker, J Gilbert, LONDON, including his astrolabe, backstaff, and brass telescope which are in various museums around the world, but that’s for another day. In the meantime, here are the images of a watch accurately dated to 1762 and still running: