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:

[Maxtor]

A beautiful museum quality piece. Thanks for sharing.

[EvEr34]

WOW!

[Route 66]

Absolutely fascinating Al.

Thanks for sharing the pics with us.

It must be incredible to hold such a timepiece in your hands. If only it could talk...

[LouS]

Brilliant post. I enjoyed it very much. what is the wheel numbered 1-6?

[tfduff723]

Originally Posted by EvEr34

WOW!

WOW is right!

Very interesting piece

[Alcan]

Originally Posted by LouS

Brilliant post. I enjoyed it very much. what is the wheel numbered 1-6?

That's the timing regulator.

[WatchTimes]

WOW
What a great piece.
Congrats on getting it back up and running, it sounds like it
was quite a battle but well worth it.

[Ranfni]

Cool story

[asadtiger]

what an amazing piece and what a story and accomplishment...but what amazes me most is, they were doing it all way back in 1762! thats absolutely fascinating!..these are the points when I feel we've truly progressed only in electronics and man's other achievements were done for centuries ago..just a thought...but ofcourse on serious reasoning I am wrong but it is absolutely breathtaking that someone did all that with no modern technology, advanced science, electricity and above all, created fusee and chain timing devices without calculus!!!!

[Skullring]

Beautiful. That is one of a kind. Amazing attention to detail.

[salem65]

They certainly don't make them like that anymore, and what a shame because that is amazing engineering coupled with beauty.

[vukotab]

That`s incredible piece of history.
Thanks for posting, Al!

[jatco]

That.. is a piece worth telling about.
Fabulous looking...and still ticking..!
Kudos to you for having a classic heirloom restored..

[dodie paneristi]

I TOTALLY AGREE!! this one hell of a craftsmanship watch!

[SoftwareDrone]

That is beyond insane!

Could you imagine being the first guy in your town to own one of these back then? Talk about a conversation piece!

[s.justinlee]

great story.
thanks for posting

[witch watch]

Timeless! Can anyone honestly tell me that such craft will ever go out of vogue? Thank god for people like Nicolas Hayek.

[liptonnr]

Unbelievable! Great pick-up!

[beowulf566]

Great! I love it and I love that you had the drive to go through the work needed to get it fixed. Congrats on one beautiful peice of history. I love to look at my pocket watches and think of how many people carried them over the years and how many moments of their lives it marked!

[general]

What a great find. Congratulations on restoring it and thanks for sharing with us.

[Jan Davis]

Hand fabricating a movement wheel from nothing is difficult, hand fabricating three movement wheels is pure genius. 8-)

[dddrees]

Just came across this thread.

Al, glad to hear you were able to get it working again. Just as it should be.

Totaly amazing, and absolutely gorgeous.

[The GMT Kid]

Wow.

I want to thank you for taking this museum piece and giving it the chance to live again.

It warms my heart to think of this grand watch ticking away in a pocket. At any time it could be called on to tell the time. It is ready, willing and (thanks to you) able.

Absolutely fantastic!

[kingblackbolt]

Al your not a collector your a true enthusiast! To think of the age of this watch and what you went through to have it running again after being abused... simply amazing!

[JimSnyder]

Very nice Al! And here I'm all excited waiting for a new band for my Seiko

[oneillba]

Double WOW!

[Riseman Weather]

Wow. People has so much patience back then.