Hello

New to this site and to watch collecting. Inherited a few pocket watches and started to do some research on them. I have posted two on the European page. The other I received is a very plane Waltham. Serial number 2842172 puts it as a model 1877. Built sometime between Sept and Dec of 1886. Watch is in fair condition but the minute hand is broken off.

I am a person who hates to see things like this just go away, and will have it evaluated for repair. Question is. What cost would be reasonable to put into a timepiece such as this? I know that is an individual issue, but as far as I can find, the watch has no family history for me, so fixing it would be more of a thing to do because it is 123 years old and it would be nice to use.

Putting money into older items rather than buying new is one of my quirks.

Here is the mechanism

Bruce, after looking at this, the biggest question is the hairspring condition. If it is good, no rust, then this should be a reasonable restoration. The watch is quite interesting because of the use of a 1-piece balance wheel. Not many of those survived in the apparent good condition of this one. The Minute hand for a key wind is a little harder to find, but I a rond hole hand with a large enough hub can be easily broached to fit.

Thanks David

I read a lot of your posts so know you are one of the experts here.

I have always been fascinated on how things are built. The complexity of a watch really impresses me.

I have a clock/watch repair person that I know who is going to take a look at it. I am hoping that the minute hand broke and that is the only reason the watch got put away.

David is the man.one of our best.