I watch Ebay quite a bit.

There are some RR watches for sale where the case and the watch appear to be incompatible, based on the age and style of the case, stem & crown, in relation the age of the movement.

Does the Price Guide address this issue, in terms of valuation?

Any random thoughts on this would be appreciated.

RBL

Robert - I am going to throw out my two cents worth and I invite other members to agree or disagree with me.

On page 11 in the watch guide, under "appraising guidelines", item # 8 asks about whether the case and dial are original and that those two components are very important. I've also seen comments that the estimates are based on original cases, among other things. I do not recall seeing values given for movements in later cases.

That said, and knowing that cases wear out (or get scrapped) and it is getting harder and harder to find originally cased watches, I personally give a little leeway to a movement that has been put in a period-correct case (in good condition) of the same or similar type as the original would have been. Yes, points will be deducted, but not nearly as much as a 1910 movement in a 1955 case.

I also consider the scarcity of the movement/case combo, too. If it is a rare movement, I might not be quite as particular about the case it is in so that it has a home for safety purposes until a more appropriate case can be found.

I think many of the mismatched movements/cases seen on eBay have been slapped together in order to present a "complete" watch in the hopes of getting higher bids. Sometimes that works, sometimes not.

These are my opinions only and may not be the same as other members. I look forward to hearing what others have to say.

Very Good Logical Approach

Thanks Mary Ann

regards,
bb

There are some that are almost hyper about the term "original" and I am not sure that you can prove on many watches that the case, dial and movement are original to each other. I try to be sure that the case and movement/dial are time period correct. You don't want a long stem open face case on an Elgin 571 or an Elgin "cased and time" case on a grade 270, and obviously not a marked Hamilton case on a Waltham. That is all that I look for.

Hi all,
I agree with the above remarks entirely.
Also I noted that the guide does not take into consideration Canadian RR cases, as they are never mentioned, and came with a lot of the watches sold North of the border. A case can become changed over the years as a result of wear, scrapping, or choice of the owner at purchase. So a period correct case of the same style etc to the watch for me is about the best you can ask for IMHO.
Bill

I appreciate your comments.

That's one of the benefits of this forum.

If the case looks like it came from the same time period as the movement, that's probably a mininal requirement, at least for me.

In a lot of cases, the cases wore out first.

When it came to railroad watches used in time service, in MOST situations the case wore out first.

More than one watch inspector installed watch movements in old stock cases at a discount in order to just clear their drawers of old inventory.

Regards! Mark