Greetings to all you very clever people, It may seem a bit late in life for me to join, but I love these old watches,I am a complete novice I dont even know how to take the cover off this,
it reads at the back, Lion, Anchor, k, A L D Hope some one can put me straight Thank you,

Hi Leslie,
Welcome to this very congenial forum! If you will open your watch to the position shown in your picture, you can slide the black ring a short distance that will allow the back cover to easily lift off so you can see the movement a little better. The marks stamped in the case are called hallmarks, and tell you that the initials of the man who made the case are 'ALD', and that the case is sterling silver (lion)as guaranteed by the Birmingham Assay office (anchor). The letter 'k' signifies a year, probably 1884, when the case was made.
If you take the opportunity to purchase the book called, "Complete Price Guide to Watches" offered here, you can see this explanation, and much more, for yourself on page 455. Glad to have you here; this is a fun and helpful group! We love pictures, so post away...
Mike

I would like to welcome you to our site as well, Leslie....

Mike has given you some very good info regarding the case of your watch and It would be helpful if we could see the dial and rear of the movement in order to give you more info....and as Mike suggested, we do like to see photo's....

If I could, here is a link to where you may obtain the book that Mike referred to and you may want to consider joining our group in order to have full access to all our forums....

Join and Support IHC185
Full membership is only $12.00 a year and money well spent....

Hope to see you back again real soon....

Great post, Mike....

Regards,

Jerry

Welcome to the club Leslie

Thought I would add a photo to help show what Mike had mentioned on how to remove the cover.

You will notice that the black bar touches two pins that protrude through the cover & are attached to the bridge. The bar will slide down allowing the pins to be unlocked & the cover to lift off.

I would also enjoy so photos of the watch.

The photos below show the cover locked on the pins on the left & then the right photo unlocked.

Tom

Thank you all so much, I have just got back it,s now just on 9pm here I shall look at the watch again tomorrow, I have joined the group and I am so looking forward to having many more chats with you, Cheers for now Les

Hello Again, I managed to get the cover off, bit dissapointed , no name, just got a number295077, and an inscription (Reversing Pinion) Will practice on the photos and post them when they are ok, I have sent for the book you mentioned, hope to have better luck on my next buy
I paid £100.00 what do you think to much , to little?? Thanks again, Cheers to All Les

Sorry about the delay, As i said iam a complete novice, The photos I have just worked out, not good but time will improve them I Hope
The key to the hands stem is missing, but the watch is ticking merrily away, Thanks again for your replies, Les

no 2

no3,

Welcome to IHC 185 Leslie,

You have a nice honest 'Going Barrel' type lever watch there.
This type has a single barrel with a mainspring driving the watch, hence 'Going Barrel'.
If it was a 'Fusee' type, it would have had a barrel and a cone with a chain between the two for motive power.

It also has a cut bi- metalic compensation balance (for changes of temperature) and timing screws.

If you take a look at the escape wheel, it will have either pointed teeth or they will have 'Club feet'.

If it's the former, it is an English Lever type, if the latter then it's got the later Swiss type escape wheel.
If you check the two pins protruding through the top plate where the balance is (you can see the pair of slotted screw heads on the top), the end of the lever 'banks' on those pins - the escape wheel is next to the lever, the 'bit that ticks'

A close up of the hallmarks would be a help to date the watch accurately if you can manage one!

The casemaker's mark is most likely for Aaron Lufkin Dennison, which was successively changed to Dennison Wigley & Co, and finally the Dennison Watch Case Company.

There's a good chance that the dial is solid silver, and the numerals 9ct gold or gold plated, at least all watches I've had with this type dial have been so.
The hands are probably gilded brass, but Could be gold, not unknown.

As for values, difficult to give anything more than a loose opinion, because price is esentially whatever a buyer feels comfortable with.

eBay tends to skew 'real' values quite a lot, plus a lot of rough dogs get passed around there these days, so watches that may appear to be good value, quite often end up being little better than (expensive) parts donors.
Values realised in antique shops by contrast, are generally a bit higher, not least because overheads of premises have to be covered.
The retailer can't 'do a runner' either, so tend to be more careful about the quality of stuff they sell, (in my experience)!

Your watch appears to be in nice condition, not 'fiddled with' and is in running condition with a nice dial and hands, so in the retail market, what you paid is probably about right - even eBay values are going up for these now!.

Best regards

John

Thank you John, Your Expert advice and opinion are much appreciated, if I have it right hall mark attachment should be there, can’t check the teeth yet wound it up last night and it’s ticking merrily away, the key that fits the hands setting is missing so cant set the time, I bought a gold J W Benson a couple of years ago will show that when I get a bit more experience,
Thank you once again for your time and patience, Cheers for now Les

Hello again John, I think this is a better shot of the hallmark, Les

Les, if the case is Birmingham assayed, the date letter appears to be for 1909, which is quite a bit later than I would have expected to see on a key wind/set watch like this.
I can't confirm it's Birmingham origins though, as I can't clearly see an anchor in the assay office mark.

However, there is only a legal obligation to assay anything of precious metal, unless it's being sold on the open market, so the watch could actually have sat around in storage for decades before being assayed.
Unless of course, I've mis-identified the date mark!

Any offers anyone?

John

Hi John, the assay mark is correct I have the book on them it is birmingham, small k, & lion,
Thanks again Les