I found an old WWI photo and ended up contacting a fellow named Richard Laughton and sent him the photo.

As I looked through his site I found he had done an extensive study on pocket watches given to WWI Veterans of Milton Ontario.

His research is ongoing and he would appreciate any new info anyone here may have or come across regarding these watches.

The link below provides the bare bones of the project and just below the pictures is a link to a PDF of the complete research.

Gold Watch Mystery

This is a section of the photo I found.

Notice how the dog has the same grim expression as the soldiers.

An interesting project. The National Canadian Archives in Ottawa might be of assistance to the Town. I rec'd information regarding an inscribed WWI watch from them a while back and I was impressed with what the Canadian Archives can do.

Thanks Greg. Library & Archives Canada is a wonderful resource, sadly some of their funding was just recently cut by the federal government..

Much thanks to Lorne for introducing my research work to this group. I am by no means a watch collector or a person knowledgeable of watches. My research relates primarily to British and Canadian soldiers of the Great War 1914-1919. It was my research into the presentation of some 118 commemorative gold watches to WWI soldiers of Milton, Ontario Canada that brought me to this point.

As Lorne has indicated, there is a detailed report available on how I traced the details of the individual men of Milton to arrive at what is believed to be an accurate list of the 118 watches presented. I have two (2) of these watches in my possession and photographs of others. The Baverstock watch was graciously donated to the project by Aaron Day of the UK. The Regan watch is from his grandson Ron Regan of the Milton Legion. The Morley watch is in Hamilton Ontario - less the mechanism.

My reason for participating in this forum is to seek out pocket watch collectors who may have a Milton Commemorative Gold Watch in their collection. I am not looking to purchase or otherwise recover the watch, I only need to know if the watch exists, any details that can be provided (make, inscriptions, numbers) so that it can be cross-checked against the proposed list of soldiers.

Many of these watches may have gone back to the UK after the war, as did the Baverstock watch. It may have travelled with family who returned to the home country, as many of the Milton soldiers were recent immigrants.

If any of the group can provide assistance, that would be most appreciated.

I can note that there is no information on this topic within Library and Archives Canada. The historic information was extracted from microfilm copies of 1914-1925 newspapers and local committee minutes.

A new web page was added to the site of the Milton Historical Society with information on the details of the gold watches, based on guidance from Lorne. There are many new images on that page of the inside of the watches, serial numbers and other markings.

MHS GOLD WATCH DETAILS.

Thanks to Lorne for noting the link to the site has changed. Please use:

http://www.miltonhistoricalsoc.../gold-watch-mystery/

Richard