Hello John,
Thank you for sending in this pocket watch to mearto.com for an appraisal. I shall try to help you with that today.
TITLE:
Gent’s, Art Nouveau, 18-size, 14k yellow rolled gold-plate, pendant wound and lever set, savonette, hunting case pocket watch, Grade 21, S/N 164124,
Made by the Columbus watch Company, Columbus, Ohio, circa 1890. Accompanied by a gilt link watch chain with a money clip fob.
DESCRIPTION:
Case: 18s, four leaf, 14k rolled gold-plate, hunting case pocket watch with the covers embossed with flowers on one cover and with flowers and a deer on the second outer cover, both very much in the natural themes of the Art Nouveau era of circa 1880-1910. There is a fluted gold-plate pendant and round bow placed at the three position relative to the dial (savonette) opposite the case hinge. A watch paper is seen inside one of the outer leaves while the cuvette over the movement carries the trademark of the case maker. The watch paper indicated that the case was made under the patents obtained by John Dueber and consists of two 14k rolled gold plates with a base metal between the two layers and with a gilt finish guaranteed to last at least 20 years. The inside of the cover carries the anchor and serpentine trademark that was registered by the Dueber Watch Case Manufacturing Company on June 26, 1883 and the symbol was, in fact, indicative of “rolled gold plate” cases. Of note, this watch paper is missing the case number of 1255680, which means it could have come from any of the Dueber Watch Case Mfg. Company cases, including this example. Fortunately, the trademark of the Dueber rolled gold plate is engraved into the actual covers of the case. {The Dueber Watch Case Manufacturing Company existed from 1877-1888 while located in Newport, Kentucky during those years. This raises a question about the originality of this watch paper to this particular watch. In 1890 John Dueber owns the Dueber Hampden Watch Company in Canton Ohio. He purchased that company in 1886 and was working in Canton, Ohio by that time. However, the Columbus Watch Company never made their own watch cases and it is certainly possible that Dueber continued to supply watch cases for them. Since John Dueber owned the Hampden Watch Company and made watches as well as making cases in Canton Ohio starting in 1887 (later in Cincinnati and then Chicago) until c. 1927 when watch case production ceased, he likely found Columbus a regular customer for his cases. What remains in question is the originality of the watch paper as starting out life within this particular pocket watch.
Dial: White enameled wound dial with black Roman hours, closed minute track, sunken subsidiary seconds dial @6 and steel Spade hands with the upper dial signed in script Columbus Watch Co.
Movement: This is an 18s, full gilt plate, Grade 21, Model 2 movement made by the Columbus Watch Company, Columbus, Ohio with serial number 164124, made in 1890 with 11 jewels, some in friction settings. The movement is pendant wound and lever set, has a flat hairspring with bimetallic balance wheel plain regulator with ruler on the surface of the gilt plates. The movement has no adjustments and is not of railroad grade. The plates are marked, “Columbus Watch Co., Columbus, Ohio, and Safety Pinion, 164124, Fast & Slow” measure ruler.
CONDITION:
Case – Good with moderate wear to the surface floral and foliate patterns. The watch paper is torn and missing the case number, so I have left it out of this appraisal as not being significant for this specific watch. The gilt link watch chain and money clip fob are assumed to be gold plated or gold filled since you did not mention them specifically.
Dial: Very good-Excellent condition.
Movement –The movement is considered original to this case, genuine and functional for this appraisal.
HISTORY:
COLUMBUS WATCH COMPANY, COLUMBUS, OHIO -
The Columbus Watch Company was founded by Dietrich Gruen on December 22, 1874 in Columbus, Ohio. Gruen would later become founder of the Gruen Watch Company with his son Frederick. At first, the company finished movements imported from Switzerland, made primarily by Leo Asbey. In 1882, the company attracted a number of new investors, and moved to a newly-built factory on Thurman Street, in the "German Village" section of Columbus. It was here that the company began to manufacture movements locally under the leadership of Gruen and W. J. Savage. Savage was the elder son of William M. Savage, one of Columbus' most prominent businessmen. The younger Savage sold his share in his father's wholesale jewelry business in order to raise investment capital for the Columbus Watch Company. Columbus 18-size movement The Company’s new movements were made primarily in 18-size, but Columbus also pioneered the development of the smaller and thinner 16-size movement. All told, Columbus produced 18s, 16s, 6s and 4s movements during their years of production. In 1894, the company went into receivership and operated with new management. From 1894 until 1903, the company produced watches under the names Columbus Watch Company and New Columbus Watch Company. The "new" company produced primarily named grades such as the "Time King" and "Columbus King," "Railway King," "North Star" and "Champion." These new higher grade watches were issued with a special block of serial numbers, starting at 500,001 as shown below. Several models with 25 jewels were produced. In 1903, the Columbus Watch Company was sold to the Studebakers and became the newly formed South Bend Watch Company. All machinery, production material, unfinished movements and most of the company's 150 employees moved to South Bend, Indiana to help in the establishment of the new company. South Bend finished many of the Columbus-signed movements in their early years, and examples of Columbus watches with dials made in the South Bend style may be found.
COMPARABLES:
https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/84757722_mens-18-size-solid-coin-silver-case (coin silver case with similar dial and movement sold in 2020 for $270)
https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/60887517_a-large-columbus-watch-company-hunting-case-watch (same movement and sold in 2018 for $160)
https://www.barnebys.com/realized-prices/lot/columbus-watch-company-gold-filled-pocket-watch-18-size-XF7iEw8Re (sold for $60 in 2017)
https://www.barnebys.com/realized-prices/lot/columbus-watch-co-1892-pocket-watch-X7KBtOWBr (sold for $170 in 2016)
PRICE:
Less than a decade ago this watch might have sold for $750-$800 at auction but not today. Despite the elevation of the price of gold today this is a watch that has so very little gold it is unaffected by that price elevation and is priced as being sold into the watch market. I have added $25 for the chain and fob (I have assumed they are not solid gold).
Therefore, in its current condition if you offered it at auction I believe it would have a fair market in the range of $175-$205 and a retail price about double that. I wish I could have brought you better news, but that is what looking for comparables tells me in today’s marketplace.
Thank you for choosing mearto.com.
My best,
David