Tiffany Pendant Watch 1/2 gold and pearl with diamonds
12 October 2020
Description

As described by Tiffany in 1962: Gold 1/2 pearl and diamond pendant watch on gold and pearl chain. T & Co. case No. 122350, movement No. 122350.

Provenance

From my mother.

Acquired from
Inherited
For sale
Maybe
Answered within about 13 hours
By David
Oct 12, 13:28 UTC
Fair Market Value
$5,000 - $6,000 USD
Insurance Value $0 USD
What does this mean?

Hello Clarence,
Since I did not receive an answer to my questions, I have decided to proceed with the appraisal of your mother’s pendant necklace watch. Thank you for choosing mearto.com for this appraisal. I shall try to help you with that at this time.
TITLE:
Fine and elegant, ladies, solid gold (18k), diamond and split (1/2) pearl, keyless, pendant wound, open face pendant watch, case No. 122350, movement No. 122350, with a detachable gold link and pearl-set necklace, made in Switzerland for retailer Tiffany & Co., NYC, USA, circa 1900. {Accompanied by a description from Tiffany & Company dating to the year of sale, 1962.}
Case: 24-26mm in diameter (not counting the pendant), a three body, solid gold (likely 18k) with the back cover inset with rose cut diamonds and split (1/2) pearls set into the gold outer cover (The rose-cut diamonds enhance the pearls, giving a particularly beautiful sparkling effect). The gilt bezel is also set with split-pearls while a fluted gold pendant and shaped gold bow set with split pearls sits at the twelve position relative to the dial. There may be a hinged gold cuvette over the movement (not shown). The inside of the cover carries the same case number as the movement. Attached to the trefoil shaped bow is a gold link chain necklace with intermittent placement of whole pearls. Length of chain not known, but quite long.
Dial: Round white enameled dial with Radial Arabic hours, closed minute ring with red Arabic markers placed around the periphery every five minutes. Gilt Louis XVth-style hands and the upper dial marked, “Tiffany & Co. NYC”.
Movement: Not shown but perhaps a size 9’’’(lignes), matte gilt, 8-17 jewels, cylinder escapement, three-arm balance, blued steel flat balance spring, Swiss made index regulator. The movement is most likely signed for the retailer. (The movement information was obtained by studying other similar examples online.)
Condition:
Case – Very good
Dial – Very good with no hairline fractures.
Movement – not evaluated, but assumed genuine, original to this case and functional.
HISTORY, TIFFANY & CO.:
In 1837, in a time when New York City saw dynamic growth, extravagant taste and golden opportunities, twenty-five-year-old Charles Lewis Tiffany and John B. Young opened a “stationery and fancy goods” store with a $1,000 advance from Tiffany’s father. On their way to the new emporium at 259 Broadway, fashionable ladies in silks, satins and beribboned bonnets faced a gauntlet of narrow streets teeming with horses and carriages and the hurly-burly of city life. At Tiffany & Co. they discovered a newly emerging “American style” that departed from the European design aesthetic rooted in religious and ceremonial patterns. The young entrepreneurs were inspired by the natural world, which they interpreted in exquisite patterns of simplicity, harmony and clarity. These became the hallmarks of Tiffany design, first in silver hollowware and flatware, and later in jewelry. This singular style quickly established Tiffany & Co. as the arbiter of taste, elegance and sophistication, which it still is today. The Tiffany & Co. silver studio, where apprentices were encouraged to observe and sketch nature, was the first American school of design. Tiffany first achieved international recognition at the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1867, when, for the first time, an American design house was awarded the grand prize for silver craftsmanship. By 1870 Tiffany & Co. had become America’s premier purveyor of jewels and timepieces as well as luxury table, personal, and household accessories, with customers including prominent figures such as President Lincoln. At the turn of the century the company had more than one thousand employees and branches in London, Paris, and Geneva. Tiffany opened their own factory for making watches in 1872, but this was a short lived effort and they closed in 1876. The operation of that Tiffany factory was taken over by Patek Philippe in 1879. In 1882 President Chester Arthur invited Louis Comfort Tiffany, the son of the founder, to redecorate the White House and by 1900 the younger Tiffany was a recognized world leader in the Art Nouveau and Arts and Crafts movements. In 1902 he became Tiffany’s first director of design. Tiffany designs captured the spirit of the times from the extravagance of the 1920s to the modernism of the 1930s and the aerodynamic age of the 1940s and 1950s. A unique partnership in retailing was celebrated in recent times by Patek Philippe, one of the world's premiere watchmakers, and by Tiffany & Co., one of the world's leading luxury goods retailers. That business relationship began with a handshake agreement in 1851 between company founders Antoine Norbert de Patek and Charles Lewis Tiffany.
COMPARABLES:
~https://www.barnebys.com/realized-prices/lot/tiffany-and-co-belle-epoque-pendant-watch-N4vMk0w4ZT (sold in 2017 for $7500)
~https://catalog.antiquorum.swiss/en/lots/unsigned-lot-303-133?browse_all=1&page=2&q=gold+and+pearl+pendant+watch (no diamonds and no name on watch estimated at $1500-$2500 in 2016 this watch did not sell.)
~https://www.barnebys.com/realized-prices/lot/j-ferrero-and-touchon-and-co-EE1ReA3Nen (sold for $6720 in 2017)
~https://www.barnebys.com/realized-prices/lot/tiffany-and-co-an-18ct-gold-seed-pearl-enamel-and-diamond-set-openfaced-KgLfrJm5n3 (sold for $8906 in 2015)
~ https://www.barnebys.com/realized-prices/lot/tiffany-and-co-an-18ct-gold-seed-pearl-enamel-and-diamond-set-openfaced-jZihMN4Eqr (sold for $10472 in 2017)
https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/78793900_54065-swiss-platinum-pavandx00e9-diamond-pendant-watc (sold for $2600 in 2019)
https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/patek-philippe-a-fine-and-attractive-18k-gold-pea-14-c-d88e5bbc66 (made by Patek Philippe, the very best, sold in 2014 for 15000 Swiss Francs)
PRICING:
Other than the Patek Philippe pendant watch I tried to pick examples made for famous jewelers. The name Tiffany on the watch increases the value by a factor of two, compared to unsigned examples. I also consider anything sold at Christies or Sothebys to be closer to a retail value than a fair market value. My job is to provide you with a FAIR MARKET market value. I believe in today’s demanding marketplace, your mother’s pendant watch and necklace would sell in the $5000-$6000 range with retail prices being close two twice that amount.
I hope that helps you to better understand the watch your family purchased in 1962. Since some of the photos were at a bit of a distance, I spent a good deal of time researching similar examples online before writing this appraisal. However, I am quite comfortable with understanding what is between the covers of this fine little pendant watch. I believe I am in the right ballpark from a pricing point of view.
Thank you for choosing mearto.com for the appraisal.
My best,
David

Dear Clarence,
Thank you for contacting Mearto with your appraisal inquiry. So that I may best assist you, can you please send me a legible copy of the Tiffany letter? I would also like to know the diameter of the case without including the pendant. The above two items are necessary to do the appraisal correctly.
Any chance of opening up the watch case and showing me the inside of the back cover and the movement, or telling me what is written on the inside of the cover? That would be a bonus.
Let me know so that I can proceed with your appraisal ASAP.
Appreciatively,
David

Clarence brooks Oct 27, 00:09 UTC

David,
I am not pleased with your company and service. After you requested the details I sent you an email message with the dimensions and better pictures and asked you to update this appraisal with the new information. In addition, I also noticed that I was charged $22.00 on 10/14 to my Master card (Inv. # 247111) and three $19.00 charges on PayPal for the same appraisal. Please have your company reverse the three $19.00 PayPal charges (inv. # 24953, 24592, 24951) and send me an updated appraisal with the new data. I will copy you on the earlier email I sent. Thank you for correcting this problem. Clarence Brooks

David Oct 27, 00:39 UTC

Clarence,
I received a better photo of the letter and a photo of the pendant watch placed against a ruler. That is all I received, and I updated the appraisal that same day. 95%+ of what I had written or guessed at what already correct. There was not a picture of the inside of the case nor a photo of the movement that I received. The letter from Tiffany did not give me any further information than I deciphered from the original blurry photo. I have just read over the appraisal and it appears to me to on target. I have read it over tonight and I think it is correct as written. I did not receive much information back from you when I requested it originally. The appraisal is correct as it stands at the moment.
As far as your payment and overpayment - I have nothing to do with that but I will give you the names and emails of the people in management at mearto.com who deal with financial matters. Lindsey Bourret is in charge and her email is [email protected]. Her assistant is Maybelle
Calapardo and her email is [email protected]
I do understand you being upset with the multiple charges which obviously represent errors. I would also be upset by that. But, the appraisal itself is right on and properly evaluated.
David

Clarence brooks Oct 27, 04:38 UTC

David, Thanks for your prompt response. I am sorry that it took to long to get the better pictures to you with the measurements. I had asked for your recommendations on how to open the case (I didn't want to damage it) and included the chain with a ruler to give you the detail requested. I thought that the additional information would allow you to change the wording in your report. I will contact the two people you mentioned to see if we can quickly get the financial issues resolved. I you can look at your report and feel you need me to get you addition data please let me know. Thanks, Clarence Brooks

David Oct 27, 13:04 UTC

Hi Clarence,
I just went over the wording of the appraisal and took out a couple of the references to blurry or lacking photos I found in the appraisal. Usually, I spend more time researching the watch or clock I am appraising than actual writing. Therefore, by the time I originally wrote the appraisal, before you answered my requests for further photos, I felt I knew the watch inside and out and had finally made out most of what was written in the old typewritten letter. I do want you to understand that I am extremely comfortable with the way the appraisal is now phrased and you should have no doubts about the appraisal itself.
**N.B. I realized this morning that there is an official channel for clients to contact when they have questions about financial matters, e.g. fees and overpayments or mistaken payments. I think you should start by contacting our support team at [email protected] for assistance. You may also find that one of the women I wrote to you about contacts you as well. They are both far distant from the United States,in fact, one is halfway around the world from us and the other is in mid-afternoon.
I truly wish you did not have to suffer any sort of discomfort while going through the mearto.com process. I hope you get the payment issue resolved without too much difficulty.
I send best wishes,
David

David Oct 28, 14:53 UTC

Hello Clarence,
Maybelle wrote the following to me this morning, "I can see that he subscribed to our subscription for $22 and purchased extra credits that is why he was charged multiple times. I processed his refund but he has opened a dispute with PayPal."
If possible, since Maybelle says she has processed your refund, it would be helpful if you would consider cancelling your dispute with PayPal. From what I have been told in the past by our head administrator and head appraiser, Lindsey, is that any client who asks for his fees back gets them back. I have no reason not to believe that, and if Maybelle tells me she has processed your refund I would certainly take her word for it.
My best,
David

Clarence brooks Oct 29, 23:42 UTC

Thanks for the info David. I sent PayPal a message that said that when the 3 charges are refunded that the dispute should be closed. The MasterCard charge is valid and will be payed. Thanks for your help.
Any idea how to open the watch case to see the movement? Buzz

David Oct 30, 00:03 UTC

Buzz,
I will pass that info along to Maybelle.
I am a bit afraid to have you try to open the case because I do not want you to possibly damage the pearls on the bezel or on the back cover. Best thing to do is to stop at a local jeweler, who will usually be happy to open the case for you. {If there is NO hinge on the case, then the back cover may screw off in your palm. In other words if you put the watch face down in your weaker palm and then use your stronger palm pressing down on the back cover and turning the it in a counterclockwise manner it might just screw off. If there is a hinge on the case that you can see that would mean there is a place to insert a blade to pop open the cover. DO NOT attempt to unscrew the back cover if this is a hinged case}. My best advice is to have a jeweler do it for you while you watch.
David

Clarence brooks Oct 30, 04:49 UTC

Thanks David, good advice, Buzz

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