Reply To: Pocket Watch Cases

[arutha]

Bob answered a similar question for me a little while back but it must have been via an e-mail when I was having problems with the forum. He told me to stick with the american movements as he stated in an earlier post on this thread they can be fitted to a lot of american cases, you will run into trouble trying to case english or some swiss movements as they could be all different sizes. If you are not looking to make a profit and are doing this for your own enjoyment then I would stick with any of the good american brands, Waltham, Elgin etc. If now for example you type “waltham pocket watch” into e-bay, let it do the search and then look down the left hand side columns you will see “Completed listings”. Click on this and it will show you every watham pocket watch that completed its sale on e-bay in the past month. This is a great place to start for getting an idea of how much to pay for a working or non working movement. You can do the same for elgin etc. I know Bob doesnt buy pocket watches too much these days as I have asked him the same question myself on what to buy, he will tell you the best movements to get but will have no idea on the prices as he doesnt keep up with them now. As he states in his video the 3/4 plate movements are a little tricky to do and so too the half plate as you have to try and get all the gears into place in one go. Try and stick with the more modern movements like the type you see him service in the video and you wont go far wrong.
I hope this has been some help towards answering your question.
Paul.