Goldies and Oldies...

[automatico]

I never could bring myself to scrap a gold watch unless the case was damaged or it was an 'oinion skin' no name cheapie aka 'onion skinner'.

'Onion skin' = very thin, flimsy case, old 'Chronographe Suisse' models for instance.  They were so thin they had a brass or pot metal 'safety back' under the super thin gold case back to keep it from caving in and if you wore one real tight on the wrist the lugs could bend or break off.

 

A few Goldies...

E. Gubelin auto chronometer in 18K from the 1960s.

 

Some usual suspects...

All 14K.  The second and third watches from the left are from the 1930s/1940s and the others are from the 1950s/1960s.  The Buren Grand Prix is old enough to have soldered strap bars.

It was made for a one piece strap or a two piece strap.  A two piece strap is stitched together on the watch.

 

A 14K American Waltham from the 1890s.

 

Beautiful case engraving...

 

The date is hand engraved to 'Emily' on her 21st birthday inside the back cover...

 

Suspects awaiting trial...

2-7-22 Note...The two black dial watches at the bottom center are 'Boy size' Crotons. 

They are noteworthy because only the top case (aka bezel) is solid 10K gold and the screw on case back is stainless steel, there used to be a lot of watches made like this.  I am scrapping a Pierce 10K top case watch similar to the Crotons because someone used a Speidel Twistoflex bracelet on it and the spring loaded ends chewed the lugs up. 

The Pierce 10K gold case top weighs 9.3 grams.  That much 10K gold will scrap today for about $180 at a 'friendly' jewelry store = about 80% of today's ($1807 troz) full gold price of $225 for 9.3 grams.  'Unfriendly' pawn shops etc usually pay 40% to 60%.

The Pierce and both Crotons have 17 jewel A. Schild 970 manual wind movements.