The WANT Thread

[WRXtranceformed]

So I'm turning into an old man by the minute. Picked up this pocket watch at the Ren Fair this weekend because I thought it looked cool and steampunkish. Wasn't sure I would wear it but it was cheap so I bought it off of a vendor there. Have found myself really liking wearing one, more than I would have thought.

Front closed

Front open

Back


I knew some of the background history of pocket watches and how important they were to the growth and safety of interstate railroads back in the late 1800s-early 1900s. I did some more research while watching football this weekend and it piqued my interest even more. You can find really nice examples of early 1900s "railroad grade" 21-24 jewel pocketwatches in the $150-$350 range, some of which still keep their time to within 1 minute / day. That's pretty impressive considering how old they are and the fact that even modern mechanical Rolexes can lose almost 10 seconds per day.

Here are a few examples of some of the most well known pocket watches that I think would be cool to own:

Howard:

Following a similar one but in a silver finish on Ebay right now. The blue hands are a great touch:


Elgin "Father Time", very art-deco-ish depending on the period:



My father is an antique dealer so I grew up surrounded by old stuff and I think the appreciation for them and the story behind well-built old things is finally wearing off on me.