Quote Originally Posted by sailortats View Post
I have what I believe to be my maternal grandfathers pocket watch. I doubt that it is an expensive watch as my grandparents were not wealthy and immigrated to this country from Nova Scotia in the mid 1800s. The name on the face of the watch is "Illinois". The diameter is 1 5/8" The front cover has a small engraved picture of a mountain town surrounded by a lot of filigree. The back side has a picture on a 6 point buck standing by a lake with mountains in the background, also surrounded by a lot of filigree. Can anyone tell me anything about this watch?
If you have pictures, especially of the movement itself, that would be immensely helpful. Before the early 1900's most watch movements were sold independent of the cases. Local jewelers would order the movements and pair them with a case of the customer's choosing.

As a result, any info on the case is likely to be personal (engraving) or would pertain to the case and not the actual watch movement. (metal content)

That said, any movement of any quality at all will have the company's name and a serial number on it, which would help in determining the origin of the piece. Hamilton records are VERY extensive. I could track down to the WEEK the date my watch was produced, a good estimate of when it was sent to the finishers, and a likely time that it would have been purchased by the jeweler for stock or special order for my family.

Many other well known brands will have similar amounts of information available.

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