Max Thomas's blog : Are Pocket Watches Timeless Classics or Outdated Models?

Invented at the beginning of the 16th century , the humble pocket watch was an essential ally for reading time for nearly 400 years, before being replaced without warning by the wristwatch at the beginning of the 20th century.century. Often cumbersome and impractical to use, pocket watches can also be exceptionally complex and much more elaborately decorated than modern timepieces. Are they still relevant today? The obvious answer seems to be no, but that's without relying on an incredibly passionate community of pocket watch collectors. What may be the interest of these people in outdated timepieces? What should you know before starting your own pocket watch collection? The answers to these questions and more can be found in this article.

Why collect pocket watches?
Ask an enthusiast and they'll be happy to provide you with a long list of patterns: a compelling story, incredible craftsmanship, vast choice, etc. Add to this the fact that collecting pocket watches is generally cheaper than collecting wristwatches, thus making this hobby more accessible to a lot of newbies. That doesn't mean, however, that there aren't any rare and extremely valuable pocket watches to add to your collection - we'll get to that in a bit.

The fact remains that pocket watches, in particular those from the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century , were mass produced, which means both that many examples are still in circulation and that many of them have little or no historical significance - at least not in the eyes of those passionate about the history of watchmaking. These watches will never reach record amounts at auction and will never become part of a priceless collection in a museum.

However, they have the merit of being easy to find, allowing the novice collector to acquire really interesting models at relatively modest prices. They may not have been owned by a head of state or prince, but they offer fascinating insight into the evolution of time-reading instruments throughout history and are often better constructed than their counterparts. modern.

What criteria should you pay attention to?
As with the collection of wristwatches, there are three criteria to pay attention to when you want to acquire pocket watches: the brand, the level of complication and the condition. Provenance can also play a role, but you are actually unlikely to find a lot of accurate information about previous owners etc. of a play produced over a century ago and of little historical relevance.

The brand is particularly important when it comes to pocket watches: the beginning of the XX th century, many companies have in fact embarked on this adventure. While most are not newsworthy, there are some key players to watch out for. Names like Breguet , Vacheron Constantin , Audemars Piguet , Girard-Perregaux and of course Patek Philippe , THE brand of pocket watches par excellence, are surely familiar to you. They are the leading manufacturers of the exceptionally complex pocket watch movements that are in high demand today.
I would also like to remind you that the movements were not subject to the same size restrictions as those for wristwatches. This meant that watchmakers could incorporate more complications and use elaborate decoration as well as finishing techniques, which was often the case as most of the high-end examples were commissioned by extremely wealthy people with specific ideas in mind. Due to its complexity and the limitations of the technology of the time, a pocket watch could take several years to manufacture.

The most famous example of this type of pocket watch is of course the Patek Philippe Henry Graves Jr Super complication: its owner, a banker by profession, ordered it to surpass the Grande Complication manufactured by Vacheron Constantin for its long-time rival watchmaker. date, American automaker James Ward Packard. With 24 different complications, including Westminster chimes, a perpetual calendar, sunrise and sunset times, and a celestial map of New York seen from Graves' apartment on Fifth Avenue, Graves is the one of the most complicated pocket watches ever made.

Having had the privilege of holding this watch in my hands at its last auction in Geneva several years ago, I can tell you that this is an absolutely incredible piece but no one would dare wear it. in his pocket. Beyond its selling price of $ 24 million (making it the most expensive pocket watch ever to be auctioned), it's just way too heavy to wear on a daily basis. More than 50 years later, Patek Philippe has surpassed itself of course with the Caliber 89, a commemorative coin, comprising no less than 33 complications, produced by the brand to blow out its 150 candles. Vacheron Constantin finally took its revenge in 2015 with the reference 57260,

Nowadays, these watches rarely come out of private collections and change very little of the owner. Even then, it is not always about public events such as auctions. That doesn't mean, however, that you should give up the idea of collecting pocket watches, far from it. You just need to find a very specific sector, for example war models or pocket watches from a particular country.

A wise investment?
Are pocket watches really a wise investment? Will the market for these watches suddenly increase in value, like the market for older watches? Of course I could be wrong, but I think the answer to these questions is probably no. It depends, however, on your state of mind: if you want to invest your money, do so in the stock or real estate markets. If you want to take advantage of your money, collect the objects that you like, that are important to you or that you find interesting and that you will enjoy looking and using. I have seen some great pocket watches that have played no part in the history of watchmaking, but displayed some clever design or some unusual feature. They also always work reliably, which is not always the case with modern wristwatches.

If you like the idea of collecting pocket watches, I can only encourage you to do so. Enjoy the pleasure of discovering objects from the past that have lost none of their influence, and explore the evolution of the measurement of time. If you want to immerse yourself further and choose to collect only one type of watch, then do it: this is precisely what makes our little hobby so entertaining.