Are these watches actually enamelled?

Enamel is present, but usually as the dial rather than the case. White vitreous enamel fired onto a metal plate, then printed or painted with numerals, was standard through the pocket-watch era. Decorative enamel on the case is the smaller story. It shows up mainly in the Art Deco ladies' watches, where coloured and geometric enamel is the point of the piece.

What period do most of them date from?

The dated field runs 1860 to 1950, and 99 of the 126 listings carry a clean year. Eighty-eight of those fall between 1900 and 1939. So the Edwardian and inter-war decades carry the category. Nineteenth-century pieces are thin on the ground, and post-war examples barely register.

What's the difference between full and half hunter?

Both have a hinged metal cover over the dial. On a full hunter the cover is solid and the watch has to be opened. On a half hunter there's a glazed aperture in the middle, so the time reads through it. In the titles the split is exactly even, nine of each, out of 21 that mention a hunter case.

Which makers turn up in this category?

American factory watches form a visible cluster. Waltham appears in nine titles and Elgin in eight. Hamilton and New York Standard also show up in the sample. Swiss work makes up much of the rest, frequently unnamed in the title and described simply as a silver pocket watch of a given date.

Do watches come with their chains?

Sometimes. Twelve titles name a chain, usually an albert with a T-bar for the waistcoat buttonhole, sold as a pair with the watch. The rest are listed as the watch alone.

How often do these come up for sale?

Twenty-one dealers have listed in this category on Sellingantiques, and roughly five pieces come to market in a year. Broadly stocked, slow-moving. The unusual entries are single appearances: a Turkish full hunter, a Swiss silver watch with Ottoman military arms and a Cyrillic inscription, and one made in Rangoon.

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Antique Enamel Watches

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Watches carrying fired vitreous enamel, usually as the white dial and sometimes as decorative case work, on pieces made to be pocketed, hung from a chain or worn at the wrist.