What is the difference between a full and half hunter?

A full hunter has a solid hinged lid over the dial, so the watch has to be opened to read the time. A half hunter has the same lid with a glazed window in the middle and the hour numerals painted or applied around it. Full hunters are the more common of the two in listings, at 456 titles against 241 for half hunters. Between them they make up a quarter of the category.

Which makers appear most often in pocket watch listings?

Waltham is far and away the most named, appearing in 554 titles. Elgin follows some distance behind, with Hampden, Illinois, Rockford and New York Standard turning up as well. Taken as a group, the Swiss brands are the largest: Omega, Cyma, Longines, Zenith, Revue, Record, Buren, Tavannes, Minerva and others. English and retailer-signed watches are a smaller layer, names like Thomas Russell, Benson, Rotherhams and the Lancashire Watch Co among them.

Are antique pocket watches usually silver or gold?

Silver leads by a wide margin. It appears in 968 titles, a third of the category, and it's the default case metal for the Swiss and American factory watches that make up the bulk. Gold is a small minority at 176 titles, with 9ct and 18k naming a few dozen each. Gun metal, a blackened base metal, accounts for 58 titles at the cheaper end.

What does GSTP mean on a military watch?

GSTP stands for General Service Trade Pattern, the British military issue marking used on Second World War watches. It turns up in several titles alongside wartime wording. Military pieces are a small part of the whole, named in 65 titles, and railway service watches with original issue numbers are rarer still.

How old are most of the pocket watches listed?

The dated field runs from 1750 to 1960, but the mass sits between 1900 and 1939. About four fifths of dated listings fall in those four decades. The 1920s is the busiest single decade at 753 listings, with the 1910s at 699, then the 1930s and 1900s. Victorian pieces from the 1880s and 1870s are thin, and post-war stock is scarce.

What is a goliath pocket watch?

A goliath is an oversized watch, made for a desk or for travelling rather than for the pocket. The name comes straight from the size. They appear 34 times in the category, including one 1950s piece described as flying-saucer shaped.

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Antique Pocket Watches

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A wound mechanical watch carried in the pocket or waistcoat, on a chain, and the standard way of telling the time until the wristwatch took over after the First World War.