Are most of these pocket watches or wristwatches?

Pocket and fob watches are about a third of listings, and a larger share of what's currently for sale. Wristwatches make up the rest. The pocket side is mostly open faced and hunter cased, in silver, gun metal or plated metal. The wrist side is mostly gents' Swiss, and automatic is the term that turns up throughout.

Why does Omega appear so often?

Omega is in about a third of all titles on Sellingantiques, and over half the sold archive on the wrist side. No other name is close. The Seamaster is the most repeated model, with Geneve, De Ville and Constellation behind it. Longines is the second name by frequency, at a fraction of Omega's count.

What period do these watches come from?

The dealer dating runs 1860 to 1960, and nearly all listings carry a clean year rather than a vague period. Just over half of the dated pieces fall in the 1950s and 60s. The 1930s and 20s follow, then the 40s, 1910s and 1900s. Pre-1900 pieces are scarce, and the earliest single item is a railway-issued pocket watch put at 1860.

How is case metal described?

Titles are specific. Silver, gun metal, gold plated, gold filled and rolled gold are all named as such, and solid gold is stated as solid 9ct, solid 18ct, 18k or 14ct. White gold and rose gold each appear in a smaller run of titles. Platinum turns up mainly on the diamond-set cocktail watches.

Do military and railway watches turn up?

They're a small recurring seam. Military runs from a WW1 trench watch with a shrapnel guard through RAF 6B/159, Admiralty A.P.300, ATP and Dirty Dozen WWW models to a French Air Force Type 20 chronograph, with Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine and Swedish issue pieces too. Railway issue shows as pocket watches for the Great Northern, Taff Vale, North British and Dublin & South Eastern, each carrying its own stamped issue number.

What sizes are the cases?

Where a size is stated, wristwatch cases sit between 26mm and 37mm, and titles often quote it alongside the year and calibre. The largest are the 1940s-50s Omegas described as jumbo or oversize. On the pocket side, a massive silver-cased watch of about 1910 is the biggest recorded.

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Antique Vintage Watches

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Two things share this heading: the pocket and fob watch, carried on a chain for three centuries, and the mid-century wristwatch that replaced it after the First World War.