www.925-1000.com

Hi,

Please can you help me identify the maker's mark on this pocket watch? I'm told it was my great (maybe a couple of times) grandfather's. I'm completely new to identifying the silver marks, and have worked out so far it was made in London in 1883? Part of the maker's mark is missing so I'm thinking either LO, IO or JO?

The key mentions a watchmakers from Walsall, "Sheppard Bros"? But if the Walsall I'm thinking (and where my family are from), that's in the midlands, not London! Could the key have been added afterwards?

Apologies for its slightly grubby state - it needs a good clean!







More pictures here: https://www.flickr.com/gp/145751259@N06/V3okWa

Thanks,
Rosie

Hi and welcome to the forum.

I think that the case maker is most likely to have been James Oliver. This is my exemplar of his mark:



Case making was a specialised industry, mainly limited to Clerkenwell in London, where Oliver worked, and to Coventry so watchmakers from all over the country (including Walsall) would have bought in cases to hold their own mechanisms. The only proof of whether the watch and the key belong together is to see if the movement is signed.

Phil