www.925-1000.com

Hi :) We've recently been given two pocket watches passed down through the family. On trying to date them to link them to the family tree and give them a bit more bg l'm stuck. From details gained from your lists already the one watch with markings seems to be the ' duty mark' missing . Sorry l did take some pics but you can't make them out. The sterling mark is that http://www.925-1000.com/british_marks.html A- sterling 925. The city mark is The crowned leopard's head was used 1478 - 1822 . The date letter is like http://www.925-1000.com/dlLondon.html the 1802 G one, but the G itself doesn't seem to have the vertical line at the top. The thing is ..it says that there should also be a duty stamp, assuming this is right for London sterling 1802, so was it deffinately on all items at the time ?
The makers mark looks like NTW in the same style as the G but bold. The inside of the watch says Thornton LONDON 80095. a white enamel face, with minute marks ( and a dot of 30 seconds) looks like this one here but with just the outer numbers http://www.janeausten.co.uk/magazine/pa ... 258&step=4. Any info appreciated please :)

The other watch has the same workings as the one here http://www.janeausten.co.uk/magazine/pa ... 258&step=4 slightly diff pattern tho, more like a sunflower in the middle. lt's by Jn Curtis London 3489, enamal with roman numerals and just a dot for the minute marks.This one's in a double brass case, no other marks bar W.R. I will try to get my images uploaded to a site somewhere, sry. Again any info appreciated.

Thank you :)

What you seem to have presented us with is a series of riddles which would be difficult to solve. Could you please either post photos of the items and marks or just describe the marks exactly as they are on the item without all the references to other similar ones. It may just simplify things. Best wishes, Mike.

As Mike says, it's very hard to date a piece without photos. However, I can tell you that the mark NTW was registered by a watchcasemaker called Nicholas Thomas Woods in 1785, 1791 and 1798 (Grimwades p.345).

Miles

Thank you both for that, l realise it must be difficult with so many so have the pictures here for you. Still not very clear but you'll have more of an idea:)
http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~dawnsweb/watch
Thanks again :)

What a beautiful watch.
It looks most like the 1798 C to me; I would expect there to be a duty mark, and there seems to be a very worn mark at the bottom of the last picture. This is where I would expect it to be: marks were often arranged like the group of five dots on a die with the makers mark in the middle.
Nicholas Thomas Woods seems extremely likely.

Miles

Thank you :) So if that's when the case was made, would the watch itself have been made in the same place, date etc, or did you buy a standard watch and then look for a casing for it after ? Anymore info on the watches themselves please ?

Thanks for your time :) Dawn