Posted 5 years ago
Parrotbeak
(39 items)
Funny story to this one. I collect silver chain necklaces that are big and/or decorated, which for the most part comes down to antique and vintage chains. I don't have much of a budget for them, so my collection (3-4; still not sure if I count one) consists of rare lucky finds. The very first one I acquired hung among necklaces not of interest to me, but by chance I noticed the pendants on that chain didn't match the color and quality of the chain and one investigation later I walk away with the start of my collection. The exact same thing happens with my second chain. So naturally, when I dug through a box of jewelry and only found this chain as an item of interest, I did not think much of what was hanging from it, especially with that poor makeshift connection. It was 2 euros.
I show off the chain to my father that very same day and tell him not to mind the watch, when he replies it's an antique silver pocket watch with gold ornamentation. Turns out that when he was a child in the 50s/60s, his family owned a similar watch that had belonged to his grandfather. My father was allowed to carry it once, and he kind of found it a hassle.
Only after hearing this do I figure out I can open the back and discover the inscriptions in the third photo (8 rubies, 80% silver, two serial numbers(?) and what appears to be a maker's signature). The mechanism still works, but I don't know if it's also still accurate. As of writing, I have yet to read up on old watch maintenance to dare do anything more than stare at it. But all in all, this has been a lesson to me.
The chain is not original to the watch. The watch ought to be from around 1910, while the chain is marked ZII (right over the maker's signature, for cyring out loud!), meaning it cannot be older than 1953. Whoever owned these items around half a century ago did know their respective values when fixing them together (the chain's clasps are too big to fit through the connecting piece). It's sad this knowledge got lost sometime leading up to 2019.
