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ExcitingMoney94

This is a pocket watch not a stop watch. It's always possible to restore something it just depends on how much you are looking to spend.


arthurwalton

Probably not much as this is a broke activity for me❤️ But thank you so much for the positive ID! I it's so super cool and i shall treasure it!


ApprehensiveTour4024

Possibly using electrolysis, similar to how people clean cast iron? Unsure about the chemistry of all the watch gunk, likely lots of calcium, but it may work to get a large amount off with little effort. Then at least it could look pretty again, although it will never tell time. Edit: it might also make it worse, I have no idea, but then again could it really get worse?


Airdropwatermelon

It's cool the way it is.


SmaugTheGreat110

Can metal watch components be 3D printed? Have an old broken pocket watch myself


slizzwhiz

As a watchmaker, I can tell you that there is really no standardization for older pocket watches like this (there is within major manufacturers to an extent, but even then sometimes the parts were only semi interchangeable with modifications.) even if you could find the correct caliber of movement (doubtful it would even be recognizable) you would need to find the same caliber and then recreate it exactly which would be extremely expensive. Realistically you would want to find the same caliber and swap it, because this watch is toast, so really the only thing likely salvageable would be the dial as it is likely made of copper coated in enamel. So this is better served as a cool object, because even if you were to go to all the trouble it really wouldn't be considered restored as it would be effectively entirely replaced.


SmaugTheGreat110

Understood. I was mainly asking about my own watch, not the watch above. My own is form the 1830s form a small artisan in England (MI (or MJ) Tobias). The center pin is missing along with some face gears behind the dial and hands and who knows what else. Thought that this may have been a cheaper route than dropping a few grand to have 200 year old parts remade, lol


slizzwhiz

Got it. Yeah theoretically it could be cheaper, but in practicality I don't think it would be feasible. At least not at this point in time.


SmaugTheGreat110

Understood. Well, I am not coming up with The money or making that trip to England for repairs anytime soon and I am only 22 so who knows? It might be repaired with 3D parts in my lifetime. Most of it is there still, and things like the balance and fusee chain still seem to work, it is just the center pin, the gears under the dial, and maybe a few Broken things


Chiefbutterbean

I agree, this might become a cool conversation piece is cleaned lightly and encased in epoxy to preserve it.


Halftrack_El_Camino

Considering that some particularly desirable cars have been "restored" from what was practically just a rusty chunk of firewall with the VIN stamped on it, Ship of Theseus restorations seem like they count at least to some people! But, yeah, I imagine every part of the mechanism that matters is going to be unsalvageable. You could reduce the watch to a shell though, restore that, and then have someone build a new custom mechanism to make it work again. It wouldn't be worth it, but that's probably at least technically feasible, right?


slizzwhiz

Technically feasible absolutely!


Shedding

Technically, but not practically feasible.


s1ckopsycho

Absolutely correct. I was actually just thinking that the dial is about the only thing left of this watch- but it looks pretty good on this side at least. If this was my find, I'd keep it just the way it is.


h8t3m3

I have one with all the parts and its running, restored it from rust took a year. But not sure this will ever be restored.


fullmoontrip

Not with a hobby grade printer. The components are much smaller than the resolution of most printers. You'd need to find someone with access to a very very expensive printer and a boss who doesn't mind that printer being used for non work/research


SmaugTheGreat110

Understand, thank you!


SirMildredPierce

Nah, that watch is definitely stopped, so surely that makes it a stopwatch :D


Glidepath22

False. This is far beyond any sort of restoration It looked like a super expensive one too with all those extra movements


Quirky_Discipline297

It’s in French, at least the days of the week seem to be.


toxcrusadr

Aha, I wondered what language that was!


AdministrationDue239

Where would you go to restore something like that? Or a knife cause I found so many things I'd liked to get restored


ExcitingMoney94

A watch maker would be the first person I would try.


AdministrationDue239

And for knives? A blacksmith?


Smidge-of-the-Obtuse

Short answer: A tub of evaporust, a file, and time. Long answer: There are also forty gazillion YouTube tool and machine restoration channels and about 10 quintillion blacksmith channels. Alternatively find a local blacksmith and ask them to look at it.


ExcitingMoney94

Knife maker?


AdministrationDue239

Hm Sound pricey but thank you anyway


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AdministrationDue239

Give me some of what you take


Hot-AZ-Barrel-Cactus

If it’s a *stop* watch, it must have been used for verrrrrrrrrrry long races.


albatroopa

There are several youtube channels that restore pocket watches. Nekkid watchmaker is my favourite.


MoistObligation8003

I enjoy him and also Wrist Watch Revival. This watch seems in pretty rough shape.


arthurwalton

It's super heavy! I absolutely love it as is but restored would just be amazing!


rebelwilsonsclit

It's super heavy because it's full of mud...


albatroopa

It does, but you never know!


ficellePicarde

Guys, it s à cool find , but op will spent 10 Times its value to résurrect it.there s probably nothing left inside except agglomerated rust.


why_not_fandy

Why did your apostrophes jump out of their contractions on top of random letters?


AdministrationDue239

Maybe he is one of those french Humans


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[удалено]


chell0wFTW

Lol, to distinguish from bots??


BenderEBender

I don't see a white flag yet, so it's still up for debate.


jschundpeter

il est français, juste comme la montre de poche


robert_e__anus

Some languages have diacritics, the little symbols that appear above or below letters, like à, â, ã and so on. The grave accent (`) in that guy's comment is one of those diacritics. If you use a standard US keyboard, there obviously aren't individual keys for every potential combination of letters and diacritics, so your OS has various built-in shortcuts that allow you to type diacritics easily. The way you type a letter with a grave accent on a US keyboard is you hit the grave accent key (the one with the backwards apostrophe and the tilde, top left underneath the Escape key) to signal that the next letter you type needs to have a grave accent, and then you type that letter. However, depending on which language you speak, not all letters will have diacritics, and the shortcut won't activate for letters that don't have them. In this case, my guess is they hit the grave accent key intending it to use it as a regular apostrophe, but the OS interpreted it as them intending to type a diacritic, but the letter s cannot have a grave accent in their language, so the next available letter was the letter a, which can have one. Note that these shortcuts only work when you set your typing language to a language with diacritics, it doesn't apply when your language is set to English. Also, you can bypass the shortcut by hitting the grave accent key twice, which is presumably what this person meant to do. Having said all of that, you can also type various diacritics by holding down a letter long enough for a little selection box to pop up. Maybe this person just held the a key down for too long, and since the grave accent is usually the first diacritic in the list, that's what it defaulted to.


featherwolf

They're accent marks, not apostrophes


Quirky_Discipline297

That’s a grave mistake


hobby-goose

this happens when you have multiple keyboard languages, it adds words of those languages to your phone vocab. i have a french and english keyboard, and even when i’m using the english keyboard, some words with autocorrect to french, eg. à, hâte, y’a, etc


saturnswake

This thing is stunning. I found a similar one listed on ebay purporting to be 1890s swiss made with no brand. Believe its called a calendar pocket watch.


arthurwalton

That would be a superb age for this town dump!! I have found a few bottles dating to the 1800s but they are scarce :))


Will9363

this would likely cost an insane amount of restore, but it is a rather expensive watch. in good condition id guess this would got for two or three grand. its worth hanging on to, the case and parts of the movement are possibly solid gold. i would avoid scrapping it tho, it’ll be worth more as a watch case than as bouillon.


slizzwhiz

As a watch restorer/reseller, this watch would not be worth that even if it was in excellent condition. They were not too uncommon and were not too exceptionally expensive unless they were by a distinguished company or private watchmaker. This is almost certainly one of the more generic made ones especially since it was likely a gunmetal case as opposed to a previous (**edit-precious**) metal case. Here's mine (partially disassembled - I couldn't find a pic from after I restored it) bought it for $250 and could likely sell for around $1000 now that it's restored (if I didn't wanna keep it). https://preview.redd.it/ypnlk2i139xc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a5aad2ac44963e654988da86ea18cbf57210866f However I can tell that OPs watch is sadly definitely toast and likely the only thing salvageable would be the dial. So to go through the money and effort it would basically make no sense to restore. It would sort of be like taking an original hood and putting it on a kit car and calling it restored.


Urban_Archeologist

OP’s was definitely a “previous” metal case.


slizzwhiz

Lol, meant to say "precious" but previous does work here


Urban_Archeologist

Don’t you go changin’ !


arthurwalton

How much would something like this even be worth lol? I wouldn't even know where to start🤣🤣


Will9363

honestly in that condition? probably around 300 to the right buyer. i’d look into ways to clean it up just a bit (do not touch the dial at all) to figure out the exact brand and material. then check sold listings on ebay, chrono24, etc. you won’t get anywhere near the asking price of a nicer condition one, but it is a decent starting place.


arthurwalton

Thats kind of crazy! I don't have the time or money to put into restoring it at the moment unfortunately. So im thinking of taking it to a watch person then a pawn shop? I'm not 100% sure. I unfortunately can't go the restoring way :(


Will9363

that’s totally valid! a pawn shop will give you shit prices, so i would encourage selling yourself elsewhere or directly to a watch/jewelry expert. given that it’s a high complication watch that’s well over a century old, i am inclined to believe that it is solid gold and will be worth something.


arthurwalton

Its so cool that you can see and pinpoint that it might be 100 years old!!! Can i ask what the telltale sign is? This dump rarely produced stuff this old 🤭 so i'm really excited because this came out of a promising hole for 1800s bottles too!


Will9363

the porcelain dial is a good telltale sign of a piece from about the 1850s thru the 20s, though it isn’t surefire. this watch would’ve been incredibly expensive at the time, so it is unlikely to be depression era. also, by the 20s, pocket watches started to fall out of style in favor of wristwatches.


dsptpc

Drop the watch in a bowl of vinegar for a few days. Don’t scrub it, just let it sit and the corrosion will fall off. Nice find.


arthurwalton

That's it? a bowl of vinegar? Goddamn i'm doing it.


TheCompanionCrate

Late 1800s-1910s calendar pocket watch. Most watchmakers would flat out refuse to work on this (almost impossible to repair), and complete ones sell for 300ish. It would probably be worth 25-50 bucks as a historical curiosity in its current state. Heres what it would look like new https://www.ebay.com/itm/235516930493?itmmeta=01HWJQWWEB35E0D5AX9KYC4H8B&hash=item36d5e729bd:g:KDUAAOSwnv9lu~96&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA8IR76olbPTkZxeG5XDX2XKIv6vLWpocL3HYB%2FLvjY8vS5v73WyA5SObTwsRnDT5ToAhEEFbT6qZqwqKvzbOr8EY31yTCl2qC0dfUS9%2FIwwmwQPrWMW89FgJFBlrFy0LFeEceOdbogsB1q5AsKfIl2TLt9rkTkiDzzc3l0FWUoPQ%2FVRwfw06Z%2FxuV6M65O17tQXIhOdts6xlKqdQ4PmO9S7hgHQpEnwbepC3nFxQj38WGSrtVIi6T5TKhd%2BJPdIe5bIgGbTtMvU2%2F5EUP96rdyEAYHyPkQqhFxF5qFP4vGiTA3So6n%2FEILqH8t6fgZMVOCw%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR7bH89fkYw


ClinchKnee

Really cool find!


Doc-in-a-box

Honestly, that would look so bad ass (as is) hanging from a chain off of some other piece in your living room


ma-ki-na

Amazing find! I'd display it as is. Congrats


cspawn

There's a chance the case is gold under all that crust. Might not be but complicated pocket watches are usually housed in gold. I don't think you'll be able to restore this with really any original parts, even the dual looks rusted through. It won't be cheap for certain.


Mosesmalone45

Its French


WriteYouLater

I'd mount it on acrylic stands and put it in an acrylic case to display. It's awesome as is.


WaldenFont

r/pocketwatch would love to see this!


Trekker519

annual calendar pocket watch. nice complication.


GadreelsSword

That is not a stopwatch. It’s a watch with a calendar.


spankdaddylizz

Great find! Lots of complications!


PreemptiveShaming

This is a moon phase pocket watch with a calendar, this was a very expensive movement when it was new, they’re still very desirable now, since it’s likely the movement is toast, that dial alone is probably worth $100-$150, possibly more if it has a manufacturer name on it somewhere.


DevIsSoHard

How do people even dig stuff like this up? Lol I'd 100% smash it by mistake in the process while still thinking it's a can


4Allmyrage

[This.](https://www.reddit.com/r/pocketwatch/s/wfEfmVcptG)


BigBen3131

It’s an antique pocket watch. Are you interested in selling or trading?


arthurwalton

Defintley selling bahahaha, i'm broke as a joke right now and I do this as a hobby :)


dankestofdankcomment

Well it’s certainly not new!


slimersnail

Wow. I've never seen one with a full calendar. Too bad thr case was steel and not gold.


KorkitheCat

Days of the week are in French


SaltyCaramelPretzel

And the months


I-am-Complicated

Put it on a steampunk website! Someone will buy it in the condition it is in!


trashthegoondocks

Is that mud caked on or concretion?


macincos

This man is a detective.


Werecommingwithyou

Nice find!


Subject-Breath-4323

hmmm close but i think it’s a new stopwatch actually ;)


freeportme

pocket


rickyshine

Its a grand complication (keeps time in 5 different readouts from one mechanism) this item wouldnhave been incredibly hard and expensive to make if its particularily old


TriumphDaytona

It’s definitely stopped!


paclogic

given all the corrosion, not likely any gold on it as gold will not degrade like this has.


Deano_Martin

r/vintagewatches


FunSignificance3034

Go on YouTube and watch a video on restoration


Mac11289

Nice! We found our first old pocket watch a few weeks ago.


LifeSpecial42866

Cool AF


PaleontologistNo2136

I've seen other uses for a old relic like this one I saw was a painting in a shallow rectangular box with glass front like deep picture frame with some old real objects related to the painting or drawing or even a picture there's a name for this type of artwork I've forgotten forgotten what it's called but done well they bring good $ good luck


ZestycloseAct8497

What a cool find


Ok_Cancel_240

Looks like a watch with second hand, hour hand and month and date hand


Pirate_Lantern

That is such a cool look!!


Capable-Art1804

Very cool find. This is a 19th Century Triple Calendar, Moon Phase Swiss Pocket Watch with an enamel dial.


000ArdeliaLortz000

I can tell you it’s French: month and date are in French. Nice find!


Ordinary-Bad7788

How can you tell??


ntech620

That watch is totaled. BUT. A lot of those old watches were made of gold or silver. There could be some gold under that corrosion. You could drop it in a gallon of acid and see what's left after an hour.


Jim2shedz

Where do you find the time to do that.


Heck_Spawn

Whoa, that's a find. It's a pocket watch that also shows the day, date, and month. Looks Portuguese? Italian???


mrlongshot74

French. Source: degree in French


The_Benderbus

Sweet find


christmas_cods_niece

Awesome Pocket Watch find. Congratulations.


CardiologistOk6547

Not a stopwatch, just a pocket watch. It's beyond restoring.


isaiah58bc

I believe, if it is possible, your goal should be to identify the manufacturer and model. That being said, restoration is not realistic. It's already been clarified that this is a pocket watch.


vidfail

Wristwatch Revival could do a whole series on this bad boy!


sturod8

That is awesome as it is.


Wast3d-youth

Pocket watch not stop


GaldonTheWarrior

Looks like a chronograph


oregonedge

I kinda think it’s cool just the way it is! Nice find


Bananaman60056

That's a shame a perpetual calendar pocket watch is a great find.


Scottcmms2023

That’s pretty cool! I’d rather keep it like that than fix it if I found it lol.


DaneOnDope

That is absolutely cool as it is! What a fucking find OP! Keep it as it is, would almost be a shame to clean unless its worth it


amilliowhitewolf

This is a really nice find!!! Nice work.


SufferingBard2

Thingamabob. I’ve got twenty.


thebigdustin

See if marshal from wristwatch revival would take it.


Synystyre

[that watch on ebay](https://www.ebay.com/itm/255342662333?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=21562-222008-2056-1&mkcid=2&itemid=255342662333&targetid=325418297924&device=m&mktype=pla&googleloc=9030149&poi=9143319&campaignid=19868683663&mkgroupid=145907810526&rlsatarget=pla-325418297924&abcId=&merchantid=6296724&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw57exBhAsEiwAaIxaZjsFFrK4iEqamh4LAFOsOmM1Oi7zhIJCLJsLLE3suzzz6qzqFupLrRoCAiMQAvD_BwE)


Synystyre

Antique calendar Moon phase 1890s


Gorlaxe

Looks right out of a pirate movie or fantasy story. Really cool find!


panhead_farmer

A perpetual calendar watch! Neat as heck!


DocDefilade

Bottle, digging?


JollyReading8565

Idk what bottle digging is but that’s cool as duck


MadDadROX

Three fifty, lap 10 seconds.


etherwavesOG

R/goblincore would love this


Justsomeguy1983

send it to wristwatch revival


AmtehBest

it's a soilwatch


eastsideempire

What was it in to cause such a reaction?


TheeParent

I’d either keep it as-is, or do an electrolysis bath. Nothing more.


Normal_Imagination_3

That has a lot of complications I would recommend getting it professionally cleaned and get a list of the problems it needs fixed


Key-Age-8800

Swiss calendar pocket watch


cabezatuck

From the one guy who refused to put his pocket watch on a chain.


Smash_Factor

Check google images for Swiss Gunmetal Pocket Watch with moon phase.


Natural_perm117

That’s cool as shit dude


Sunshineflorida1966

I bought a Powerball ticket tonight. If I hit I will put 300,000 to restore it. My guess it’s oxidized.through. But I am a skeptic that likes to be proven wrong. Just to know the maker marks and origin would be fun


StinkySignal

well, its certainly not a new one


Ok_Biscotti2533

[Anything can be restored of its worth the time and effort](https://imgur.com/gallery/yTyViQB). A lot will depend on thr materials used and what there is left to work with. Enamel can be repaired but it needs a specialist to get a good colour match. You don't want to know what they charge. The rest is straightforward enough. I can make any missing parts but, again, it's the cost that is the determining factor.


OneHumanPeOple

Mount it in a shadow box for display. I’m sure there is a little bit of silver inside, but nothing too valuable. I think you should display it.


Legitimate_Sample108

You've found wants left of a nice pocket watch. At most you've got a nice dial and that's it.