Gold Pocket Watch?.... silver, and more!

[OutdoorAdv]

Spent today at a family friends property that I dug a 1842 LC and a token at nearly 20 years ago...

I have a good feel for the property now and found a couple old trash pits and two old burn piles. I could only stand listening to the signals in those areas in bursts, before needing a break in some more quite ground. I was digging blobs of melted aluminum that gave screaming signals on my V3i with all frequencies lining up and mid 80's to low 90's VDIs registering as solid quarters and half dollars. I dug about 12 of those aluminum blobs... because you never know... and the last "blob" was telling me half dollar and I thought to myself 'I'm here to dig so I might as well clean this junk up', flip the plug AND



Man was I glad I dug that melted aluminum blob!!

Great way to end a year! I have dug at LEAST two dozen pocket watch insides, fronts, backs, bezels... and I always wanted to find a whole watch. All the old parts I've dug have been either gold plated or silver plated... so I was expecting the same thing here. I left the dirt on it, packed it in cotton balls and had to wait.

So I get home and just run some water over it. Most of the caked on dirt just falls right off. I couldn't believe it, but I was seeing scrapes in the gold... so it doesn't appear to be plated. So I'm thinking either solid gold or gold filled. The face is porcelain... a piece of the second dial was cracked and fell off. I plan on super gluing the bits back on it. If you shine the light just right, you can see where the letters used to be and you can see "Waltham" in the middle. I took some pictures of the light hitting it so you guys can see the font on it.




How can I clean the encrusted dirt off and tell more about this watch?

I'm not trying to make this watch something that its not, but the pictures make it look plated... this was dug in a horse pasture and the soil is rough... what you cant see to well in the pictures are that the parts that are not gold, are encrusted with dirt. I took a shish kabob and scraped at some of it and it was gold under... but it appears to scratch easily, so I stopped there. On the picture of the back you can see all the scratched that tell me its either solid gold or gold filled.

The section I scraped is circled in red here.


Oh.... and I also dug a 1935 merc, 4 1/2 wheats (someone actually cut one in half), Cool old brass faucet, a nice convex button minus shank "rich orange" backmark, musket ball, various lead bits and tons of trash.




Convex button close up


In the group shot you'll see the Black Oak Farms cow tag #120. When I flipped that plug I flipped out. About 15 and 20 years ago I dug #63 and #5... so its nice to have three of them together now.

 

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[OutdoorAdv]

One of my greatest finds ever...this rolled gold Elgin pocket watch.
Came up black as the ace of spades, had to use a green scrubby to get all the black layer off of it but it turned out great.
I suspect yours is rolled gold also, much, much thicker plating on rolled gold than just plated.
Enough that the refineries will accept this and pay you for the decent amount of gold in it...not that I will ever do that.
Mine is a screw off type that is stuck and I asked some watch pros who said if that happens nothing less than a hammer will work now so I might never find out the real age of this thing but it still looks fantastic on display.

CongratZ on the rare find!

Thank you! I remember reading your post when you found this. I kept checking back to find out if you got the back off. ha Yours looks great and really cleaned up well. The winder part is missing on mine... I can see the hole that is filled with crud though.

Did you try soaking it in WD-40 or Penetrating Oil at all? Mine appears to also be a screw off type. After I get the crud off mine, I plan on sitting it in a bowl and filling it with WD-40 to try and get it to seep into the threads. I might even warm it with a hairdryer a bit and see if the oil will get down in there. I'll keep you posted on my progress and if I find any technique that will get the back loose. I would also really like to know the info on the inside, but would not sacrifice it to know! Can't wait to get it cleaned up and in one of my display cases.

 

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[Nugs Bunny]

I invested in an inexpensive Ultrasonic Cleaner.. It works really WELL at removing the dirt from every crevice without harming the metal. It will not remove the crusts and cancers on the metal, just the dirt.
NICE finds all round. WTG!

I second that opinion. I also use a ultrasonic cleaner on detecting finds, plus it works great on anything from jewelry to precious coins to carb jets. I picked up a decent sized one with heat at Harbor Freight for $35 bucks several years ago.

 

[qaela4]

Great finds. I have a Waltham pocket watch handed down from my grandfather with an inscription with his name and date it was given to him. Priceless family heirloom. The one I have is gold filled. If you find the serial number you can get a lot of info on it.

 

[ArDirtSlinger]

I'd be proud of every piece..Congrats

 

[time machine]

OutdoorAdv If the outside covers are ridged the watch is most likely gold filled. I found one last year 2014
and it became my first significant gold I have found. This watch was practically screaming it was gold but it
finally came down to a acid test to prove it was 14 k. OA I'm hoping you'll have the same results I did but
gold or filled it's a awesome find.

TM

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Hello OutdoorADv,

Congratulations on your excellent finds!

I recently found a gold ladies pocket watch in an old farm field, what a feeling!

Regards,

 

[OutdoorAdv]

Thanks everyone! I ordered some aluminum jelly. I am going to clean up the outside and do my best to get the back unscrewed. I will keep you guys posted on any progress.

OutdoorAdv If the outside covers are ridged the watch is most likely gold filled. I found one last year 2014
and it became my first significant gold I have found. This watch was practically screaming it was gold but it
finally came down to a acid test to prove it was 14 k. OA I'm hoping you'll have the same results I did but
gold or filled it's a awesome find.

TM

That watch looks awesome! The back of my watch is dented in already... so I cant tell how rigid it is. I can tap on it and hear its hollow inside! I am really hoping I am successful in getting the back off so that I can get the serial number and see how the back is stamped.

Thanks again everyone!

 

[OutdoorAdv]

I conclude the back of this thing will never come off

Here's what I did in my attempt to unscrew the back and get the serial number.

1) I cleaned it with Naval Jelly.



2) Soaked it in WD40 for about 24 hours



3) Ran my 0.0015 feeler gauged around the thread gaps, followed by WD40 baths and 0.002 feeler gauge. The gap between the frame and back and front bezel are totally cleaned out. Lots of crud came out of there.

After googling a lot and reading through watch forums about how the professional watch guys do it, I picked one technique from this thread (Stubborn PW case back?)

4) Loctite Super glued a 5/8 nut on the back.



5) Used wrenches and sockets on the damn thing. Broke the nut off twice and kept gluing it back on. The final attempt after letting it cure for the last time, was to put the bezel in my rubber strap wrench and stick a socket on there. The pressures were only exerted in the correct areas and no joke.... I really put some force on it.

Nut snapped off for a 3rd time.

I gave up.

Used acetone to clean up the super glue like the watch forum said to. And they were right... Not even a scratch on the back of it. I wouldn't hesitate to use that technique on a stuck back for a non-dug pocket watch.

I actually took all the cleaned up pictures above after I did the medieval torture on it... not a mark.

Looks great in my display case... stuck back and all.

 

[digger27]

Thank you! I remember reading your post when you found this. I kept checking back to find out if you got the back off. ha Yours looks great and really cleaned up well. The winder part is missing on mine... I can see the hole that is filled with crud though.

Did you try soaking it in WD-40 or Penetrating Oil at all? Mine appears to also be a screw off type. After I get the crud off mine, I plan on sitting it in a bowl and filling it with WD-40 to try and get it to seep into the threads. I might even warm it with a hairdryer a bit and see if the oil will get down in there. I'll keep you posted on my progress and if I find any technique that will get the back loose. I would also really like to know the info on the inside, but would not sacrifice it to know! Can't wait to get it cleaned up and in one of my display cases.

I have tried soaking in oil, alternating freezing and heating and even a little pounding with a hard rubber and soft plastic hammer to try to break this thing loose but so far no luck.
I would love to get inside and get a date off the case and the movement, they are usually different because people used to keep the cases for years but changed the movements periodically when they went bad.
Maybe one day I will succeed but like you I would rather keep it on display intact than ruin the thing trying to get it open to see.