1 00:00:02,135 --> 00:00:09,175 GUEST: It was given to my father from his grandfather. I'm next in line to, 2 00:00:09,175 --> 00:00:15,015 to inherit it, and we don't mu, know much about it. Um, it was appraised in 1991, 3 00:00:15,015 --> 00:00:21,087 and they estimated that it was from about 1820 and it's French. I love the 4 00:00:21,087 --> 00:00:25,592 little illustration on the front. And also, it plays music, and that's one of the best parts. 5 00:00:25,592 --> 00:00:28,328 APPRAISER: The case is made out of 18-karat 6 00:00:28,328 --> 00:00:30,997 gold. Yeah. Solid gold watch. I would date it about 1830. 7 00:00:30,997 --> 00:00:33,466 GUEST: Okay. 8 00:00:33,466 --> 00:00:36,936 APPRAISER: It's a key wound watch, key set. You've got the keys right here for the watch. 9 00:00:36,936 --> 00:00:38,605 GUEST: Mm-hmm. 10 00:00:38,605 --> 00:00:43,076 APPRAISER: Musical watches are quite rare. You told me you didn't even know it was musical, and 11 00:00:43,076 --> 00:00:44,844 you were just playing with it, maybe, yesterday... (laughs) ...and you heard music go off on it. 12 00:00:44,844 --> 00:00:46,179 GUEST: Mm-hmm. 13 00:00:46,179 --> 00:00:50,183 APPRAISER: The watch was made in France. What's really wonderful is this face on it, 14 00:00:50,183 --> 00:00:53,386 or the dial of the watch. And we have an early American flag on there, so... 15 00:00:53,386 --> 00:00:54,821 GUEST: Mm-hmm. 16 00:00:54,821 --> 00:01:00,360 APPRAISER: The subject matter is phenomenal. That's porcelain enamel. That's all hand-painted. 17 00:01:00,360 --> 00:01:05,231 And then you have this gold that's on top of the dial there. You notice at the center 18 00:01:07,067 --> 00:01:09,069 how it's indented a little bit right there? 19 00:01:09,069 --> 00:01:10,270 GUEST: Uh-huh. 20 00:01:10,270 --> 00:01:12,472 APPRAISER: That is called a bull's eye crystal. Can't get those today. 21 00:01:12,472 --> 00:01:13,807 GUEST: (chuckles) 22 00:01:13,807 --> 00:01:14,707 APPRAISER: Now, if we turn it over... 23 00:01:20,413 --> 00:01:26,653 ...this back, the French called it guilloché, or we call it engine-turning. They engraved the back 24 00:01:26,653 --> 00:01:31,424 of the case. I'm going to just open it up here. First, we look at the inner cover of the watch. 25 00:01:34,360 --> 00:01:38,965 In French, that's called a cuvette, and it was a dust cover to protect the movement of 26 00:01:38,965 --> 00:01:44,070 the watch. You can see there's two holes. Both of those are for winding the watch, 27 00:01:44,070 --> 00:01:46,406 not for setting. The arrows are engraved on here so that you didn't accidentally... 28 00:01:46,406 --> 00:01:48,408 GUEST: Turn it the wrong way. ... 29 00:01:48,408 --> 00:01:49,075 APPRAISER: turn it the wrong direction and damage it. You have two different 30 00:01:51,611 --> 00:01:55,482 mechanisms in the watch. The smaller barrel, that's what holds the mainspring inside. 31 00:01:55,482 --> 00:01:57,217 GUEST: Mm-hmm. 32 00:01:57,217 --> 00:02:01,087 APPRAISER: That's the one that you would wind to run the watch. And there's a larger barrel here, 33 00:02:03,857 --> 00:02:09,829 and that is the spring that powers the musical part of the watch. This watch 34 00:02:09,829 --> 00:02:15,602 played music in two different ways. It would play music on the hour if you wanted it to... 35 00:02:15,602 --> 00:02:16,402 GUEST: Mm-hmm. ... 36 00:02:16,402 --> 00:02:18,571 APPRAISER: and then there was a button that plays it on demand, 37 00:02:18,571 --> 00:02:19,706 and that was the button that you hit by accident... 38 00:02:19,706 --> 00:02:20,940 GUEST: (laughs) ... 39 00:02:20,940 --> 00:02:23,810 APPRAISER: and it started playing music. That must have been a surprise, right? 40 00:02:23,810 --> 00:02:24,410 GUEST: Yeah, it was, it was. 41 00:02:24,410 --> 00:02:25,812 APPRAISER: I mean, did you think you broke it at first? 42 00:02:25,812 --> 00:02:26,980 GUEST: (laughs): Yes! 43 00:02:26,980 --> 00:02:29,282 APPRAISER: Or, or, like, you know, "Wait a minute, what's all that noise coming 44 00:02:29,282 --> 00:02:37,924 out of it?" We're going to play this right now. (music playing from watch) 45 00:02:37,924 --> 00:02:41,094 What do you think the value of it was? 46 00:02:41,094 --> 00:02:45,031 GUEST: When it was appraised in 1991, they estimated about $2,500. 47 00:02:45,031 --> 00:02:48,334 APPRAISER: A musical watch in gold today, a nice example of one, 48 00:02:50,537 --> 00:02:53,273 would, would probably bring somewhere between $5,000 and $8,000. 49 00:02:56,843 --> 00:03:02,882 But we have this spectacular face on this watch. It's a harbor scene, it's flawless. 50 00:03:02,882 --> 00:03:08,221 A watch collector would love it. A person that loves musical, music boxes, anything musical, 51 00:03:08,221 --> 00:03:13,860 and then Americana, 'cause of the American flag on it. An auction value today, I would put on it, 52 00:03:13,860 --> 00:03:18,798 with all these features on it, I think this watch would easily bring between $15,000 and $20,000. 53 00:03:18,798 --> 00:03:23,469 GUEST: (laughs): Wow, that is quite the shock. 54 00:03:23,469 --> 00:03:31,344 It's been in the safety deposit for, like, 20 years. So wow. That's great. (laughs) Thank you. 55 00:03:31,344 --> 00:03:33,279 APPRAISER: The dial, that's the first one I've ever seen like that. 56 00:03:33,279 --> 00:03:34,814 GUEST: Really? 57 00:03:34,814 --> 00:03:36,082 APPRAISER: On, on a musical watch like this. So it, it's quite nice.