GUEST: Well, it was a
gift from my father. My father grew up in
Greenwich, Connecticut. It was given to him
from a neighbor. His neighbor was a civil
engineer, and his neighbor also
ran a radio repair shop in his basement, and my dad
helped him repair radios. And he actually told me
that this man inspired him
to go on to M.I.T., and... So it's really special. APPRAISER: We know it's a pocket
watch, it's 18-karat gold. It was made by Smith
& Son in London. GUEST: Okay. APPRAISER: And they
were famous watchmakers. They made watches for
the British royalty,
they made them for the
Admiralty, for the navy. They were very famous for
making chronometers and
very accurate timepieces. They also made watches
for the king of Spain. GUEST: Oh, okay. Because it's called the king
of Spain watch by my family. APPRAISER: Oh, is that right? GUEST: Right, it's
written somewhere on it,
I think on the inside. APPRAISER: Okay, well, we'll
open it up and look at it. Let's study the face
of the watch first. You have an hour hand, of
course, like all watches. And a minute hand, and a
constant running second hand. But do you know what
that little dial is, and
that hand is, up there? GUEST: I'm not sure, I think
it said, "Wind," on it. It says, "Up-Down." APPRAISER: Wind? GUEST: Yeah. APPRAISER: Okay. GUEST: That's all I know. APPRAISER: It's called a
power reserve indicator
or a winding indicator. And basically it would tell you
how much time the watch had left
before it would stop ticking so you would know when
to wind the watch. GUEST: Oh, "Wind." (chuckles) APPRAISER: And I'm just going
to give it a quick turn. As we... turn the watch to
wind it, watch that hand move. Do you see it's moving? GUEST: Oh, look at that. Okay. APPRAISER: And so, that winding
indicator would turn, and
you would know when you wound the watch all the way up. You'd also know when you'd
have to wind the watch again. It's a very heavy case,
18-karat solid gold. The case was made by
Frederick Thoms, who was a
famous English case maker. Now, the watch has an
enamel-porcelain dial, which has
a very faint hairline crack, and that was about the only
flaw that I could see in it. But other than that, the watch
has a very special feature
that I want to show you. GUEST: Okay. APPRAISER: When we open up
the back of the watch, you'll
see here that-- there's the escapement of the watch. Now, this has a very
special type of escapement
known as a tourbillion. GUEST: Okay. APPRAISER: And the whole
escapement makes one
revolution every 60 seconds. Tourbillions were invented by
Breguet, who was really the most
famous watchmaker in France. He was 50 years ahead
of everybody else. Breguet didn't make this
actual tourbillion, but
this was his invention. And what it was made for was
to counteract the effects
of gravity on the watch. When a watch lays flat, gravity
is pulling on it and can
affect the timekeeping of it. And if you turn the watch
over, now gravity's pulling
on it in another way. So it was thought that if
the escapement was constantly
revolving, gravity would never be pulling on it in one
particular direction. And, therefore, it would
be of the utmost accuracy. These escapements are
really incredibly rare. GUEST: Really? APPRAISER: Now you mentioned
the king of Spain watch. And it's upside-down, but it
says, "Maker to the Admiralty,"
and it's signed by the maker here, Smith & Son, London. It also says, "His Majesty,
the King of Spain,"
with the royal warrants. And one other interesting
feature on these watches is that
it actually spun all the way around here. Your watch is hallmarked
and I dated them. The case was
manufactured in 1904. I think this case could
be as heavy as three
ounces of 18-karat gold- GUEST: Okay. APPRAISER: -which at present
gold prices today would put the
gold value at over $2,000 and close to $3,000. GUEST: Oh, wow, okay. APPRAISER: The power reserve
indicator adds a little
bit to the value of it. So a watch like this with
a power reserve indicator--
nice, heavy, big English watch, with a normal escapement,
would retail for around
$4,000 to $5,000. GUEST: Wow. APPRAISER: This watch, in the
present market, would retail between $40,000 to $50,000. GUEST: Oh, my gosh,
you're kidding. APPRAISER: No. GUEST: Wow, I had no idea. (laughs) I better
be careful with it. APPRAISER: This tourbillion
escapement is still rare today. And it's made for very
collectible watches. Let's take an example of, like,
a Patek Philippe wristwatch. A strapped, Patek Philippe,
18-karat gold, retail price,
let's say is around $20,000. GUEST: Wow. APPRAISER: That same watch
with a tourbillion escapement
would retail by Patek Philippe between $200,000 and $250,000. GUEST: Oh, wow. APPRAISER: So it's
something really wonderful
to have and very special. GUEST: That's amazing. Well, I knew it was a
special watch, but I
didn't know how special.
