Always Buying

There will come a day when you want or need to sell your Seth Thomas pocket watch for one of several reasons. If it's going to a fellow collector or someone who will genuinely appreciate it, then that's fine. On the other hand, if you're consigning it to an auction house or selling it to your local jeweler or gold hog it will almost certainly end up on eBay in pieces a couple of weeks later with the case melted down.

Instead of the watch being parted out for the bottom feeders to pick over, we will gladly consider any quality example. We know what we're looking at and we know what it's worth.

High-Grade Watches

High-grade pieces mean railroad-accepted watches like the Maiden Lane and the Grade 382, or other watches with higher jewel counts such as the Henry Molineux and the Railway Queen.

Rare Variants

Rare variants include patterns from very small blocks within runs, usually two-tone or flashed gilt. They can also include examples from a grade with very low production.

Early Examples

Low serial numbers or very early examples from a given grade or model are always desirable.

Original Combinations

An original combination is just that - the case, movement, dial and hands are still together from the day that the first customer bought it.

Very few people want watches that were assembled from a pile of parts across different decades, and we don't either.

Fancy Dials

Like most brands, fancy dials range from scarce to downright rare. They made several trips through the kiln as colors or filigree were added, making them even more delicate and brittle.

Seth Thomas Research