Oxford Pocket Watches: FAQs

What to Buy.

I think the first thing to say is buy what takes your fancy but if you want a watch to be completely accurate over a long period and in all conditions then don’t buy a 100 year old watch unless you can afford a really superior one, know exactly what you are doing and are prepared to take a lot of time and effort (or put lots of money) into fine tuning and maintaining it; it is unlikely that you will find such a watch on my web site. Although the odd one does turn up.

Secondly if you want to use an old pocket watch frequently or even every day you need to be very selective and preferably have several watches and rotate them. If you want a watch that will run very frequently then you can e-mail me for recommendations but please first read my overview of the subject in this PDF file so that you can give me some general indication of your preferences. My thanks to J.S. for his review of this paper.

Apart from the above it is important to decide when and how often you will be wearing a pocket watch, if it will be worn rarely or not at all then practical considerations such as setting the watch are irrelevant as it will be done so rarely and you can make your decision on the aesthetics or other factors such as the age of the watch.

See also my page "Using your Watch" selectable from the bar above.

General Questions

Style and Cosmetics:

Technical Stuff:

This Wiki page on horology should provide an explanation of most technical terms and this one explains how a watch works.

Watch Cases & Case Makers:

more on watch cases can be found by selecting "Watch Cases" under "Labels" from the right hand panel.

Links to information on various case makers on the nawcc web site: