Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library

Pocket Watch with Case in Box with watch papers
1801-32
William Brown
England: London
Silver, paper, glass
a: 3 x 2 x 3/4 in.; b: 1 3/8 x 3/8 x 1/8 in.; c: 11 1/4 x 7/8 x 1/2 in.; d, f: 3 x 2 7/8 x 2 7/8 .; e: 2 1/2 x 2 1/2 x 3/4 in.
Gift of Frank M. and Priscilla C. Gray
77.63.2a-l

Pocket Watch with Case in Box; a: watch; white enamel face with glass front; front on hinges; b: winding key; c: silver chain with brass fob; fob has amber colored carved seal; d: bottom of orange box; e: hinged case; N. 7724; marked with lion passant, leopard, "R"; f: top of orange box.; g-l: 6 watch papers; ( ) reads on obverse in ink: "June 14/ 1832"; reverse has image of lady liberty holding scales and a watch, reads "Jacob Sargeant/ Watchmaker/ Eight rods North of the/ State House/ Hartford"; ( ) reads in part "I.H. Stockwell,/ 139/ Dealer in/ Watches, Clocks,/ Jewlery,/ And Fancy Goods,/ Stafford Springs,/ Ct./ Watchmaker & Jeweller"; ( ) paper obverse reads in part "No. 7724/ Virge Cleaned/ Dec 7 1883"; reverse reads "L. Arnold./ 12,73/ Jeweller, 7.724/ Stafford Springs, Ct."; (j-k) 2 cut out of a larger piece of correspondence with blank on obverse and handwritten notes in ink on reverse; (l) paper reads in part "W. & F. Oakes/ Clock and Watchmaker/ Mar[?] Str./ Hartford"

In the first decades of the 1800s, Americans seeking to purchase a watch most likely bought a British one. Local craftsmen, however, knew how to clean and repair them. This watch and case, which belonged to a Connecticut man, came with special papers that helped protect the watch’s works from dust, provided a handy record of when the watch had been serviced and advertised clockmakers’ and jewelers’ services.