Home >> Collecting >> Antiques

How to Find the Jewel Number on Pocket Watches

Before the days of the digital watch, time pieces were made with mechanical insides, called movements. Although the movements were made and assembled with great precision, the metal pieces of the movements wore down from friction. It was discovered that using hard stones, such as diamonds or rubies, in place of some of the metal pieces reduced friction and lasted longer. To be considered a jeweled watch, a movement must have a minimum of seven jewels. A fully jeweled watch could have up to 17 jewels, though occasionally manufacturers have included as many as 23 or 25 jewels.

Things You'll Need

Magnifying glass
Pocket knife

Instructions

- 1
  Examine the back of the watch with the magnifying glass to determine the best place to pry open the cover. Manufacturers frequently included tiny tabs or indentations to make this job simpler.
- 2
  Use the curved blade on a pocket knife to gently pry off the back cover. Place your thumb on the back cover while prying. This will prevent an unhinged cover from popping off suddenly and becoming lost.
- 3
  Examine the inside of the watch's back cover as well as the surface of the movement. In one of these two locations, you will find information such as the serial or model number of the watch as well as the number of jewels used in the watch.
- 4
  Record all information found on both places, the cover and the movement, for future reference. Minimizing the number of times a watch is opened will reduce the amount of dust that gets inside.

Antiques