State of watches and clocks
The taxation codes in detail:

body / case  strap   crystal  dial  movement


It's really not simple to describe the condition of watches and clocks objectively. A watch, which was carried only with wedding and baptism, otherwise however was optimally stored and waited for 200 years, can quite be "new", even if it set patina evenly. It is crucial that one, at little expenditure, can reach the condition which she had at the date of purchase - if one wants it.

On the other hand one expects perfect surfaces from a modern clock with work and housing, although even very expensive new clocks exhibit sometimes already traces of assembly.

There are no generally valid notes. From some houses a collector accepts only note 0 or 1. We must specify somewhat more exactly, since the prospective customer cannot take the clock into his hand. Therefore we regard a clock, which receives 2 "in all points", as good and thus as acceptable piece of collection. Our notes depend on to what extent a lack is disturbing and at which expenditure it will be possible to eliminate it. General meaning of the notes for case, glass, strap, dial and movement are indicated separately. Characteristics, which do not fit into this pattern, are separately listed. Generally the notes have the following meaning:


Details belonging to the case are not judged. Like that are usually problem-free renewable parts e.g. crowns or spring bars. Only a detail, whose condition deviates completely substantially from that of the remaining case, affects the evaluation.


Since it can be important, depending the style and age of the watch, it is in each case indicated whether the strap or only the buckle is to be recognized as original. The notes for metal bands correspond to those for watch cases, since in both cases mainly the surface quality is determining. For leather-, plastic- or textile straps applies the following:


Particularly with irregularly formed or non-flat glasses a replacement is often difficult and accordingly expensive. Therefore the watch glass condition is noted, whereby the yardstick is somewhat differently put on, whether it concerns acrylic glass on one hand or mineral or sapphire crystal on the other hand.


The dial is the face of the clock and is accordingly evaluated. It has to be considered however that very old dials often already exhibited damage at the date of their production, as for instance imperfection of edges and irregularities of the surface. It makes a difference naturally whether the damage is in the visible range or in the invisible range under the bezel.


We take only the following functional tests of the movement (only with mechanical movements):

With positive examination results one can assume that by cleaning and at worst revising the taps the clock can be shifted into a technically perfect condition. In addition, for a larger examination substantial costs would arise. The optical preservation condition is more important, since the removal of lack is far more complex here.

This scale corresponds in most parts to the evaluation scale of Ranfft bidfun; permission for the excerpt-wise use is owed hereby cordially!
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last update 08.08.05