Antiques Roadshow

APPRAISER

You brought in the big box of watches today. You've been collecting them...

GUEST

Forever.

APPRAISER

And I saw this one in here that you thought was costume jewelry.

GUEST

Hmm.

APPRAISER

Do you know anything about it?

GUEST

I inherited it and I've never seen the inside of it before and I wasn't even sure that they were real diamonds, so I don't know anything.

APPRAISER

The first thing you'll notice is it's very beautiful. It has all this pretty French enamel. That's probably where this enamel was put onto the case. And then, intertwined with the enamel, we do, in fact, have diamonds, and they are what we call rose diamonds. And rose diamonds have a flat bottom and they're faceted with just a few facets on top. They're very Old World. They have a beautiful look to them. And if we had a watch like this with the diamonds and enamel, it may be a $1,500-2,000 watch, but your watch is a little bit better. If we flip it over now... Beautiful white porcelain enamel dial and we see that it's signed by Tiffany and Company. Tiffany and Company didn't make watches. They're the company that retailed it, so... now we have a watch that's probably worth $3,000 to $4,000.

GUEST (laughing)

Oh, dear. (both laughing)

APPRAISER

Now, there was a company that started using Tiffany as one of their main retailers of their product in New York in 1854. If we turn the watch back over and we open up the case...

GUEST

Wow. Beautiful.

APPRAISER

You said you never saw the...

GUEST

I've never seen the... innards, I called it, and you call it...

APPRAISER

The movement. Now, if you look right over here, it tells us it's made by Patek Philippe and Company, which is the finest maker of Swiss watches in the world. There may be some just as good but there's none better.

GUEST

None better.

APPRAISER

And, uh... It's beautiful. And there's also a serial number in here. If we look up the serial number, this watch was manufactured in 1890. 1890-- isn't that amazing? So now, we have the diamonds, the rose diamonds, the enamel. We have Tiffany and Company. Now, we have Patek Philippe. You ready?

GUEST

Yes.

APPRAISER

$8,000 to $10,000 at auction.

GUEST

Oh, good grief-a-nelly. Oh, that's unreal.

APPRAISER

It's good news. But it's beautiful and you have to start wearing it.

GUEST

Somewhere. I'll wear it every time I watch the ANTIQUES ROADSHOW. (laughs)

APPRAISER

That's great. I like that.