Part of a pocket watch. How old is it?

[turtlefoot13]

At an in town home site that dates back to the very late 1800's, I found this pocket watch part. It was around 6" deep. I know nothing about old jewelry or watches. I could not find any markings on the part that I found. Is there any way of determing the age of this piece? Is there any one or two watch makers that were popular for the "working class" person back in the late 1800's to the first part of the 1900's? There was a livery stable that dates to the 1870's about two blocks from where the home site is plus numerous businesses from the 1880's on surrounding blocks.

Any help is greatly appreciated.
Doug

 

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[Monty]

Looks like a miniature picture frame to me. They were quite popular at one time . Perhaps half of it is missing? Just a guess. Monty

 

[turtlefoot13]

I'm fairly certain that it is part of a watch. I have been wrong many times before though!

If you look at the last pic, you can see the hole where the stem would have come out and the first pic shows the hinge quite well. I have owned hundreds of cased images and thousands of loose 19th century images and have never seen a picture frame like this (but once again, that doesn't mean anything). I do know what you are talking about though. Actually, I hope that you are right on this. It would fit into my photographa collection very nicely.

When researching this piece before putting it on here, I came across this pic.

http://www.ofrei.com/images/veric1open.jpg

You can see where the hinge is located along with the stem hole and the watch face would have faced out towards the center opening. Mine is not gold of course but I think it is of a similar model (except a poor man's watch).

I appreciate the help.

Doug

 

[Monty]

I won't argue about if it it is or isn't a watch 'cause as I said , it's only a guess on my part. I have just never seen a pocket watch that the frame was so large around what might have been the face.......unless we are looking at the back of it? Monty

 

[turtlefoot13]

After looking at about fifteen pages of pocket watches on ebay, I couldn't one with a frame anywhere as big as this. I get to re-think this one and start my research in a different direction. Thank you for the help Monty, I do appreciate it.

Doug

 

[Monty]

I don't know for sure that I made the right ID Doug, it just didn't look right for a pocket watch to me. So, don't let me mislead you I am not an expert on watches, I've just seen a bunch mainly here on Tnet. I wish someone with more expertise would chime in. Monty

 

[turtlefoot13]

I personally do not know what it is and I do not know what it is not, so I am leaving all options open. I made the assumption that it was a watch because it had a hinge and a stem hole. I have learned from past assumptions that they can be misleading. I truly do appreciate any ideas and guesses as it gives me other ways to look at things. Sooner or later I will figure it out.

Doug