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This watch is spectacular. The history of this watch is just as Amazing. This watch itself features 1.64oz of 18k gold, 17 hand set rubies, and it still keeps great time. The nugget chain fob is made up of large Alaskan gold nuggets that were found by a settler in B.C. in 1886. There is approx. $8,000 worth of gold at melt value alone. That said, nugget chains such as this sell for over $100/g at current pricing and the watch premium easily puts this piece at over $10,000. Now for the real value... The history!
The watch was made in 1900 and custom engraved to be a first place prize for The Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York. It was awarded to E.L. Chesney, who went on to become an attorney who tried several large cases in Utah against the District Court of Salt Lake County and the Pioneer Sugar Co.
The President of the company is engraved as well. A Mr. Richard A. McCurdy. When a corporate scandal came to light in 1906, McCurdy retired from the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York, and he formed the Mutual Alliance Trust Company alongside notable historic figures in business Emanuel Lehman, William Rockefeller, and Cornelius Vanderbilt. He later served as President of the Bell Telephone Company and when his sister married former Bell Telephone Company President and Founder of the National Geographic Society, McCurdy became the uncle of one of history's most famous figures, Alexander Graham Bell.
The final engraving is one George T. Dexter. This is quite an interesting piece of the history of the watch. George T. Dexter sponsored this prize and thus is mentioned in the engraving. George T. Dexter's fame comes for an odd reason.
From Sage Journals: "This short report attempts to shed light on the interesting but controversial personality of George T Dexter (ca1812 -?), the physician who first described manipulation of the female genitalia in a hysterical impressionable girl as being associated with the termination of singultus "Huccups". Although his interaction with the young female patient would not meet today's ethical standards, his medical observation was valid and contributes to our understanding of the pathophysiology of singultus. He was well ahead of his colleagues who presented hiccup therapy case reports with similar or related pathophysiology mechanisms some 150 years later."
As you can see this collectible is quite the conversation piece and priced to sell!