pocket watches made into wristwatches

[edhayes]

E-Bay has a bunch of pocket watches made into wrist watches-does anyone have an opinion about them?
they are mostly from IWC, Patek or Vacheron

[pchong]

interesting question...of course, the answer depends... The makers you mentioned have great movements, so it will depend on the condition of the movements, and the dial. Are these original? What work have been done to them - very typical and not desirable to have work done on movement, though a well retouched dial can be acceptable. Then take a look at the hands. Are they original? What work has been done to them? If they are new, are they consistent with the design and age of the dial? Finally how is the workmanship on the case? Material? Solid gold is preferred, or stainless steel. But sterling silver is very common...and not very desirable. Silver tarnishes easily.

[edhayes]

thank you for your advice, I bought a lange/'glashuitte pocket watch that had been made into a writwatch. It turns out that the movement is not the best quality but it still is good quality and the dial is absolutely stunning. It has about 35 hours of power when wound which is fine. The case is steel and good.
I am happy with it. These watches are usually sold on E-Bay. There always pictures that show the movement.
The question is: how does one tell a good movement from looking at the pictures?

[mspen]

Go down to the "Assessing movement quality" post in this same Forum -- it has photos that are about the best quick explication I've seen of how to assess quality. Also you should look closely and comparatively at the photos in eBay listings, more for condition assessment than quality. Some of the movements are tarnished and the screwheads are marred from clumsy toolwork; others, even old ones, are pristine. I don't see any reason to suspect that pocket watch movements are likely to be of higher quality than wrist watch movements. Aesthetically, the pocket watches are understandably usually much larger, which I find clunky, and the crowns are at 12 o'clock, also peculiar for a wrist watch ... but someone might argue that those things improve rather than detract.