Just got my father’s watch back from being serviced, and I promised to show it off… so here it is. The turquoise is green now, but I’m sure it was a true sky blue when he first got it…That being what Dad would have chosen. There are two rows of channel work inlay, two rows of silver balls (?raindrop symbols?) and then snake-eyes down the center. The snake eyes sit up quite high, as you can see in a couple of the shots. The last shot is of the signature…JoBeth Mayse/Maize/Zuni.
As far as I can tell from checking online, all of this is just what I would expect from a JoBeth Mayse piece.
[For any of our vendors: what should I expect as an price appraisal for insurance? I think the watch itself is no more than 50-75 dollars, but I could be wrong. It’s at least 50 years old… I’m certainly not going to sell it; it will probably go on to the next generation of the family; one of my nephews/grand-nephews.]
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Beautiful! What brand is the watch? It does have military time also so that may help value a little. Love the tips!
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It’s a military issued watch, with Federal stock number, serial number, date of issue, etc. No sign of a specific manufacturer. I’ll see if I can get a good pic of the stamping on the watch back and bezel… they are quite faint for some of them. I haven’t been able to do more than confirm that is an official yes, this is a watch stock number from a pre-1974 date…which is when they went to a longer National stock number system. The issue date (which is different than the manufacturing date) shows as May 19…66/68/69? VERY faint stamp. My dad probably got it at one of his later promotions (he retired as a Lt. Col. in the Air Force) , or at his retirement itself.
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Here’s the pic I was able to pull up. I adjusted the contrast and lighting in Photoshop to see the stamping a bit better. The issue date is May 1966 after all, so that probably was his promotion to Major, I think. There are numbers all the way around the bezel, as well as the back plate, but those very faint stamps on the back are most likely the one put there at the time it was actually issued.
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Some research showed a couple pairs of JoBeth Mayse watch tips sold recently at about $200. Love the look of yours and the green the stones that have turned. Body-oil and such absorbed from touch turns the stones this lovely color and in my opinion, makes them apart of the wearer. I get deep -sorry. Just love the way this happens : ) Here’s info on a 60’s M-W-3818B watch listed at $800 with people “watching” and a view an hour. Seems to be a valuable model. This example may or may not be exactly the same watch as yours and it’s price tag may reflect the nice original condition including it’s canvas band. More research is needed.
https://ebay.to/2GNipi7
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Excellent research! It certainly does look exactly like the model I have, except mine has black on the minute and hour hands, not white. But, from my (admittedly limited) research on Federal Parts database, I know that the “DATE” is in fact, a date of issue, not the manufacturing date. (Things would be ordered en masse, but kept in storage until needed and issued.) But I will certainly take this information as a starting point for further investigation! (I do know that for my dad’s watch, it does have a ‘hack’ function… which allow for the “Let’s synchronize our watches, gentlemen.” line, unlike the one you showed from the eBay listing.)
I do know there is considerable wear on this watch, as my dad always wore it. The watch technician who worked on servicing it, did say that the crystal cover was showing age (it’s an acrylic, and starting to yellow and get minute cracks). I did make a point of him not doing any external cleaning, as I wanted the aging and patina intact.
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Gorgeous tips and what a great heirloom piece! Enjoy wearing it!
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