Antique pocket watches happen to be one of the most prized and cherished products that were made decades or even sometimes centuries ago, that stand up very well to the test of time.

Many antique pocket watches have very intricate and extremely detailed designs on them, which were handmade by highly skilled craftsman. Simply put, in most cases it is not possible to get this kind of work done anymore for a few reasons. First, the people that were able to hand carve these designs do not exist in great numbers anymore. Second, the ones that are still around are in such high demand, that only the very wealthiest among us can afford to use them.

An early reference to the pocket watch is in a letter in November 1462 from the Italian clockmaker Bartholomew Manfredi to the Marchese di Mantova Federico Gonzaga, where he offers him a "pocket clock" better than that belonging to the Duke of Modena. By the end of the 15th Century, spring-driven clocks appeared in Italy, and in Germany. Peter Henlein, a master locksmith of Nuremberg, was regularly manufacturing pocket watches by 1524. Thereafter, pocket watch manufacture spread throughout the rest of Europe as the 16th century progressed. Early watches only had an hour hand, the minute hand appearing in the late 17th century. The first American pocket watches with machine made parts were manufactured by Henry Pitkin with his brother in the later 1830s.