GUEST: I got the watch from my husband's grandfather, after he passed away.

He, uh£ APPRAISER: He came from where?

He came from... GUEST: Glasgow, Scotland, mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: Glasgow, Scotland.

And what was it that he did?

He was a... GUEST: He worked on watches as a sideline... APPRAISER: He was a watchmaker.

GUEST: ...and, and clocks also; did clocks.

APPRAISER: So... he probably got this watch many, many years ago.

He died when?

GUEST: ... Back in the early '60s.

APPRAISER: Early '60s.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: So... he might've had this watch early, as early as the turn of the century.

GUEST: Right.

Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: But, um, in fact, this is actually much earlier than the turn of the century.

Um, and, like many early watches, it's fun to go exploring.

Now, this watch was as much of a precision instrument, so they would have protected it with an outer case.

So the first thing you do to look at this thing is to pick up the case and open it.

Fingernails help.

It opens up, and then the whole watch actually comes out of the case.

And we can leave this part right here.

Now, the curious thing about this is that the case is round, but the watch... is oval.

Now, watches, when they were first made, weren't worn in pockets.

Do you know why that is?

GUEST: No.

APPRAISER: Well, people didn't have pockets.

GUEST: Oh.

(chuckles) APPRAISER: And this probably was worn as a pendant.

And whenever somebody worked on a watch, they would leave their calling card inside.

So very often, you can tell the history of a watch by opening up the case and taking out the papers that you see inside the watch.

And if we're lucky, we will find out something about the watch.

There we go.

And, not only did this cloth inside the watch keep it from rattling around and protected it, but sometimes it was used as advertising.

Whatever... is in this watch doesn't tell us much about the person who owned it, except this has to do with, um, the Catholic Church.

Now, you told me something else about the watch.

GUEST: Uh... my husband's elderly cousin had told me that the watch came from a cardinal of the church.

APPRAISER: Came from a cardinal of the church.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: That makes a lot of sense, because when watches like this were made, only the very, very educated people would have wanted to own it.

So let's take a look at this watch.

Now, I think it's quite different from the kind of watch that we're used to seeing today.

You'll see that it has lots and lots of dials.

If we look at the top of the watch, we can see here not something that tells us the time.

It's a calendar, and it's engraved with the signs of the zodiac.

If we look down here, actually, there is the time.

Unfortunately, it's missing its hand.

But when it was new, it probably only had one hand.

So we haven't really lost very much.

Over here, we see a little aperture, and that tells us the day of the week.

Over here, you'll see the phases of the moon, a little aperture, and just so you don't miss anything, you see the little angels engraved on it to show you where to look.

Now let's open it up... And we look at the inside of it, and we'll see that the watchmaker has signed it.

His name was Edmund Gilpin and he was working in London.

Do you have any idea of its age?

I think you do.

GUEST: In the 1600s, yes.

APPRAISER: Right, in the 1600s.

Um, and it's an English watch.

At that time, the English were making very, very few watches.

Over the years, it's been changed a little bit, but really very, very few watches of this type survive.

I never expected to see anything like this when I came here.

And in fact, I didn't even bring my book of early English clockmakers.

So I can't tell you Mr.

Gilpin's dates, but I can tell you he was working in the 17th century.

Um, the other thing I can tell you is, is that when I first saw this watch, I had to contain my excitement.

Um, in the years that I've been doing this, about 20, um, I have seen a handful of these watches.

Um, it's an English calendar watch in an oval case, very plain.

Um, extremely rare.

Only a handful of these survive.

Most of them are in museums.

And if I were to put on my thinking cap to say, "Well, what, what is this watch worth” I might say I'm not really sure.

But if I wanted to hazard a guess, maybe $15,000.

GUEST: (chuckling) Wow.

APPRAISER: Maybe $20,000.

GUEST: Wow.

(chuckles) APPRAISER: Um, I don't know.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: Um... I've only sold a couple of these in my life.

And with the family history, I think it makes it just that much more special.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: And I'm just delighted to have seen it.

Thank you so much.

GUEST: Thank you.