The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1892-07-01
AVIATOR THAT IS MORE THAN SIX
HUNDRED YEARS OLD.

Seth Longabauhg, prosprector and
mine owner at Butte, Montana, has IN
his possession probably one of the most
valuable relics in the country. 1t is a
timepiece in the shape of a watch and
bearing the name and date of Joseph
Davis, London, 1921" The genuine
ness of the article is unquestioned and
its great value lies in the fact that the
earliest record of pocket timepiece is
1494 and of Swiss make.
The Davis watch has been an heirloom
of the Swan family for nearly 200 years.
1t finally came into the possession OF
Frank Swan, one of the family who lives
in Nevada. He did not appreciate the
value of the watch and gave it to his
children to play with, and when Mr..
Longabaurgh first saw it, about IA years
ago, the hands had been broken of and
one of the three cases within which the
works were enclosed was lost. He rec
ognized its value and secured it from
Swan.
The watch was examined by Tucker,
San Francisco jeweler, who, after
making researchs, pronounced it genu-
inc. More recently Hight & Fairfield
of Butte, made research into the
misty past, but the earliest date they
could find in the existence of watches
was in 1900.
The watch in question doubtless rep
resents the labor of many years, as it
was made entirely by hand, and the tool
marks throughout all its parts are plain
| ly visible, and the watch was probably
the only one made by Mr.. Davis of Lon
don. The machinery consists of large
steel balance wheel, which works with a
pendulum like lever, and in the place
| of the modern hair spring is long steel
chain, which winds and unwinds upon a
| pulley. Another large wheel, the pur-
pose of which is not apparent, looks
like belt wheel on threshing machine.
The works are protected and held to-
gether by fine ornamental network of
brass, carved out by hand and riveted
together with brass rivets, which show
plain hammer marks.
| On the back of the works is a polished
steel face similar to the second dial on a
modern watch, but the figures running
from one to six. The object of it has
never been figured out by any of the
| jewellers who have examined it. The
face of the watch is of polished steel,
and the hours are marked by raised
Roman numerals. Around the edge of
the face are figures from five to sixty, to
represent either minutes or seconds. In
the center of the dial is the British coat
of arms in raised brass, consisting of the
crown, lion and unicorn. The whole
works are enclosed in silver hemi
sphere, the silver being hammered and
shaped by hand, the indentures of the
hammer showing distinctly. On the
silver base is another of hammered
brass, and the evidence is plain that al
one time there was still a third case OF
the outside of these two.
The watch was wound up with some
kind of a key, the keyhole being protect
ed by rude trap or sliding door. The
watch has stem nearly two inches
long, with ring on the end large enough
to hitch horse to. The stem is Of
solid silver, and in the middle is nearl!
half worn away, which alone is slight
indication of its extreme age. 1t weighs
about four ounces, and in shape look:
like base ball cut in halves. Mr.. Tonga
baurgh has, at different times, beer
ffered several small fortunes for his rel.
ic but he says it is not for sale. He will
have it on exhibition at the Worlds
fair.-OmdhG Bee.