It was an ordinary day. Going through cartons of old "stuff" in preparation for moving to a retirement home with my wife in the near future. Found plenty of junk that I realized was nothing more than junk, but did find a couple neat surprises among the junk. One such item was a gold pocket watch that has an 18 inch gold chain attached to it. Neat item that was given to me by my mom and dad many years ago. Never thought to examine it until we decided it was time to go through the many drawers in our home and see what can be discarded before we have to pack and move into the retirement community. While going through an old box I came upon the gold pocket watch. Took forever to find a way to open it without damaging it, but I finally managed to get both the front and rear open with, of all things, my fingernail.
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The design on the front and back seem to be identical, but after a bit more examination, my wife said they are slightly different. One side of it has a vase with flowers and vines in it while the opposite side has a vase with an etching of a castle on the vase as well as flowers and vines around it. The stem of the watch no longer will turn which evidently means it is wound too tight. Perhaps everyone whom ever picked up the watch wound it so tight that it has damaged the spring mechanism within the watch. After opening the one side of the watch with my fingernail, I read "Elgin' on the face of the watch. A small 60 second dial in 10 second increments was at the bottom, about a half-inch across with a small black hand. I discovered the number "634557' embossed in the lid, but the rest of the lid appeared empty of writing. That was until the light struck the lid an a slight angle and showed some etched letters. I couldn't make the letters into any words so I closed the one side and opened the other side of the pocketwatch. That side also opened easily with my fingernail and saw that the watch body had the date Dec. 7, 1901 etched along the one side. In the center was the name "Jos. N. Woods, Coatesville, Penna." I can also read the word "Lancaster" on the same side. I'm sure there are a few letters, but I can't make them into words. I'm hoping that a watchmaker in our town will be able to get the watch running again. But, if not, I guess it's age of 111 years might be the reason for it not coming to life once again. As I look at it, I wonder just how much a 100+ year old watch might be worth. Check back tomorrow to see what else I was able to discover. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. 
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